Much have been written on the reasons for the poor showing of the BN at the recent polls, and I thought Derek Law's letter was an excellent treatise on the power of the silent majority and the factors that influences their voting.

As Law was writing specifically to the PM, I reckon he could not have mentioned one other major factor that swung the votes for this silent group and it is the ‘Pak Lah factor’.

I think it all started with the furore over the issuance of AP's where allegations of impropriety was thrown about with even our former PM joining the fray. It needed a decisive conclusion but there was none and that I suppose heralded and hallmarked Pak Lah's tenure as an indecisive leader afraid to offend by stamping his mark.

When Umno Youth leader Hishammuddin Hisham started waving his keris around, a slap on the wrist would have done wonders to his (Abdullah’s) reputation but he chose to put it down to 'youthful' exuberance. The list goes on and on and if only he had acted swiftly and smartly a majority of the factors Derek Law was discussing would be history and non-issues in the recent elections.

These decisions to nip in the bud, stitch in time and even to strike when the iron is hot cannot be lumped under collective responsibility as it would have taken too long and it may not even have been possible to achieve a consensus.

It is the responsibility of the CEO to make and take these tough decisions based on his political intuition and in some cases, just doing the obviously right thing. Suffice it is to say that Pak Lah has failed miserably and he therefore has to take sole responsibility in this aspect.

This missing 'X' factor in Pak Lah's abilities is I believe the single biggest contributor to BN's poor showing and if you follow the trail of destruction, all roads in the end lead to him. In many instances all that was needed for him was to listen, appreciate and act decisively.