COMMENT The latest hot news in town is whether Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Barisan Nasional are going for an early election. Various Umno ministers have been urging their constituency members to be prepared, with some Umno leaders claiming that this is the best time to take advantage of the wins in the two recent by-elections in Perak and Selangor and the state elections in Sarawak.

On the other hand, PM Najib has not dropped any hints. But the deputy prime minister has discounted early elections. According to Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the claim that the general election could be held as early as next March was based on speculation.

Zahid also stated the conclusion was reached using the predictions of unnamed Umno leaders polled by the media outlet. “That is a prediction based on structured sampling which they did. But the reality is that we must keep our feet firmly planted on the ground and while the leaders in the government, BN and Umno don't deny that the survey was done academically, but the reality is different,” he said.

Whatever the truth is on this matter, I hope it is true that an early election will come about. In my previous posting, I had noted that we have had a lifetime of Umno/Alliance and Umno/BN rule in the country.

One lifetime is bad enough.

An early election will give us the opportunity to get rid of what an MCA leader has referred to as “jaguh kampung” (village heroes) - that is, Umno leaders who have enriched themselves and their cronies but let the Malays and all Malaysians down badly.

I am sure that this coming election will be different in its outcome for the following reasons...