It is patently obvious that we can expect nothing to change within the clannish BN arrangement of race-based parties following Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak’s call for MIC to reinvent itself.

At his speech during the recent MIC convention, the DPM said that MIC must reinvent itself by strengthening its leadership at all levels to get the confidence of the community. He went on to say that Indians must work within the BN system and not against it. I must say this is one of many harebrained insights to come from the BN leadership.

MIC has had the same leadership for donkey's years. What they could not, or would not, do in 30 years cannot be expected to be done suddenly at the behest of the DPM, who is himself part of the problem. Put simply, a problem cannot be solved by the same hands that created it. And, by ‘these hands,’ I mean the MIC leadership and the greater BN system of governance. These are not expected to change. In a nutshell, the BN is a failure par excellence.

The spate of recent reports on the government's efforts to resolve various issues concerning the Indian community begs the question: why could these issues not have been addressed years ago, given that they could be attended to in a matter of months when the will is there?

Very simply put, the answer lies in Umno's – not MIC’s – willingness to resolve these issues. Hence, Hindraf was right to identify Umno as its enemy, and rally against it, because it is the nerve center of national decision-making.

No amount of leadership re-invention within any of the BN component parties will be of use until Umno welcomes such changes. The power play within the BN requires the other component parties to be weak for Umno to remain strong, and vice versa. The BN thrives on the perverted notion that each community is out to wring the necks of the other communities, but they package their perversion in an outwardly acceptable way by stating that everyone is represented in the coalition.

It is conniving for the DPM to continue spewing misinformation by quoting statistics on Indian professionals, the mean household income (not median income) and poverty rates. If the BN government is truly for all Malaysians, they should not hesitate to publish details regarding government funds allocated since 1970 for the social and developmental needs of the various communities.

Until and unless the BN is willing to adopt a need-based policy – and not a race-based one – citizens should no longer stake their futures on a coalition not fit to govern in the first place.

BN is an anathema to nation-building. Our nation is one of the most ethnically stratified societies in this region.

Since the PM has finally obtained the inspiration to call for elections, let us do our part by ensuring that the opposition obtains at least 75 seats in parliament. Not only would this increase the opposition’s presence by 55 seats, it would deny the BN the two-thirds majority it does not deserve.