your say 'Every political leader has to be shrewd especially in a country where there are no principled politics. One has to be cunning to survive in this dog-eat-dog game.'

Cala: I want to comment on two areas. First, yes, I agree with the findings that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak by consolidating key resources allocation ministries under his direct charge is behaving more like the ‘beloved leader' of North Korea.

In fact, the systematic persecution of opposition leaders lends further weight. Is it the beginning of an iron-fisted rule? He is so different from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's paternalistic approach.

Second, I do not buy the idea that Najib is serious about getting our economy going. As Olson (1996) rightly argues, any Third World country is designed to fail if it is concerned only with cosmetic transplanting of Western concepts without seriously committing to them.

As an example, how would you improve the GLCs if meritocracy is not the factor in staffing? Olson also opines that the keys to economic performance are: i) better economic policies; and ii) new institutions in place. So far nothing has changed in Malaysia.

RR: Every political leader has to be shrewd especially in a country where there are no principled politics within the political parties. One has to be cunning to survive in this dog-eat-dog game. They have taken good lessons from Dr Mahathir Mohamad and therefore they know they have to be a mastermind strategist to secure continuity at their posts.

Najib is doing just that but his survival is dependant on how good - or bad - the unprincipled Umno members will be when making their decision.

Amaso: This article has enabled me to see the forest instead of just the trees. Lots of people including me are sometimes lost or confused reading daily reports of statements made by ministers, politicians and the public.

I never knew that Najib had control over all these important government machineries directly or indirectly and the who, where and how of policy mooting and implementation.

KayKay: The Prime Minister's Department has emerged as a ‘hyper-ministry' since the time of Mahathir. Even then, Mahathir was forced out. No matter what Najib does, he cannot prevent Malay politics from splintering and continuing to splinter.

The issue is greed. It has become increasingly impossible to satisfy the greed of every Umnoputra since 1969. So when jealousy comes in, the politics will splinter. Then there are the minorities in Peninsular Malaysia and in Sabah and Sarawak. They want their place in the sun and will be wooed by one Malay faction against another.

These are all factors that will prevent Najib from projecting himself as another dictator. The old Umno politics of twisting and turning every issue into a them-versus-us issue will no longer work. The Malays didn't take the bait when Umno twisted the ‘Allah' issue into a racial issue.

Kgen: Let me get straight to the point. If ‘Sodomy I' almost pulled down a strong-willed and authoritarian prime minister with even greater control than Najib in the face of a weak and fragmented opposition and tight government control of information, what will ‘Sodomy II' do to Najib? Does the phrase ‘digging your own grave' come to mind?

Keturunan Malaysia: Frankly, I am still tickling my old mind as to what will happen and who will take over if Najib falls before the next general election? Then again, what will happen if BN really loses at the next polls?

Do we have enough will - akin to the strength of another tsunami - to seek, demand and secure the ‘dream change' without shattering our country more than we can prevent or are we going to be saddled with chaos the type that we never bargained for? I am no soothsayer but this is food for thought.

SusahKes: For all the efforts taken to obtain as much control as he can, Najib still can't control the tide of controversies and scandals plaguing him. Any signs of abatement? Any signs that he has won over skeptics? For a prime mnister who was supposed to be in control, he took off to the Middle East in the midst of the ‘Allah' issue.

It's been almost one year in office, but if Najib is supposed to inspire confidence, how many of our Malaysian brothers and sisters who left this country have returned? If anything, more have left as reported last year.

In these days of YouTube and Google, people expect more transparency from their political leaders. Najib, on the other hand, endorsed disgraced Umno leader Isa Samad, hoping that by the time he performs ‘magic' with the economy, everyone will forgive and forget.

Can someone please tell me how much of ValueCap funds is supporting the Bursa Malaysia? That might explain why the Bursa index is more than 1,000 points. How else can we explain this when FDI has been leaving the country? Low inflation? Then why the heck are Malaysians buying pirated DVDs?

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