As an avid follower of Malaysian politics on the Internet, I am fully aware of the unprecedented avalanche of complaints lodged by the minority groups on the heinous institutionalised racism, religious intolerance, discrimination, nepotism, cronyism and rampant corruption perpetuated by the Barisan Nasional (read Umno) government politicians and officials in Malaysia – particularly over the past twenty-five years or so.

Whilst I acknowledge and sympathise with the rakyat for the absolute rubbish that passes for good government, the question that needs to be answered is who has been responsible for putting these arrogant, self-serving and hopeless political masters to lord over us in the first place?

Although Umno has been playing the race card and calling the shots in government over the past 50 years, the reality is that statistically, they are incapable of governing on their own. At best, they can only count on half of the total Malay vote in the country.

Hence, their continued presence and their ability to cause dissension and mischief in the corridors of power have been made possible by the generosity of the lapdog politicians who control the other parties that are allied to Umno. Sadly therefore, it has been the non-Malay voters themselves who have been indirectly responsible for encouraging the Umno warlords and politicians to rule with impunity and contempt whilst thumbing their noses at us.

It needs to be stressed that politicians are the same all over the world. For every one successful candidate whose motive in entering politics is laudable and unquestionable, sadly, the motives and agendas of the other ninety-nine successful candidates have to be continually re-evaluated, re-assessed and re-tested at the end of each electoral term of office to ensure that there is simply no room for corruption or cronyism or any other untoward happening.

No politician should ever be given a free ride let alone be treated like a rock star with unquestionable perks paid for by the rakyat. History has shown that the majority of them enter politics with good intentions at the beginning.

However, given the unrivalled opportunities to amass great wealth for themselves, their families and their cronies in an environment that is devoid of transparency, it is no wonder that politicians, their relatives and their cronies are among the most privileged lot in the country today.

Recent American history has also shown that it is in the people’s interests to restrict their country’s presidentship to two terms. If, as the old adage says, a week is a long time in politics, eight years amounts to eternity, no less.

The Americans have got it right on this as any budding president or prime minister who is incapable of achieving the good things he or she sets out to do in the first two terms of office does not deserve to be there any longer after that. America, therefore, is in the happy circumstance that it can never be governed by despots and dictators who overstay their periods of welcome and acceptance.

Instead of bleating about their grievances on the deeply-flawed and corrupt Umno government, their inept judiciary, police and civil servants, the non-Malays should realise that they are in fact the political king-makers in the country.

By making sure that they are eligible to vote and then ensuring that their votes do not go to the lapdogs of Umno, they would be doing themselves and their children a great service.