'As someone said elsewhere, Shahrir, you've ‘mutated'. I'd rather say that you have evolved like the rest of us. You are now caught between the real you and the need to show love and loyalty for your party.'

Shahrir Samad: Umno will fare better in next GE

Keturunan Malaysia: Shahrir, if I remember correctly, you were the youngest minister of your time. You were known to be brash and quite outspoken, but I liked you because you always spoke your mind. You then joined up with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Musa Hitam, Rais Yatim, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. I thought you are going places.

Well, the rest is now history. As someone said elsewhere, you've ‘mutated'. I'd rather say that you have evolved like the rest of us. You are now caught between the real you and the need to show love and loyalty for your party. Whatever you say now becomes a suspect for those on the other side of the border.

Shahrir, you need to understand that the, ‘ rokok daun ' (rolled tobacco) can no more stand as ‘the' cigarette when you now have the likes of Dunhill, Benson and Hedges, Lucky Strike and many others to choose from.

Victor Johan: Shahrir was in Umno's Team B. In 1988, he, as the Umno Johor Baru MP, resigned from his seat and stood in a by-election as an independent, and won. He did this to defy and announce to Mahathir Mohamad that it was his personality as a person, as an individual, not as an Umno member, that he got the support of the Johor Baru people.

In 1990, the Federal Constitution was amended to incorporate Article 48(6), i.e., the elected representative is banned from standing in elections for five years upon his/her resignation from a state assembly or parliament. Mahathir feared that after Shahrir, others may follow suit.

But after running out of money, he re-joined Umno. Only after Abdullah Ahmad Badawi became PM was Shahrir made a minister again. He was removed by Najib, and now he wants to suck up to him.

Gk: I wonder how this guy became so different from his brother Khalid. Forget about Umno and its goons. They are all racists and will soon become irrelevant. If this, who many people perceive as being 'reasonable', has such a racist mentality, it is not difficult to figure out how the rest of Umno members think. I put no hope on Umno/BN.

Habib RAK: The difference between Shahrir Samad and Khalid Samad is that one mutated towards money, whilst Khalid mutated towards good values and principles. Shahrir will always look at things in terms of dollars and cents. Khalid will look at how to improve culture and universal values.

SusahKes: Umno will do very well? If so, then explain the rumours that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak won't last the term. What about his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin, who consistently takes a position contradictory to 1Malaysia?

If Umno is going to do well, then why has the ‘Allah' issue turned many Christians to Pakatan Rakyat?

If you're confident of Umno's victory, why must Najib plead with the Chinese to give BN a chance? What about MCA/MIC? Are you saying that Umno can go it alone?

Good luck to Umno, and on your new found role as a Najib apologist.

Ksn: I was under the impression that Shahrir had more common sense and logic. Is he trying to wriggle his way back into the cabinet? May be he is talking about Umno Lama (the Old Umno), not Umno Baru (New Umno) which is incorrigible and beyond redemption, the simple reason being Umno does not have the leaders needed to turn it around.

Perhaps if Razaleigh was given the leadership and control of Umno, which looks unlikely, he may be able to. But then 99.99 percent of its present leaders will lose their positions in Umno, and Umno ultras will not allow that to happen.

OMG: Politics is not an excuse for racism, corruption and bigotry. I used to think this man was alright. Apparently not. is so concerned with what The Star reports. What about Utusan Malaysia 's extremely divisive articles?

Rocky: This is the problem with Umno leaders. They're still in denial mode. Umno has made improvements? Umno is still full of money politics. They are not here to serve the people. Those days (of a serving Umno) are gone. Umno will do worse, more so if they put Anwar Ibrahim in prison.

Geronimo: Shahrir Samad, you've got it all wrong. It has nothing with the choice of candidates that saw Umno/BN being given a slap on the face in 2008. It was corruption, murder and the arrogant attitude of Umno leaders, calling us ‘pendatang' and tearing down Hindu temples. Umno paid heavily for it.

All candidates in Umno come from the same racist mould, so it doesn't make any difference whether you chose candidate 'A' or 'B'. The result will be the same.

No cohesiveness in Pakatan Rakyat? This is what reaching a consensus is all about - agree to disagree - unlike in BN where Umno calls the shots and MCA, MIC, PPP, PBS, and others just sit there and nod their heads.

Even on the recent 'Allah' issue, where are all the Catholic ministers? Umno must have told them to shut up, and they did just that. How pathetic. We are just itching for the next general election to finally boot you fellows out of Putrajaya for good.

Sabahan: "You have to judge a party not by who their members are. You can also judge the party by what it does." I agree. I judge Umno by its money politics, racial bigotry, foot-in-mouth comments and its many U-turns.