Will BN reform?
Lim Sue Goen, Sin Chew Daily
All the main BN component parties have completed their party elections, but it makes people wonder whether the BN’s leadership, with mainly old faces in it, will be able to start the reform agenda.
Umno leadership remains unchanged with the same people holding the positions from party president to Umno Youth chief and Wanita Umno chief.
The leadership style of newly elected MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong has been known; Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Keong, formerly served as the party’s secretary-general, was from the party’s old leadership; Datuk Seri G. Palanivel and Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam remain as MIC’s president and deputy president; Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, who once promised to retire in the middle of his term, has been returned unopposed as PBB president while Tan Sri Alfred Jabu and Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg also retained their deputy president post.
After the 2008 general election, the voices calling for reforming the BN was strong after the coalition lost its two-thirds majority in the Parliament and five state regimes. Today, it has been more than seven months since the general election and BN leaders do not seem to be as enthusiastic in reforming the coalition as before.
In response to the setbacks suffered in the general election, the BN Supreme Council had agreed on Nov 20, 2010 to allow direct membership, while Kelab Rakan Muda BN and Rakan BN were launched to show the BN’s adherence to absorb non-party individuals and organisations to promote reform through the open-door concept. The plans, however, have not been implemented.
In the May general election, the BN grabbed even lesser seats and thus, it should learn from its mistakes and make radical reforms. However, due to the following party elections, its component parties had no time for other major issues and minded only their own businesses.
Umno has indeed gained more seats in the general election this time but due to the lack of confidence and courage, it set its direction on keeping the basic support rate while fighting for more Malays votes. Therefore,more racial and religious words and deeds were seen. The BN’s reform agenda was thus shelved.
After the election, Umno developed important national policies on its own instead of through the BN Supreme Council, including the Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Plan.
BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor also said recently that the BN constitution should be amended so that all decisions can be made through a simple majority system instead of the currently practising consensus system.
If the proposal is adopted, the BN might become “one-man dominant” and many small component parties would dare not to offend Umno, which is already dominating the coalition. If important issues are decided by simple majority, Umno’s decision could then be passed easily while the MCA and Gerakan would be marginalised, and the interests of minority component parties might be ignored.
To regain Chinese votes, the MCA must not let Umno’s right-wing activists pull Umno away from the moderate line while reforming the BN’s mechanism and ideologies to make it a better and more democratic party.
If the BN and Umno do not reform, urban, young and non-Malay voters might continue casting the BN aside. Therefore, the primary task of the new MCA leadership is to reform the BN, not rejoining the Cabinet.
