When political parties no longer command the respect of its members, it is only biding time on the political stage. This is why MPs from East Malaysia are angrily calling for MCA and Gerakan presidents to leave the said stage. Unless Barisan Nasional acts quickly to solve the leadership crisis in the MCA and repair the public image of Gerakan, the coalition may soon find itself in the opposition benches.

mahathir lee kuan yew visit comment 110609 02 Could BN come to such a sorry state? But then again, it was unimaginable that the coalition could lose its two-thirds majority in parliament.

There was a reason why Dr Mahathir Mohamad wanted Abdullah Badawi to leave the political stage immediately after March 8 2008.

The former premier knew that BN did not have even one minute to waste. From then on, the coalition's biggest enemy was time.

Other pundits have said that the next general election is around the corner. That Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak will dissolve parliament within a year. The BN would be making a terrible mistake if it were to call for fresh elections now. There is no guarantee that the Pakatan State governments would follow suit. They can still hang on to their states until 2013.

An election today will see the BN limping with MCA, MIC and Gerakan weighing it down. Being unable to retain its two-thirds majority will be the death-knell of the BN. It can only call for elections when it is sure of getting back the two-thirds majority, restoring to UMNO its strong leadership position in the coalition.

Slogans without substance

Mahathir was also very worried about the sloganeering that started soon after Najib became prime minister. "Malaysia Boleh" was unambiguous. It may be the butt of jokes but in some strange way it gave the impression that Malaysians were united. Malaysians are "all" bad drivers, we are all "corrupt", we are all "crazy". The keyword here is "we". But 1Malaysia is creating a mountain of expectations and is nothing less than confusing.

When some voices called for a single-stream education and labeled the effort as steps towards 1Malaysia, alarm bells sounded amongst all quarters. The MIC, now reinvigorated with a dose of ethno-nationalism, was among the first BN component party to object to a single stream education system.

azlan Anyway, what is 1Malaysia when it comes to language and education? To date, even the erudite Rais Yatim is unable to provide a satisfactory answer. Mahathir simply said it was confusing. Tengku Razaleigh points out BN's utter failure in nation building that we still have to talk about 1Malaysia fifty years after Merdeka.

Then there is the case of affirmative action in governmental scholarships. If 1Malaysia is supposed to mean equality, does it entail amending the constitution? At the moment, the government's case is not clear at all. One gets a scholarship if one has one bumiputera parent

in the Peninsular, as well as in Sabah but both parents must be bumiputera in Sarawak. What about the rest?

At least with Pakatan Rakyat, we know that affirmative action will continue but decided based on merit. In that case, students in rural areas, who are mostly Malays, would be the major recipients. The children of the Malay urban elite will have to compete on a level-playing field with other Malaysians. In such a scenario, all Malaysians from poor backgrounds will get help. Is the government brave enough to steal the opposition's thunder by adopting this policy?

Perak's ongoing scuffles

Perak continues to be a big ethical problem for the BN. No matter how well the BN administration performs, Perak will still be a rallying cry for the opposition. Fence sitters are turned off each time they see the struggles of Mohd Nizar. Scenes of the manhandling of Pakatan Speaker Sivakumar are replayed on YouTube. If anything, Pakatan will become more solid because of Perak. There may be errant members elsewhere but they are being flushed out. Six months from now, the BN will have to face up to a much more cohesive opposition.

NONE In short, there are a whole host of ethical and moral issues that the BN government will find it hard to live down. All the while, the government is not working to resolve them but instead keeps building up expectations through its 1Malaysia campaign. This is dangerous because if left unresolved, the BN will find itself facing an angry electorate. It may well have to face the next elections unable to fulfill its promise of a high-income economy, an efficient and graft-free government whilst being haunted by a host of unresolved political issues.

Yes, Pakatan is undergoing difficult changes. All political parties are now adjusting to the expectations of Malaysian voters. Generally, we all expect politicians to perform and we expect performance now. For BN, time is of the essence. The MCA, the second biggest party in the BN, is now in tatters. Umno must find new ways to appeal to the non-Malays if MCA is unable to bring Chinese voters around. Similarly, if nothing comes out of Gerakan's second year of reforms, Umno must try to woo non-Malays directly.

So, MPs from Sabah and Sarawak are right to point out the dangers that the BN faces going forward. A long time ago, Malaysians voted the BN because the opposition was "un-electable", tomorrow we may have to vote in the opposition because the BN, especially its non-Malay component parties, no longer has "it". That ‘it' being courage and the ability to earn our trust.