In March 2009, Malaysia would have a new prime minister who is none other then Najib Abdul Razak who is also the president of Umno and Barisan Nasional respectively.

Two thousand delegates attending the Umno general assembly would decide for this nation of 27 million people who should be our next prime minister and we should all accept it because that is how the political system operates in Malaysia.

Way back in the 1980s, a friend of mine forecast that the names of prime ministers of Malaysia would follow the name ‘Rahman’ which is the last name of our first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Thus, if we look at the accuracy of what my friend said, we could confirm that the next prime minister is indeed Najib Abdul Razak.

Let us have a quick look on how the name ‘Rahman’ is reflected in what my friend forecast. ‘R’ strands for Rahman, ‘A’ stands for Abdul Razak, ‘H’ stands for Hussien Onn, ‘M’ for Mahathir , ‘A’ for Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and ‘N’ for Najib. Interesting isn’t it?

The question that I would ask my friend is what happens after the end of the last letter that makes up the word ‘Rahman’?

Unfortunately, my friend died a few years ago.

I think the writing is on the wall if one takes a closer look at Umno and Barisan Nasional as two distinct entities. We could guess that the end is not too far if Umno and BN continue playing the race card for their survival and political dominance.

Will Umno’s dominance and supremacy end with Najib whose name makes up the last letter in ‘Rahman’? I think it is possible and is to some extent inevitable given the fact that race-based politics is no longer palatable to Malaysians.

This was clearly reflected during the March 8 election. Has Barisan Nasional learnt any lessons from the thrashing they got in the last general election?

I think millions would agree with me that they have not learnt anything from the verdict of the rakyat .

There is no shortage of race and hate-based rhetoric from the BN politicians. The BN and its component parties are doomed to play the race card and their end is not too far away.

If the BN and its component parties want to survive longer, they should quickly discard race- based politics and form a single multi-racial party that is based on a multi-racial political ideology and principles.

This may sound wishful and might not happen in my lifetime.