Umno’s internal polls are more interesting to watch rather than general elections as the movers and shakers of the party will determine who will be our prime minister rather than voters of this country.

While Pak Lah is on the way out, Najib Abdul Razak and Muhiyiddin Yassin are on their way up to become the president and deputy president cum prime minister and deputy premier designates respectively due to Umno divisions giving them huge leads in the run-up nominations against their rivals.

As usual, money politics will make its way in the coming party polls and those with wads of cash will somehow manage to bribe delegates to vote for them and thus be elected leaders in the party as well as government.

Sometimes one wonders how can morally bankrupts leaders lead our country to new heights if their hands are dirty?

Khairy Jamaluddin, who was a rising stars of the party, has lost his shine as he seems to be trailing against his arch rival, Mukhriz Mahathir who has leapt ahead with more nominations for the Umno Youth chief post.

The battle between an ex-prime minister’s son and the son-in-law of the present prime minister will be interesting to watch. The third contender, Khir Toyo, the former chief minister of Selangor, is only a spoiler as he is a ‘has been’ in the party.

If we look into the past elections for the Umno youth chief, only the sons of iconic fathers of the party managed to stay long to eventually become president of Umno and prime minister of this country.

Hussein Onn was the first Umno Youth chief who eventually become premier of this country and if history is any, Najib, a former youth chief, will follow this trend of becoming president of the party as well as our next prime minister.

Other former youth leaders who didn’t have a famous last name and are not from aristocratic families saw their political futures fade into the wilderness due personal problems or because of them not getting along well with the president of the party.

Musa Hitam, a former stalwart of the party, says that Umno has become too introverted and focusses mainly on party issues. He wishes the party to be lead by younger leaders.

Rais Yatim, in tongue in cheek remarks, lamented that money politics will destroy the party and proposed that top posts of the party should be tendered out to the highest bidders.

The oldest party in this country has seen their Malay support dwindling with the last polls but they still do not want to reform for the better. Menang sorak, kampung tergadai , a well-known Malay proverb, best describes the state of the party right now.

While Umno leaders are scrambling for party posts, one wonder if the party and their BN partners can survive the next general election or anything earlier if public perception is that BN is full of leaders who are corrupt and morally unfit to lead our nation.

‘Humpty Dumty sat on the wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,

All the King’s horses and all the King’s men,

Could not get Humpty Dumpty up again’

This scenario best describes Umno right now who are on their last leg due to infighting among themselves as the old and tainted leaders do not want to make way for new bloods who have better methods to win the hearts and minds of the younger voters who will make their presence felt in the next polls.

The poor public, however, does not have a say in electing leaders of this country. Only in this country are prime ministers elected by less than 2,000 delegates who will determine our country’s future.

Don’t tell me that besides Najib, the oldest party in this country is bereft of other good leaders who can give him a run for his money in fighting for the president post?

Only Ku Li is man enough to seek nominations for the top post but it will be a futile attempt as he still hasn’t received even one nomination for the president’s post.

Umno is a sick party who still thinks that people - especially the Malays - will support them in their time of weakness. The last election showed that race and religion are non-issues among the enlightened voters in this country.

Having Malays voting for Chinese and Indian candidates and vice versa spoke volumes of our maturing electorate who are now race and colour-blind and only vote for the best candidate to be their elected representatives in the august house.

Elected representatives should fight for all citizens in this country regardless of their origin. We would be a better nation indeed if race and religions are put on the backburner and the economic pie of the nation is evenly distributed among all rather than just the ruling elite.

Elected politicians should make the chairs rather than the chairs maketh them. If they want the public to respect them and reelect them in the next polls, their conducts in office should not be marred by abuse of power for personal gain.

But as long as the present government with their old way of thinking is still around, it would only be a pipe dream to see our government reform for the better. After all, leopards never change spots. Or do they?