The current political landscape in Malaysia needs an overhaul if Malaysia wants to remain relevant in the future. Deputy Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin's ban on the Toyota car advertisements featuring Brad Pitt (the choice of Brad Pitt an 'insult' to Asians, he says) is one in a string of 'stupidities' that will permeate our society if we don't change our system of picking politicians.

Many of our leaders are actually appointed through political patronage rather than job fit. If you compare the cabinet lineup of our neighbouring country, all of them are either scholars or graduates with distinctions from Ivy League institutions.

In America, many of the president's select group of staff and advisors have similar qualifications and significant private sector experiences. For Malaysia to be centrestaged in the world, we need to pick leaders from the cream of the crop.

The two major engine of growth for Malaysia since independence, namely our natural resources which is depleting soon and direct foreign investments which is dwindling due to stiffer competition, cannot be relied on for our future growth. We must realise that the party is over and we may eventually end up like one of the many regressing Latin American or African countries if we don't act fast enough. Remember, good times don't last forever.