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UMNO claims to be a democratic party in a country governed by a democratic Constitution. UMNO's legitimacy as a political party is based on this claim. Under the terms and conditions of its constitution, and in compliance with the Societies' Act , UMNO must abide by free and fair democratic elections to select its leaders. UMNO's leaders are legitimate only if they achieve their positions fairly and democratically.
But the entire world can see that UMNO is no longer democratic. Its leaders have pre-empted its own democratic processes with the backroom deal of a "transition plan." After they have established that plan, Umno's incumbent leaders will then seal that deal with money rained down on division leaders and delegates. UMNO is about to undertake the most 'expensive' party elections in national history. UMNO's leaders make "transition plans" between themselves to ensure that the there is a "done deal" as to who is President, and therefore who is Prime Minister, well before the rank and file members get to have their say in party elections. This subverts the party elections.The results of the coming elections will largely be determined by the handing out money, positions, contracts. This puts in question the validity of the results of the party elections. UMNO now relies on deals and money, not elections, to install its leader. Can we rely on UMNO in its present state of disrepair to find the nation a leader through such means? If Malaysians are agreed on one point, it is that our country is in desperate need of reform. Our key institutions: the judiciary, the police, the education system and the civil service have degenerated to such a point that they may soon be beyond repair. The stabilizing authority of the Rulers, which required their independence and immunity, has been undermined by a previous Prime Minister and President of UMNO. Our race relations are at a low point and are getting worse. We are slipping relative to other countries on comparative rankings of corruption, transparency and the performance of our schools and universities. Our courts were recently found to be less independent than those of the Philippines.We are missing the boat in the global economy while capital flees, inflation soars and our economy is stuck in a low growth rut. Our best people are leaving us, and we are poorly prepared for a global financial slowdown. Unless we aim to degenerate into a Third World Country reform is a do-or-die mission for us. It is not a job to assign to a man who had, say, risen to power over a lifetime of backroom deals, patronage, backstabbing and money glossed over by a family name. A man who had not had to face an open leadership contest in his entire life. Whose greatest achievement in decades of public life had been that he has been highly efficient at channeling public money to himself and to people who support him. This, in Umno today, is what it means to have "a strong base." He would be exactly the wrong person to lead reform. Such a person would be the servant of the deal makers, a slave to the money that installed him, and implicated with everyone he has bargained with or bought off. A man with allegations of such serious crimes in his name would also pose a security risk to the nation if he were to be our chief executive. Evidence of misdeeds, especially of a sexual nature, is a common way for intelligence agencies to have a hold on someone. Imagine negotiations over disputed territory, for example, with a neighbouring country if that government's intelligence agencies possessed certain photographs or records. Yet, to the horror of many Malaysians, we seem poised to follow like sheep behind UMNO's warlords in appointing such a man. After the Prime Minister's recent announcement that he would be stepping down, our mainstream news media, our political pundits, and the leaders of some component parties have been falling over themselves to treat his appointed successor as if he were already there. The mainstream media will now act like this man's public relations office to improve his image. Wait for the fawning Joceline Tan article on him and his wife to start the process. I am not saying we go against the principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty. The man may very well be innocent as an angel despite thirty years of rumours of sordid deeds. There may be no fire although we are choking on thick clouds of smoke. But we are not talking about a trial. We are talking about how we choose the next national leader and whether we can afford someone as our leader who had a reputation that would have killed his political career six times over in any normal democracy. For the role of Prime Minister, reputation matters a lot. At the very minimum, our next leader must be someone of undoubted good character, with a solid reputation. See how each candidate's character is probed and tested publicly in the US Presidential Elections. In contrast, our mainstream newspapers and leaders feign ignorance about the reputation of the Umno man they are holding up as our next leader. We need to end this hypocrisy before it is too late for Malaysia. - Leo Ujang
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Absolutely not. Even if a leader of distinction do somehow get elected, he will be tainted by the other members of the clique.