Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is also the BN Chairman, has got it right by highlighting the syok sendiri (self praise) syndrome in BN Selangor recently.

The syok sendiri syndrome is very much entrenched in the political culture of BN, be it Umno, MCA or MIC.

These parties may differ quite significantly over many issues, but are basically the same as far as self praise is concerned.

PM Najib has hit hard at these self-praise actors but the fact remains that they occupy a major part of the BN hierarchy at middle and middle-upper level.

Non- syok sendiri but hard-working grassroots leaders will find their political advancement limited.

Those practising mainstream culture and values would make sure of that.

The self-praise culture is so entrenched in BN that top leaders cannot identify properly the real contributors in grassroot politics.

Take the instance of recent nomination for candidacies for next GE.

The majority if not all of BN components' nominations are dominated by self-praise actors.

These are the people who do little to promote grassroots politics but in the eyes of top party leaders, appear to be winnable candidates.

Of course in the eyes of each and every individual candidate, he or she is the only one that is winnable. Therefore when anyone among them is officially selected as candidate, the others will react negatively.

The infiltration of syok sendiri political actors within BN is so deep that it is almost impossible to get one non- syok sendiri candidate.

This is where the PM must sort out the mess.

To make things worse, Syok sendiri , shoe-shining and related syndromes are not limited to Selangor and certainly won't go away.

For all you know, the PM was actually talking in front of a full spectrum of syok sendiri actors.

They may have been applauding, apparently nodding in agreement in front of PM but the moment the assembly had ended, it would be back to old habits.

Change in BN will depend on how determined the PM is to get rid of these s yok sendiri actors and transform the political culture of the party.

Right now the syok sendiri method it is the easiest way to advance from below.

Having seen so many other comrades succeeding in getting to the top, why should they stay away from syok sendiri ?