Friday, February 20, 2009

UMNO Last Vestiges of Power

The Perak heat that resulted from UMNO's successful bid to out-smart everybody in Perak including the Sultan will bring irreparable damages to UMNO despite being able to wrest control over the state by backdoor approach. What the UMNO leaders did in convincing the Sultan to side with them was an act of overdrive. This made the Sultan blurred on other alternatives that could save the day. The Sultan could have told Najib off and send Najib and Nizar with their troops back to Dewan and 'titah' the Dewan members to sort this at the Dewan level. If only this was the drama script, there would be no new elections, no acussations of 'durhaka', no closing of doors ( Chief Minister Office and Dewan Undangan) and no mounting racial tensions. A show of hands would have done the trick.

Therefore UMNO's image in trying to gather Malay sentiments by clinging to the Sultan's overriding power is an indication that UMNO is hard pressed to hold on to its last vestiges of power, albeit derived from the Sultan. Their preferred way is not to face the electorates again. This act may not go down well with non-Malays, anti-feudalistic Malays, fence sitters and the 'silent majority' ( non -party but registered voters/younger generations of multi-racialistic voters) who want smart and forward looking decisions for a future Malaysia that have showed signs of gain when the opposition began winning the hearts of the voters as evidenced by the last General Election that installed the opposition to executive power in Perak.

In short, it is not impossible that if there is any election to be held in Perak soon ( be it by-election or a general re-election) UMNO will get even more dismal results. By a twist of fate UMNO would be disgraced.