VOXPOP ‘Trouble will surely begin with Mahathir finding fault at every opportunity over Najib's ‘betrayal' of purportedly supporting his cousin, Hisham.'

Incumbents win clean sweep despite Mukhriz challenge

voxpop, voxFerdtan: The incumbents, Najib's team won and Mukhriz Mahathir lost. Before the contest, it seemed impossible for Mukhriz to lose after much hype coming from his father, Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Counting the Wanita and the Youth wings, the score is Najib, 5, Mahathir, 0. This is the scenario that Pakatan Rakyat is looking for in Umno. It augurs well for the opposition come next general election as Umno will be divided into factions.

Trouble will surely begin with Mahathir finding fault at every opportunity over Najib's ‘betrayal' of purportedly taking part in getting his cousin, Hishammuddin Hussein, the weakest incumbent candidate, elected.

Yes, we do know of Mahathir's vindictive character and you just have to ask former PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi about it.

For so long Mahathir, due to fear or awe, real or imaginary, had been a stabilising force in Umno. He was a kind of fatherly figure in the party. Rightly or wrongly, it seems that without him, Umno is rudderless.

Now since the myth of Mahathir as a de facto PM is shredded, Najib and his elected leaders, with egos of their own, are not too obliged to listen to him. That is when the fall of Umno begins.

Vijay47: Let's see now - we have a madman who incites the police to commit murder, a mat rempit who invites blatant fanatics to tea parties, and the woman head of a family of cattle rustlers.

This is the bunch of crude shameless crooks who will be governing the country? The only good thing from the gathering of Umno faithfuls is that Mahathir's son, despite his father singing a sad lullaby about the neglect befalling poor Mukhriz, got royally kicked out.

Don't pardon the pun but perhaps this 'heralds' the demise of the old man's influence.

Anticommunalist: Mukhriz once again gets defeated because of a crowded list of contenders. If Mohd Ali Rustam and Isa Samad had not stood and their votes had gone to Mukhriz, he may have stood a chance.

In his last race for the Umno Youth chief's post, he lost out because Mohamad Khir Toyo and Khairy Jamaluddin also stood in the election.

With this, Mahathir has sealed his fate in the corridors of power within Umno and Najib will now have some breathing space to implement his policies without having much formidable threat from within Umno.

Fair Play: Two developments are worth watching. First, the end of Mahathirism is nigh. Second, even within Umno, Ali Rustam's brand of politics (blaming his failure on others except himself) has no place within his party.

The final lap is the election of supreme council members. If PM Najib is able to secure majority control, the rakyat would be very interested to see his brand of 'reform' to drive nation forward.

Looking For Scapegoat: Is Ali Rustam going to say the Malays are ungrateful?

Clever Voter: This is actually a nonevent - all six vice-president candidates share the same DNA - they lack depth in intellect and morals. We feel for the future as these will likely to ensure the country win awards for all wrong reasons.

Liow's life and death battle at EGM today

Pacific.Rim: The curious case of the MCA president and his deputy has reared its ugly head again in Barisan politics. First it was Mahathir against his deputies Anwar Ibrahim and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, then there is the never-ending story of ex MIC chief S Samy Vellu sidestepping his long time deputy, S Subramaniam and now Chua Soi Lek's 'I die, you die too' war against Liow.

What a sad story of power play in the end it's the country that loses as overstaying leaders are using all resources to hamper the growth and rise of new leaders. BN is a failed proposition from the very beginning.

6th Generation Immigrant:. What goes around comes around, Liow. You deserted former president Ong Tee Keat and went to play ball with Chua and his mate Kong Cho Ha. Take a dose of your own medicine now. I hope you guys continue to wash dirty linen and destroy MCA. What I do know is neither of you Liow nor Chua are suitable as leaders.

Watchtower: This is sad, the pot calling the kettle black. The whole issue with MCA as a political party is its leadership. Currently what is going on is not inspiring. MCA must rise and be relevant to the Malaysian political challenge, not mired in the increasingly irrelevant fights between deep-seated factions within the party. If there is one quality that differentiates a suitable leader from other self-claimed 'savior leaders', it is humility.

Dont Just Talk: I don' know about the other Chinese but as a Chinese Malaysian I really feel malu (shame) with this MCA party led by a tainted president. Liow Tiong Lai might not have all the strong qualities of a leader, but at least his reputation is not as tainted as the present chief.

Chua Soi Lek led MCA to a disastrous 13th GE outing, cowardly gave up three MP seats to Umno, nominated the 'Love is in the air' Federal Territory MP candidates who were then soundly defeated, replacing Ong Tee Keat for the Pandan seat, and he now blames his deputy president Liow for not doing a good job.

This fella has just redefined the meaning of shame and MCA delegates should throw him into the rubbish bin if they have any dignity left.

Quigonbond: It's just a case of one bad apple getting rid of another. No loss to the society. Don't really care what's going on in MCA.

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