Najib Abdul Razak is now officially the seventh president of Umno. It is widely acknowledged that Najib has inherited the most fragile and controversial Umno leadership ever. He also has been involved or linked to various controversies ie, flip-flop decisions relating to various projects, the Perak state assembly saga and the accusations linking him with the Altantuya murder etc.

We could say that Najib was lucky to be the sole candidate for the post of Umno president. Hence he won that post effortlessly. We should not forget that there are other Umno leaders who command the respect of the grassroots ie, Muhyiddin Yassin, Sharir Abdul Samad, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and others.

Najib’s political career commenced on the demise of his late father Abdul Razak. It could be concluded that his political path was one of smooth sailing without any significant struggle. However, his headache commenced as soon as he was announced to take over the leadership of Umno from Pak Lah last year. Now that he is the president of Umno, he is also expected to take over the premiership of the nation (if tradition is followed).

Najib is expected to face a tough time to retain the premiership. He is expected to face challenges from within Umno and from the opposition alliance (PKR to be exact). I am sure Najib would have learnt a lot from the events of the past five months. The wrong moves initiated by him could be considered as valuable political lessons.

The practice of the prime minister also being the finance minister was started by Dr Mahathir Mohamad immediately after the dismissal of Anwar Ibrahim during the late 90s. If we weigh both the portfolios, we can conclude that each of them demand vast attention and time.

Prior to the late 90s, the finance ministry was handled by a separate minister, normally a senior minister (remember Tan Siew Sin, Tengku Razaleh Hamzah, Daim Zainuddin etc?). It is my opinion that it is taxing for a prime minister to also be the finance minister.

Pak Lah committed that mistake and failed. My wish for Najib is for him to let someone else handle the finance ministry.

Another area that Najib has to look into is the unity of each and every component party of Barisan Nasional (the current state of these parties is pathetic and they are heavily divided). The next move would be to unite all the component parties.

As all of us are aware, the majority of us would pity the underdogs. At times, we forgive and forget the faults and mischief of these underdogs. In the March 2008 general election, an opposition coalition with the underdog tag took part . It was a coalition made up of PKR, DAP and PAS.

The BN took this coalition very lightly and assumed that they would triumph as usual. Surprise, surprise! This opposition coalition got a thumping endorsement to the extent of gaining control of five state assemblies.

Even the opposition leaders themselves could not believe it. As Mahathir said ‘It was not a victory for Pakatan Rakyat but a vote against of Barisan Nasional’. The statement by Tun is very true. It was a vote of frustration and a vote against arrogance.

What I feel is that the underdog tag of Pakatan Rakyat should now be removed. I do understand that it is quite difficult when you have only two coalitions. It is believed that the underdog is normally bullied and oppressed. So BN should not resort to open bullying and oppression of the opposition coalition.

If they do that, it would be analogous to ‘digging their own grave’. The enforcement agencies and authorities should treat both coalitions in the same manner. The bottom line is that all parties should treat each other gentlemanly and professionally.

All the component parties within Barisan Nasional should be subject to disciplinary action by BN if they do not conform to their own constitution, rules and regulations. At the moment, BN does not and could not interfere, in say, PPP’s internal affairs.

This should not be the case as the affairs of the component parties directly affect the image of the Barisan Nasional.

The Barisan Nasional membership is huge (on paper). This means if BN members sincerely vote for BN plus a few votes from outsiders, there is no reason for BN to lose in an elections.

The exit of Pak Lah is very tragic. No one can deny, including the opposition leaders, that he is a gentle, honest and kind person. Unfortunately, it is these good qualities that had made him vulnerable and weak in Malaysian politics.

I am sure all Malaysians would welcome if Pak Lah is declared as ‘Bapa Penyayang Malaysia’.