Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's abject failure as prime minister is definitive proof that Umno cannot reform.

The rich, corrupt and abusive Umno elites have no stomach for reform after 50 years of gorging themselves on thousands of hyper-inflated, no-tender government projects handed out to cronies and family, arbitrary land concessions, utility monopolies, bribes and the flagrant abuse of citizen's rights and tax money.

The vast majority of Malaysian citizens - Malays, Chinese, and Indians - are sick and tired of Umno's abuses. Umno's wholesale theft of the citizen's tax money, and monumental abuse of the judiciary, police, FRU, ISA, Election Commission, parliament, mass media channels and government bureaucracy has nauseated everyone.

If Umno continues behaving this way, then Pakatan Rakyat will win the next general election in a landslide victory. Umno will simply incriminate itself with more and more abuses of power between now and the next election.

Umno's modus operandi in Perak needs no explanation. It continues to try to kick the ever popular Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin out by force of money, crossovers or threats.

Umno elites cannot change their ways because immorality is the way it kept power for 50 years and enriched itself beyond the dreams of avarice.

The problem with material wealth and success that stems from theft, lies, threats, injustice and criminal manipulation is that even after it starts to hurt, well, you can't stop because you are already addicted.

In the old days, if anyone protested, you just abused them more under the ISA, and then they would shut up and hope for better treatment.

In the old days, you could demonise political opponents such as DAP, PAS and PRM as threats to national security and lock them up to shut them up without fear of any legal or electoral backlash.

In the old days, you could spew obscene, racist, sexist, epithets at the ethnic minorities and women and even the resentful voters would still vote for you because they knew it was better to pay off shameless bullies like Umno gangsters than risk further racial abuse.

Unfortunately what worked in the old days won't work no more. Sending bullets to Karpal and distributing nude photos of Elizabeth Wong via your mass media channels simply won't work.

Unfortunately, I foresee possibly worse problems looming since Umno's leadership cannot change itself for the better due to it's addiction to the rakyat 's money.

Umno's potential reformers had long been bought or kicked-out or silenced by Dr Mahathir Mohamad. In this sense Umno is no different from the MIC where the big fat fish in the party prey on the little ikan bilis in the community with nary a party reformer in sight.

I foresee that Umno's leadership has only one way to go - that is, to play even dirtier. More racist bigot epithets and threats in the vernacular Malay mainstream channels, more abuses of the judiciary, more police intimidation of opposition activists and supporters, more bullets in the mail and more nude photos of opposition leaders.

This plus more baseless accusations against minorities, more oversights and denials by the blind, deaf and dumb Election Commissions chiefs, more ISA prison terms for real cyberspace heroes like Raja Petra Kamaruddin, and most importantly, another round of huge handouts of citizens ‘tax monies and oil royalties to Umno's richest cronies, families, and party warlords.

I pray that the moral fibre and determination of Pakatan Rakyat will hold steady under this one -sided onslaught by Umno-BN's dirty campaign. I would even suggest giving them (Umno) amnesty so as to smoothen the handover of power as soon as the next general election results are out.

I am idealistic enough to predict the rakyat will vote for any party that wants to do the right thing. I believe the average Malaysian voter - Malay, Chinese and Indian - is far more decent, upright and idealistic than the average Umno leader, warlord or crony.

However abusive or dirty Umno wants to play, for as long as this country retains even a semblance of democracy, and if cyberspace remains even a little bit free, then Umno-BN will be humiliated by Pakatan Rakyat in the next general election.

Most Malaysians I know will side with the powerless, the oppressed, and the ikan bilis in the next general elections. The days of the bullying Umno sharks, gangsters and extortionists will soon be over.