Malaysian Trades Union Congress president Zainal Rampak has done almost exactly what Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik have done sometime back.

All have promised their respective successors (in Zanial's case Mohamed Shafie BP Mammal, in Mahathir's case Musa Hitam, in Ling's case Lim Ah Lek) that they will hand over power at a certain time, then went on to break that promise, get lots of supporters to beg them to stay on, and in the end stayed on.

But time is running out for people like them. After all, they are staying at Dr M's pleasure, not the people's. But people are getting tired of such tactics.