I refer to Malaysiakini report PM not contesting, to quit in March.

As expected, the embattled premier - after prolonged pressures from all sides - will resign in the coming months. A coup d'état among his supreme council members has caused the Gorbachev of Malaysia to finally raise the white flag and surrenders his powers to his anointed successor, Najib Abdul Razak.

If and when Najib’s takes over, he has the distinction - like his Singaporean counterpart - of becoming a premier like their iconic fathers before them.

Pak Lah will go down in history as being a prime minister with one of the shortest tenures of office compared to his predecessors. Abdul Razak Hussein and Hussein Onn ruled for about five years each. But the similarity ends there.

The second and third premier of our country were instrumental in developing our country to be what it is today. Under their strong leadership, corruptions and abuse of power by the high and mighty were unheard off.

The judiciary was free and independent of executive influence while judges during that era were men of high principles who delivered judgments without fear or favour. Those who held positions in government were afraid to indulge in corrupt practices as they knew the law would be used against them if their hands were dirty.

But integrity and honesty among our leaders suffered a great setback when Dr Mahathir Mohamad took over the premiership for more than two decades. The ‘end justifies the means’ was the mantra under his iron-clad rule which caused our public institutions to be led by persons who were more beholden to Mahathir rather than doing their work for the benefit of the nation.

The judiciary was assaulted badly under his rules and corruption and abuse of power by his underlings was left to fester as long as those involved followed what he said. ‘The longest’ and ‘the biggest’ were the catchphrases during Mahathir’s rule while the notorious ISA was used against those who opposed his wrongdoings.

Dissenting voices were few during his era as he made use of government institutions to keep his enemies at bay. But one has to grudgingly admit that much developments occured under his watch and many Third World countries looked to him as their spokesman against the rich and powerful countries.

To be fair to Pak Lah, he inherited a government which was full of corrupt practice and abuse of power from his predecessor. But instead of reforming the government after winning big in 2004 general election, he blew away all the goodwill of those who supported him by allowing the malaises to further fester under his weak leadership.

March 8 saw the common people ditching the ruling parties in droves and for the first time in history, BN was nearly toppled by the opposition front lead by the former deputy premier, Anwar Ibrahim.

With Pak Lah leaving and Najib coming into office come March 2009, the spotlights will be on the Number Two post in Umno. Bearing in mind that the Number Two in the party normally becomes the deputy premier of this country, people will be more than curious to find out who among the bigwigs of Umno will fill this powerful position.

Although Muhiyiddn Yassin may go for the position, the age factor will be a hindrance for him if he want to succeed to Najib. Muhyiddin is much older than Najib.

If history is any guide, Muhiyiddin might just end up like the late Ghaffar Baba who failed to succeed his boss and was stuck in his post until he was toppled by a young Anwar Ibrahim in the Umno 1992 polls.

Umno is bereft of young leaders as the old guard refuses to make way for young blood in the party. Renewal of the party cannot occur if the old and tainted people still insist on getting positions in the coming party polls.

Most of the candidates who are jockeying for positions are made up of the old guard with their outdated thinking and old values which cannot not cater for the young voters who will make their presence felt in the next general election.

The young and educated with Internet access are not as ignorant as their forefathers. With a click of the mouse, they can access all the news about wrongdoings in this country rather than depending on mainstream media who are stifled by their political masters from being free and fair in running their papers.

Looks like we are in a bumpy ride in the coming months. Regardless who is the premier of this country, whether Najib or Anwar, the nation faces a lot of problems which can hinder our growth and destroy the fabric of our nation.

Race and religions sermons by bigot politicians can only inflame our fragile unity while a poor economic situation can may cause the poor and the hungry to take to the streets.

People are not sanguine that a new premier can address the problems faced by our nation. The common people can only hope and pray that those who hold the fort will put their political differences aside and put a stop to the rot that is tearing our nation apart.

Never before has our nation faced such big hurdles as before. And the sad part is we don’t have leaders who can command the respect of the rakyat to bring us to greater heights than before. And that is a crying shame.