Just as the United Nations Security Council is in need of reform to better reflect the aspirations of the world, Malaysia may need to reform its own unhealthy political environment.

Money politics is not a new phenomenon in Malaysia and it can result in national leaders being purchased for a few million ringgit.

Just taking the recent Umno polls, if there are 3,000 delegates and the price to 'buy' each delegate is RM10,000 each, all that is required is RM30 million to control the composition of the party's supreme council. That kind of money is available to thousands of business tycoons both in the country and around the world.

We need to think out of the box, in this case the Barisan Nasional box, where one dominant party in the multi-party coalition appears to have the divine right to choose not only the current prime minister, but also the next prime minister.

As the prime minister chooses the deputy prime minister, a dynasty of sorts is established. It is ironic that various steps were once taken to curb the powers of the sultans, but the all-powerful executive has now vested itself with even more powers.

Therefore Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah's recent proposal to empower all ordinary members in Umno to vote for the party head deserves serious consideration and support.

I would go a few steps further. All political parties should also follow the basic principle of 'one man, one vote'. Ideally, as demonstrated so well by the Indonesian electorate, all the voters should also decide on the candidate for the post of prime minister.

Perhaps we could start with political parties having a conference three years after a general election, to pick eligible candidates for the top leaders posts. This will give a year for the nominee to plan his or her election strategies.

Many will claim that this not consistent with the Westminster type of government, but perhaps this reform may get us better results compared to the narrow agenda of the current racist parties.