All Umno members seem to have agreed to the 'no-contest' policy proposed by leaders at the party's recent assembly.

The two top posts are not going to be contested, even though such contests are allowed by the party's constitution. These two posts are heretofore to be decided by one man the incumbent president of the party.

So, is Umno afraid of contests? Why is the most powerful political party in the land, the ruling party at that, afraid of contests? Are we to infer that the three million-strong members have no idea as to who is the best person to lead them?

Are the members so dumb as to let one man decide who should be the deputy president and when he becomes the prime minister one day, he is the choice of this same man. So where is democracy or meritocracy that the leaders have been touting about?

Malaysians should realise that the majority have no say in the choice of the nation's prime minister; this post is the decision of one person the previous prime minister - not even Umno members, except in a very indirect and remote way.

Why are we still deeply entrenched in this feudal system despite 46 years of independence? Are Umno members still immature politically? But they all claim to have a 57-year history. The no-contest decision, made on the basis of avoiding a party split over the top two posts, does not hold water.

With this policy, how do Umno leaders expect Malays to compete with the other races, when they try to prevent open competition even within the party. Surely, this is not the 'kepimpinan melalui teladan', which has become the buzzword when Prime Minister Dr Mahathir assumed the number one post.

I thought Ghafar Baba had made the most astounding proposal at the Umno General Assembly when he suggested that the Deputy President should be contested. Unfortunately his motion was not accepted - a very sad day for democracy.