COMMENT | Too many pundits are paying attention to the transition from Malaysia’s seventh prime minister to the eighth. The analysis, if one can call it such, is so hackneyed, that one does not have to mention names. We know who they are, and what is at stake: Malaysia Baru.

Malaysia Baru or New Malaysia was not born on May 9. That day was merely the beginning of its creation. Hiccups and stumbling blocks are the norm in any process of creating something new, and so there is no running away from it in the conceptualisation of Malaysia Baru too.

Umno, together with PAS, would of course like to create a huge stumbling block in this process. But if the transition does happen the way the seventh prime minister has repeated the world over, from Putrajaya to New York City that houses the United Nations and Council for Foreign Relations, then Umno and PAS are "finished".

First, Umno and PAS have never been the preferred instrument of choice to change Malaysia, irrespective of whether it is led by the seventh PM or the eighth. In the case of the latter, Angkatan Belia Islam Semalaysia (Abim) has always been the preferred choice.

That, however, would have required the unthinkable - canvassing Abim as a political party when it was purely a self-strengthening movement.

The earliest history of Abim had it down as a tuition centre or teaching unit. The goal was to use the sheer power of the intellect - ideally global scholarship - to steer the proverbial ship to the port (invariably through the choppy seas)...