I refer to the malaysiakini report: Controversial media merger aborted . With the merger of New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia being nixed due to strong opposition by Malay leaders and Umno members, one can only conclude that the prime minister has lost his grip on the party as people under him doesn't respect him anymore as president.

How do you force a marriage between media who cater for different groups of people? Utusan is known to fight for Malay rights since our independence while the NST normally caters for the English-speaking people which are made up of many races. The twain do not meet.

Something is brewing in Umno right now as this setback can be considered as a vote of no confidence by Umno supreme council members against their chief who wanted the merger to proceed. A captain of a ship who does not have the confidence of the crew members should allow others to succeed him.

Added to all this are the barbed comments by the former premier against the present one and only time will tell whether the latter will succumb to the pressure to resign from office. The public to is angry with the present government due to endemic corruption and price increases which affect their rice bowl.

Mega-mergers among our companies, be they either in plantations, banking or other businesses, seems to be the government mantra right now. There are some people who make big commissions out of these mega-mergers while the poor employee who will be retrenched due to job duplication will be left out in the cold.

Doing business the old way via by being rent seekers and commission agents for big government contracts will no longer do if we want to be a lean and efficient nation with the best brains and infrastructure as good as other modern and civilised nations.

Our political leaders and fat cats in the public and private sectors should use Singapore as role model to follow as everything there seems to move with clockwork and nobody dares to steal from the till. At times like these, some Malaysians look nostalgically to the past for real statesmen the likes of Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman and his peers who work selflessly and with dedications without a stain of corruption and abuse of power on them.

Sad to say, that after nearly 50 years of independence, a new breed of self-serving politicians and their cohorts are milking public funds dry for their own selfish needs. What does the future hold for our children and grandchildren if we turn a blind eye on those who abuse the power entrusted to them.

It is about time Malaysians change ship and appoint a new captain and crew if we want a more prosperous and dynamic nation. Enough of all the empty promise to curb corruption and abuse of power. They don't practice what they preach.