COMMENT Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Umno leaders are generally confident of the future, but are Malaysians happy too?

There is no doubt that the Umno general assembly 2016 ended exuberantly on a strong basis of greater party loyalty and tighter Umno unity.

The Umno delegates apparently felt confident of winning the 14th general election, which is now expected to be held sooner, in 2017, rather than later.

But is this confidence and happiness among Umno leaders shared by all Malays and bumiputeras, and especially by most Malaysians, including non-Malays and non-Muslims?

I seriously doubt it, judging from my conversations with many Malaysians of all races and religions.

Why most Malaysians are less confident

The Umno leaders are invariably confident and happy because they are the top political leaders, with high prestige and holding important influential positions. They are also unlikely to be from the poor and struggling masses of Malays, bumiputeras, Chinese and Indians and other groups all over our beloved country. They are mostly the elite.

Hence, there is less empathy at the high rarified political levels, for the poor, hardworking and lower income Malaysians who belong to the Bottom 40 and lower middle income groups.

In fact, there appears to be a serious disconnect between the ruling political leaders and the poorer masses of Malaysians. This disconnect has to be studied, recognised and rectified as soon as possible.

Indeed, the so called Confidence Gap or Happiness Gap has to be closed if public hope and happiness in the present and in the future are to be raised. So, what do we do? We should be brave to ask the right questions, so as to strive to get to the right solutions...