Searching for a new leadership

This is the excellent foppery of the world, that when we are sick in fortune (often the surfeits of our own behaviour) we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and stars: as if we were villains on necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treacherous by spherical predominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on. An admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition on the charge of a star!

The above is a quotation from Shakespeare’s king Lear. UMNO will carry out post mortems to investigate what went wrong. Hey- now that is tradition.

As usual, the leadership will come out with palliatives intended to assuage the marauding UMNO grassroots. A little blood-letting will ease the pressure. After which, the findings of the post-mortems will be dust-binned.

It’s the same usual story. UMNO will start blaming external factors for their defeat. Despite all their firepower, no holes barred scorched earth strategies to bump off Anwar Ibrahim, they failed. It’s a reflection of the failure of Dato Najib himself. He was the field commander.

Many commentators seem to miss the point. They assume falsely that if Pak Lah goes, the natural succession leads to Dato Najib. Where does it say, in the darkened wilderness of UMNO tradition, that the position of top dog in UMNO must be vested in Dato Najib? Mana ada?

Wasn’t he the one, who commandeered all available resources to bump off Anwar? He should do the most honourable thing that must be an element of a respectable tradition, commit political Hara Kiri. He and Pak Lah must offer UMNO, their exit.

What do you think if Dato Najib takes over will UMNO get? UMNO will get 4 more years of the same last 4 years. Economic mismanagement, masterly inactivity, empty posturing, government for WE the elite few, a bigger government accessible for the rich and powerful. That’s what we will get.

Its time to move out of the box. Alternative leadership must be considered. Najib will bring with him all his excess baggage and skeletons in the cupboard.

Much as we may not like it, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah offers us the best alternative. He offers us the willingness to re examine every aspect of UMNO politics since the last 60 years including to establish whether any self serving tradition existed or not.

Having lost almost everything, we, UMNO members lose nothing by bumping off the alienated leadership.