Carpe diem, Dato Seri Najib!

The new UMNO president and his new party cabinet will have to work hard at re-engineering UMNO. This is a golden opportunity for DS Najib to do what previous UMNO presidents failed to do.

The new president must ignore those who blamed the dance floor when their dance steps are at fault. Suddenly those who failed in their bids to secure office say, investigate this and that. This is nonsensical for it assumes, the moral benchmarks in UMNO reside in their persons. Therefore, if they lose, then it behoves us to accept that the moral fibre in UMNO has also vanquished along with them?

Therefore I read with bemusement the statement of Rais Yatim about investigating the new line up. He is not alone though in being disgusted seeing men of political straw (nothing of significance resides in them) being voted into position. People like Azeez Raheem for example and people who have never soiled their feet on the muddy grounds of politics. Investigate for example the academic credentials of Azeez which sounds fishy to me.

But as to the inference that Rais stands on a higher moral ground and therefore possess of unimpeachable political morals, that's another issue. He has no monopoly over moral scruples. Those who got into the system with nothing but greasing palms will be finished off later. Their own emptiness will be their own undoing.

DS Najib can mitigate our fears of ascribing over importance to the office bearers in the new line up by refusing to mandatorily appoint those who won, to public office. This is in line with what Tengku Razaleigh suggested in his proposals- make it known that those who hold MKT/political positions are not necessarily automatic candidates for high public office. That will certainly diffuse some enthusiasm from office seekers.

Then, if DS Najib has the courage to do this( he has been speaking of being brave to change lately) he can replicate what Tun Razak did during the Tun's time. Look for leadership talent beyond the confines of MKT.

He must carry out the surgery fast. In order to stamp out money politics, he must study how to implement the one member one vote system. This is election directly by the 3 over million members. Direct election makes it impossible for any one man, however deep his pockets are, to keep paying his way into position.

But please also consider the scrapping of the quota system. That makes direct election a mockery, if eligibility is based on one getting an artificial quota meant not to keep busybodies out, but to lock put potential rivals. The concept of democracy is to allow members freedom of widest possible choices.