Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's words do not carry any weight now. Umno’s top leadership has failed to follow his advice not to nominate Isa Samad for the coming by-election at Bagan Pinang.

By putting up a former tainted leader as their candidate in the coming by-election, one can only conclude that Umno is desperate to win as the former MB is a sure win there.

Other untainted Umno candidates lack grassroots support in that constituency and this might lead to a defeat as Umno members might just vote for the PAS candidate as a sign of protest if Isa Samad is not given a change to contest.

As the saying goes, Umno might win the battle by nominating Isa Samad but eventually they will lose the war as other voters in the country’s will know that the oldest party in this country is not serious in fighting graft and abuse of power by putting up Isa Samad, a person who has been convicted for money politics once.

No doubt the pressure is being applied onto the party’s by ardent supporters of Isa Samad for him to contest at Bagan Pinang but Umno needs to look at the big picture when selecting him to be a candidate.

How can the top party leadership preach to the public that the party will reform for the better if they fail to practice what they preach?

Morally corrupt people who are involved in money scandals (read corruption) or involved in private scandals (read sexual trysts) are not fit to become our leaders as their character and principles have been compromised.

Surely Umno has more than enough young and educated people in the party which can be considered as candidates for Bagan Pinang. Allow the younger and more dynamic leaders to lead the party for the future.

By recycling old and tainted leaders to run for office again, one wonders how Umno is going to attract young and educated voters to support the party as these old and tainted seem to hold on to their seats without giving way to new blood to replace them. This even though their political shelf lives have expired.

PAS will surely capitalise on the issue of this former MB and cabinet minister’s involvement in money politics which led to his downfall.

Umno had lost all the by-elections in the peninsula this year and if the party fails to retain this hot seat in their stronghold, it will only mean that the Malay support for the party has not increased although a new leader is leading the party and government.

Winning by any means seems to be the mantra of Umno and if a tainted leader with strong grassroots support can win the by-election, so be it.

The opposition front will not lose much even if they lose the coming by-election. They will instead garner more votes when the next general election is held as the voters know that the present weak leaders still haven’t listened to public grouses for BN to reform themselves.

BN has shown its true colours and it is about time the voters punish them for their lack of moral values and principles by voting them out of office when the next general election is held.