I refer to the Malaysiakini report Change or be voted out, warns Najib where the deputy prime minister pleaded with his BN component party leaders to change or be voted out.

The sad part about his statement is that it is not BN that needs to change but tragically it is Umno which helms BN and the government that needs to change.

For the deputy prime minister to say that BN needs to change reflects his ignorance as to why BN has suffered two consecutive defeats in the last two by-elections. For the last 50 years, Umno has been the mainstay of first, the Alliance and the now the Barisan Nasional.

Other component race-based parties like the MCA, MIC, Gerakan and a host of other ‘mosquito’ parties are merely passengers in the BN party. They exercise very little influence on thedirection and policy of the government which principally is constituted by Umno's dominance.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad left a legacy of political patronage which till today is strongly embedded in the psyche’ of Umno members. This political patronage has now seeped into the party's election system where party positions can be bought by the highest bidder.

This practice has been so prevalent and widely-accepted but done with utmost secrecy so it is unlikely that it can now be stopped by the party’s leaders - that is, if they do want to stop it.

Most of the top echelon Umno leaders are too comfortable with the old practice of accumulating wealth and political patronage that it is highly unlikely that they will be prepared to abandon it.

Therefore the writing is already on the wall. The demise of BN constituting Umno, MCA, MIC and all the other component parties is inevitable. In the arrogant home minister Syed Hamid Albar, the opposition has a strong ally.

His boorish behaviour and authoritarian attitude has virtually alienated the population against the government. With such ministers at the helm of the current administration, the opposition merely has to just sit back and watch BN self-destruct.

The DPM's brazen and corrupt practice of doling out contracts to Umno cronies during the recent Kuala Terengganu by-election was not only revolting but a sad statement that he himself was not even aware that such buying of votes is no longer acceptable in our society.

So how could BN in general and Umno in particular reform when its leader - the one who is supposed to take over from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - does not even know what the people expect of their leaders?

The only beacon of hope that Malaysians have is the death of Umno, MCA, MIC, Gerakan and all the other small component parties that constitute BN.

They have been too long entrenched in the Malaysian political landscape and for a change to take place, we need to sever these old appendages that have festered in and corrupted our Malaysian system.

We need to bring in fresh blood without the old baggage and try to reform the machinery that has been corrupted by the erstwhile BN leaders.

We need to start a new page for our country's history and transform our multiracial society into one that is united in facing the globalised world of today.