Getting it back into shape?
Going by the more popular Malay pastime where a bomoh (shaman) is called in to initiate a propitious and better time for all including UMNO, one wonders whether this has not been done or if one had been identified he or she has not been the right person for such a heavy and burdensome task.
The practice has been that there is always a bomoh for the asking. Each of them with their own special areas and one needs only to state one's price. The best it seemed come from Indonesia. It is a known fact that before every general elections, prospective candidates and wannabes from UMNO will make a bee-line to the island of Java to seek their services. This time around however, bomoh-ism has not been discussed very much at least not in the usual places!
Perhaps UMNO's problems have been too much to handle this time around. For once the problem with UMNO is not its members or its leaders. It has to do with its structure, its organization and administration within the National Coalition set-up. Historically when UMNO was first established it was only to be a wake-up call for the Malays to rise up to fight for their rights. Independence came later. The British colonial masters saw it fit to latch other agendas on to the fledgling party: other political parties representing the other ethnic groups in the country then. This created a sense of patron-client relationship between the so-called Malays that have the powers to decide how much could be shared with the other races. Thus began the "social contract" that has characterized the smart partnership between the major races in the country till today.
With the 12th general Elections over, the partnership structure has no longer become effective with the emergence of new groupings from among the races particularly the GERAKAN and the DAP among the Chinese, the PPP and the IP among the Indians and the other splinter groups in the states of Sarawak and Sabah. These groups are also clamouring for their voices to be heard through their electorates. UMNO has not been able to anticipate this development much to their disappointment. As a result when the people decided UMNO was caught and now ended up in disarray.
As a leader-party UMNO must lead but it has not and the failure lies in its outmoded structure. It could not respond when it was called to do so. Indeed the rules have changed and UMNO should have been prepared to open up the National Coalition to the newer parties.
It is still not too late for between now and December when UMNO meets to have its General Assembly and elect a new Supreme Council, President, Deputy President and Vice-Presidents, a good and reputable bomoh from within can be found to look into the right course of action to take for the leadership
8x8=64
Posted by: MUHAMMAD KAMIL | January 25, 2009 at 05:40 AM