What is happening to the Perak sssembly is a blessing in disguise. The present Perak shamble has has sanguinely created a potential leader in the country in the name of Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin. Nizar has placed himself neatly on the national political altar as a leader to be reckoned with.

The debacle in Perak has indubitably put him in the national political limelight and this augurs well for the nation.

He has gained sympathy from many Malaysians now since the beginning of the fiasco in Perak. The people are now postulating that Nizar will soon replace the comparatively aging Anwar Ibrahim as the next Pakatan Rakyat leader. Nizar is relatively young from among many other influential politicians in the country and he has the attributes of calmness and intelligence that can elevate him to become a fine leader.

An engineer by training, he is endowed with brains and wisdom. His almost one-year stint as mnteri besar of Perak has endeared himself to most Perakians and Malaysians. Deemed as not ‘power crazy' he is perceived by the people as a sincere politician who is willing to serve the people at all times. His strong religious background has made him a man of principles.

He thus has endorsed himself in the hearts of the people as a future leader for all Malaysians. The ‘prophecy' on the minds of most Malaysians is that he will one day become the prime minister of the country. We would then see a genuine and moderate PAS leader at the helm steering the country towards prosperity - a multi-racial and multi-religious society led by an accepted Muslim leader.

Seemingly, the more Nizar is ‘pushed around' in the Perak turmoil, the more popular he will become - short of saying that BN is successfully creating a potent leader who, before this exhausting chapter, was a simple and ordinary man in politics. Though bent on religion, and by virtue of becoming a PAS leader, his moderate and right approach to religion and politics and his persistent advocacy on justice and equality from the Islamic perspective has made PAS and Islam more acceptable to most non-Muslims.

Nizar's political philosophy based on universal values such as justice for all and trust has won the hearts of Malaysians. Corrupted, nepotism-inclined and scandal-tainted leaders have no place in Islamic politics. The people now are seeking for a ‘clean' leader to lead them. This has added value to Nizar's political credentials.

An engineer by training, religious in upbringing, a humble and happy family man, void of scandals involving corruption, nepotism and women, Nizar is the gentleman who has been slated to lead the country one day. Undeniably, his star is sparkling bright now and he has a future in Malaysian politics. Being a polyglot, unpretentious, unassuming, always approachable and being charismatic, he is already a leader of choice among many Malaysians - young and old.

A recent poll by a local TV station indicated that 99 percent of the people who voted wanted a fresh election in the state of Perak. This is indicative enough that the people are fed up with the entire chaos and power struggle going on in that state. The entire Perak incident has brought down the image of the police, the judiciary and the constitution - a severe blow to Malaysian democracy.

The people also feel that they are being cheated by their representatives. As Abraham Lincoln once said, ‘You can cheat some people some of the time but not all the people at all times'. Malaysians, seemingly, have now come to wakefulness that they have been taken for a ride long enough and that they now have to ‘flex their muscles' and decide convincingly who their indisputable leaders should be.

As a notable Perakian said recently, ‘The divine hand is now at work. The people cannot be easily manipulated this time around. The media harp can be partial in their reporting and the more they are obsessed with this kind of approach trying to cloud the people's mind , the more the people will show their displeasure for the government. This was proven in the few by-elections held lately where the Opposition triumphed over BN.'

The perception that the police and the judiciary are being made use of by BN is a severe damage to BN's reputation. The perception that racial politics is the game adhered to by Umno and BN will continue to do more harm to their reputation. Apparently, the people now have set their mind to go for a change.

Their perception is that ‘there are many other leaders out there who are able to deliver and bring prosperity to the people'. It is high time that BN politicians realise this set of symptoms.

With the Perak fiasco, the heat is there for the people to totally reject BN in the coming general election.

This is what a political election is all about. It cannot be a top-down formula but a bottom-up principle. The Perak incident has practically educated the people to know their rights in politics. They have come to perceive that many institutions in the country can be manipulated to favour certain parties who have the power to do so. This is quite a bad omen for BN.

Prolonging this impasse in Perak without giving back the power to the people to choose their legitimate representatives has backfired and this is giving BN a very bad image. If there is any image building to be done for BN - after being bruised in the last general election and the recent by-elections - it is the dissolving of the Perak assembly.

Bitter though, at least the people would feel relieved as the politicians have answered their calls to let them decide who their representatives should be.\

It is worthy to note here that the Congress Party of India at one time lost to the Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party but now has come back up more resilient and has again dominated the political scene in India.

In politics, you may lose once but this does not mean that you can never bounce back into power, especially when the people can be convinced to accept you again depending on the ‘learning curve' you have gone through.