I refer to the Malaysiakini report Najib wins Umno presidency uncontested .

The die is cast. Hail to the new king of Umno, Najib Abdul Razak who will inherit the throne of the party come March 2009. He had won the post uncontested due to the ‘quota system’ which put other candidates at an disadvantaged position compared to the incumbent.

This is the last hurrah for Ku Li, the only contender to Najib, as come the next party polls he will be too old to fight for the president’s post. But we should give him credit for being courageous enough to offer himself for the top post although the tide was against him.

Now that Najib is on his way to become the seventh president of Umno and the sixth prime minister of this nation, he will face more challenges compared to other prime ministers before him.

Rejuvenating the party will be tough as moral is low among BN component parties due to the coalition’s worst ever performance in the last polls. On top of that, the global financial meltdown which will affect the economy is another major concern that he has to deal with.

But a silver lining in Najib winning Umno’s top post uncontested is that our local stock market had rebounded sharply as people’s perceptions, especially those of foreign investors, is that our political situation is now more stable when compared to a few months ago.

Even opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim seems to quiet lately after his self-proclaimed announcement of taking over the federal government come Sept 16 fizzled out miserably.

People who are facing a hard time making ends meets are weary and tired of the political infighting and would rather see our political situation remain stable in order for our economy to improve again.

Najib needs to step out of his late father’s shadow and be his own man when he helms this nation. The future prime minister needs to learn the mistakes of his predecessors and be bold and firm in making decisions which will shape the future of our country.

Najib’s should not be beholden to his mentor, Dr Mahathir Mohamed, who will try to influence the incoming prime minister to do his bidding.

Corruption, nepotism and abuse of power by the ruling elite must be curbed if the incoming prime minister wants to stay in office after the next polls. It’s a do or die battle for Najib because if he does not implement reforms for the better, he will end up being the only Umno prime minister of this country who got defeated in a general election.

Anyway, the coming Umno polls will be interesting to watch as practically all the top posts except the president’s post will be contested. With Ali Rustam and Muhammad Muhammad Taib inching their way forward in terms of nominations, it could be a three-horse race for the number two post in the party though many expect Muhyiddin Yassin to win.

Will Sharizat Abdul Jalil be brave enough to fight Wanita chief, Rafidah Aziz for the wing’s top post since she has been getting nominations to do this? Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, the three-man race for the Umno Youth chief’s post will see one ex-premier’s son, the son-in-law of the present premier and a controversial ex-menteri besar of Selangor fighting it out to the finish line.

But if history is any guide, normally the son of a former prime minister will make it compared to the other lesser known rivals.

Going by the numbers, Hishammudin Hussein, being the son of a former prime minister, will have it easy in winning one of the vice-president’s posts while other contenders without famous last names will have to slog it out to win the other two vacant vice-president seats.

One can see that only these aristocratic families or those of royal blood are holding the top positions in this country while lesser mortals can only play second fiddle to these famous ones.

The future prime minister, however, is said to have a lot of skeletons in his closet which might bring him down from his high horse. When the murder trial of the Mongolian woman continues and several witness like a private investigator and Raja Petra Kamarudin are called in, expect more ‘explosive’ information to be exposed.

Time will tell whether our incoming prime minister will last longer than his predecessor. Najib is unlike his father who was respected by all strata of society during his period in office when rule of law was observed and corruption and abuse of power unheard of. Even a menteri besar had to spent time in jail for corruption.

What our country needs to progress into the future is a Barack Obama. But sad to say, there are none of his calibre here, only the third-rate politicians with grubby hands who run the country. What a shame.