M. Bakri Musa suggested a role for Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Ku Li) in the new Abdullah Ahmad Badawi government, and I fully agree.

However I propose instead that Ku Li becomes economic advisor to the government, the position that Daim Zainuddin and Mustapa Mohamed held and continue to hold, respectively. Ku Li is not only an experienced leader, but a qualified first class economist and a moderate, progressive Malay/Muslim leader, in the calibre of all our four prime ministers to date.

In the first Dr Mahathir Mohamad cabinet, only he and Musa Hitam possessed the same leadership qualities and charisma as the great leader himself. What he and Musa had, which the other leaders of Umno do not, is guts.

They were gutsy enough to revolt against Mahathir in 1986/7 because he was, in their minds, not democratic in his leadership and chose to retain colonial-era detention-without trial laws, besides cutting back the powers of the independent judiciary.

It was a revolt based not on greed but on principles. When Malay unity was jeopardised, with the emergence of a Team C in Umno led by Anwar Ibrahim, Musa and Ku Li chose to reconcile with Mahathir's camp.

The reconciliation came at the right time, when Abdullah was on the verge of being elected as Umno's first vice-president, and possibly Mahathir's successor in the event of Anwar's expulsion from Umno.

Mahathir's then favourite successor-in-the-making, Rahim Thamby Chik, had already been downed by Anwar supporters who exposed a personal scandal during his tenure as Malacca chief minister.

Mahathir thus had no choice but to back Abdullah, who was Anwar's main rival inside Penang Umno. Abdullah was known to have links with Musa and Ku Li - not unlike Najib Tun Razak, Rais Yatim, Syed Hamid Albar, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and Zainal Abidin Zin, in Umno's Team B led by Musa and Ku Li.

Abdullah may not be cut out of the same cloth as his predecessors, and thus, Ku Li and Musa ought to play a role in advising the new leader. Musa is already tipped to emerge as a political adviser to Abdullah, and Mahathir will probably get a similar role as Musa.

Since Ku Li is an economist, the best position for him is economic adviser to the prime minister. However, Ku Li and Musa are not fit to be prime minister because they are of the same generation as Mahathir. They rose in Umno during the Tun Razak era, just like Mahathir.

Abdullah emerged during Tun Hussein Onn's time, not unlike Rais, Rafidah Aziz, Mohamed Rahmat, and Khalil Yaakob.

The handover in late October 2003 should mean a change in generational leadership. It is high time for Razak-era politicians to fade into the background as mentors, and it is time for Hussein-era and Mahathir-era leaders to man the fort.

With Team B leaders at the helm of Umno, I foresee a gradual opening of political space and the possible release of a great number of Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees and Anwar Ibrahim.

The ISA may not be abolished because too many Malaysians, especially Chinese businessmen and professionals support it out of fear of PAS, Jemaah Islamiyah and Kumpulan Militan Malaysia.

Nevertheless, I am optimistic that Abdullah, Musa and Ku Li will be smart and brave enough to do away with the no-trial provision in the ISA.