In the aftermath of the 12th General Elections, the parties which claim to represent the minority races, namely MCA, MIC and Gerakan are talking about reforming their parties and winning back support from their respective communities.

It is amazing that the these leaders have failed to grasp the real reason for their losses or have chosen to ignore the real issue. May I ask what reforms can they do which will bring back Chinese and Indian voters to their folds? The reason they have lost the support of their communities is the subservient position they have sunk to under Umno’s hegemony.

So it is not a question of reforming their parties but reforming Umno's arrogant and supremacist attitude. Can they do that? If not, then trying to fix the rot by reforming their own parties is like taking medicine and expecting another person to be cured.

We all know what happens to the odd Gerakan or MIC parliamentarian who dared voice out any issue of great concern to their communities but was out of line with what Umno wanted. They are shouted down, threatened with disciplinary action and expulsion and soon quickly toe the line, quiet as a mouse. Ministers fare no better. Component party MPs are not allowed to vote against any issue already decided by the dominant party. They are not even allowed to abstain from voting. How then can such MPs represent their communities?

Hence, Umno’s premise that more representation in parliament means more voice in the government is patently false. Subservient representatives are ineffective whatever their numbers. As an elegant example, the 2004 elections saw record number of MCA and MIC politicians elected to parliament but Umno's arrogance reached new heights and minority rights and voices were trodden upon and suppressed like never before.

The system of race-based parties which fights for their respective races is broken and cannot be fixed. It does not work when there is a dominant party which make the rules and dictates them to others. The system has held together for so long because of ugly racial politics where threats and scraps are doled out to the minorities to obtain their votes. But the electorate has matured and such tactics no longer work. The way forward is multi-racial parties which serves all Malaysians irrespective of race.

So what then can MCA, MIC and Gerakan politicians do? Instead of wasting time trying to fix a broken system which they have no power to fix, they should consider joining the opposition if they desire to serve the people as they claim.