I refer to Malaysiakini report PM: 'A religious duty to have unity talks' .

Now that the unity talks between Umno and PAS have been scuttled by the Pakatan Rakyat leaders, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has used religious and race sentiments to articulate his view on why the two largest Malay Muslim parties should hold unity talks among themselves. How desperate he seems.

Umno and its BN partners are facing a major credibility problem among the voters at large and with all the internal problems that they face it will be a miracle for BN to win back votes which they lost in the last polls.

Maybe Umno is now paranoid after the Malays ditched them in droves during the last polls thus causing the candidates of their BN coalition partners such as MCA, MIC and Gerakan candidates to be nearly wiped out.

Umno now has to swallow their pride and insist that the Malays who form the majority of voters in this country should unite. PAS, which is their main rival for Malay votes, makes a good choice for a partner for Umno to perform better at the next polls.

A united Malay vote can rule the country without non-Malay votes but it will be a one-sided government which will not cater for the goodwill among the various races in this country.

But somehow, PAS came to its senses after meeting their partners, PKR and DAP and with grassroots supporters adamant in rejecting such unity dialogues, the proposal suffered a stillborn death.

With getting PAS into the BN fold, the present regime will face a backlash comes the next polls as Umno now cannot depend on MCA , MIC or Gerakan to woo back the non-Malay voters.

Surely any government who doesn’t have the voters’ confidence would be afraid and would use any method possible to break up their political opponents’ resolve and unity. But PAS can see the political chess game that Umno is playing and that the unity talks idea is just to weaken Pakatan come the next polls.

After nearly three months in office, the new premier still has not managed to galvanise the public at large to support his leadership under the BN banner. His slow pace of reforms and past misdeeds during his long tenure of office does not instill confidence in us that the government will improve for the better.

People want heads to roll and would expect those high officials who have abused their power while in office for personal gain be brought to justice as a lesson to others not to make the same mistakes.

Instead of winning the hearts and minds of voters by allowing more democratic space for the common people to express their unhappiness, the authorities have used harsh methods to stop civil groups from holding candlelight vigils.

The last straw must be the grabbing of power by BN in Perak with a majority of voters there being denied their choice of leaders whom they had trusted to run the Silver State during the last polls.

If the present BN government wants us to help them win the next polls , they have to put themselves in the shoes of the common people who are having a hard time making a living due to the economic situation and a corrupt government.

All indicators point to a major defeat of the ruling parties when the next elections are held. But while Pakatan Rakyat are strong in the peninsula, forming the next federal government will be a big problem if they fail to entice Sabah and Sarawak voters to switch camps.

The MPs from East Malaysia are the real king-makers as without their support, any government to be formed by the opposition front will not be strong.

But the rural voters in East Malaysia still think that only the BN government can deliver development to their areas while turning a blind eye to the gross abuse of power by their leaders.

But since both the chief ministers from Sabah and Sarawak are rumored to be in ill health with both not having groomed suitable candidates to replace them, with the right political strategy, the opposition front can give their BN political opponents in Borneo a run for the money come the next polls.

Hopefully, the winds of change that are blowing over the peninsula will blow over East Malaysia in order for our future generations to have a better future than before.

And PAS needs to chose their friends carefully and not do any thing behind their backs. The so- called unity talks have caused much disaffection among their hardcore supporters and those people who had voted for them in the last polls.

PAS should swim and sink together with PKR and DAP in the coming years as the people now see that a two-party system as practiced by other democratic countries is now workable here. Stay on the course and don’t follow BN’s ways which will lead to your downfall.