The Malaysian Insider

OCT 19 — Umno must return to its roots to be an all-inclusive party. That was the main theme of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s presidential speech at last week’s Umno general assembly when outlining the changes the party needs to do to survive.

I hope the Umno delegates to the annual assembly understood what Najib meant.

I have some doubts after reading the comments of some top Umno leaders who quickly proclaimed that the amendments made to the party constitution as being the “new” democracy for the organisation.

OCT 4 — Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. It is exactly a year since I offered myself for the Umno deputy presidency.

I knew I didn’t have a chance in hell of getting enough nominations to be eligible and it could also be suicidal to my “young” political career. But I thought it was worth the sacrifice to send a signal to the top leadership that Umno’s time in power is over if we don’t change.

Umno president Datuk Seri Mohamed Najib Razak probably got my message when he used the phrase “change or be changed” in the party’s general assembly before taking over as Prime Minister in April.

SEPT 9 — It has been 23 years since a Malay became the leader of MCA. It’s not a joke.

That was when the then Encik Ghafar Baba, as Umno vice president, assumed the post of acting MCA president to solve the stalemate in the power tussle between Datuk Tan Koon Swan and the defeated incumbent president, Datuk Neo Yee Pan.

Encik Ghafar, who later became deputy Umno president and deputy prime minister and retired to be a Tun, demonstrated his acumen and skilful Malay leadership qualities to negotiate a truce which resulted in then deputy president, Datuk Seri Ling Liong Sik eventually taking over as president.

AUG 17 – As a Member of Parliament, I used to defend the police when faced with numerous complaints from my constituents in Johor Baru.

I told my constituents to have faith in the police as their alternative would be to pay for expensive personal security guards. No more.

More than a month ago, my trust and belief in the police force evaporated when my wife was mugged in broad daylight in her car at the front gate of my house by two men on a motorcycle.

JULY 13 — This past weekend Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak would have breathed a sigh of relief at crossing an important milestone of being in power for 100 days.

Coincidentally, that is exactly the amount of time that former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had given him before he began levelling criticisms at Najib.

And as we know, when the grand old man of Malaysian politics criticises, he can really cut you down to size, wielding his acid wit like a surgeon's scalpel that the medical doctor did not use in practise.