vox populi small thumbnail'Pak Lah was sincere about reforms but lacked the willpower to follow through, whereas Najib is never sincere about reforms, let alone following through.'

I should have been more forceful, concedes Pak Lah

Ksn: Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, I believe you are basically a good and simple man - that's my impression of you - but as PM, it was your duty to be forceful and press hard for the changes you wished to make.

Knowing your shaky position in Umno, you should have pressed harder and forced through your policies. In the process, all the evil forces in Umno would have been exposed to the country and to the Malays in particular.

You would have come out, in the public eye, as a man who tried to do a few positive things for the Malays and Malaysia.

Tkc: The difference between former PM Abdullah (Pak Lah) and Najib Razak - Pak Lah was sincere about reforms but lacked the willpower to follow through whereas Najib is never sincere about reforms let alone following through.

2cts Worth: Pak Lah, if you were forceful, you would have surely have faced a vote of no confidence from the warlords within Umno. You wouldn't have lasted as long as you did. You had the right ideas but stood on the wrong platform.

You were the square peg trying to fit into a round hole. But you can still do something about it.

Tidakboleh: When the mandate was given to you by the rakyat, you had no guts to carry out the reforms you had pledged to carry out.

Whether or not you were clear about the reforms you wanted to carry out is immaterial now. You missed the golden opportunity to make history. But now history will only remember you as a sleepy former PM.

Faz: What reforms? You don't change a winning team. Never, and not after 54 years of ‘winning' elections. So Pak Lah, you had missed your time.

Your weak resolve would never win over your division heads who were the warlords who dictated your fate, and now Najib's too. Umno cannot reform itself, even if it wanted to.

The patronage system embedded into it needs the gravy train to feed the warlords and cronies, and those second-liners are told to be patient and loyal, until it's their turn to tap the riches. No second-liner will dare rock the boat as showing dissent will throw you down the pecking order.

Worse, if you rebel and lose, you become persona non grata. So, the system must be preserved to cater for the new leeches. Umno will only reform if they lose the federal government and with it, the gravy train.

Who Is That Masked Man?: Faz, you are spot on. It looks like you have an insight on how the system works in Umno. I have the same view.

It's almost impossible to change the money politics or patronage system which is deeply entrenched in Umno's culture. You know, use corruption to raise ‘funds' for elections and most importantly, feed those below you to ensure their support. But if you chop off the head, the second liner will pop up to take its place.

The only way to reform the political system is to topple BN in the next general election and thereby enabling a two-party system. When an incumbent regime is afraid to lose (because they can), then they will follow the people's aspirations.

Like in Selangor now. Previously when we invited MPs and Aduns (state representatives) for community meetings to voice our grouses, nobody came because we "can't do anything to them".

Now they come and help because if they don't, we will vote them out in the next GE. That's true democracy. That's the way it should be.

Rick Teo: The sad part about politics in Malaysia is we have weak leaders. Leaders who can only swim with the tide and not against it. Look at our present batch of leaders, none have any leadership qualities.

Leaders should be brave enough to put right-wing group Perkasa in place, brave enough to tell Utusan Malaysia that they are writing seditious articles and that the government won't tolerate it.

But instead, the leaders just keep quiet and this has encouraged more inflammatory articles to be published. The only way to reform our institutions is to change our government.


Temperatures rising in Kita

Tailek: Zaid is not ‘Kita'. Zaid is ‘Saya'. Anyway there's nothing to worry about - Kita is just ikan bilis and won't make much difference to the political landscape.

Anonymous: If Zaid cannot listen to his own central executive committee, how can he listen to the people? Zaid, dissolve Kita and join Umno as you have same DNA with your old party.

Victor Johan: Zaid is returning back to Umno, mark my words.

Fadzilah Hashim: I think the three who were sacked could have been paid by Pakatan Rakyat to revolt against Zaid. This is the common argument used if anyone goes against the opposition. So eat it now.

Artchan: They were never ready for any election. It's just a ‘syok sendiri' (self-indulgent) exercise.

Docs: After reading this article, I seem to be getting deja vu. It sounds like Kita is going the way of the Makkal Sakti Party which RS Thanenthiren started as a Najib-backed alternative to MIC.

 

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.Next thing we knew, Thanenthiren was kicked out as president by his own party members.