Instead of harnessing the power of politics, Malaysians seem to be engrossed with the politics of power. I know that Malaysians love a good drama but I don't think we expected our politicians to do their best and give us our money's worth.

Less than three months after the election, Malaysia seem to have slid down the slippery slope of uncertainty, thanks to endless politicking after the people have spoken. Who would have thought that the party that won the election is tearing itself apart without much provocation from anyone? How crazy is that?The opposition must be watching and scratching their head.

Let us not forget that the election is over. The people want to get back to their daily life and they want the Government to get back to work. Lest those in Government forget or are confused, politics is not the business of Government. Politics is something the people tolerate every five years. Politics should take place after office hours, especially for politicians.

Politics should not put the country at risk.

I do understand that Pak Lah may not be the most popular person in Umno,Dato Ong Ka ting is accused of organising peeping tom squads and Dato Seri Samy Vellu is rebranding MIC but hmm, what about the unity in BN? Whatever problems the various parties have please sorted it out amongst yourselves and don't make it look like all you are consumed with is politicking.

Right now, for obvious reasons Umno is under the brightest spotlight. I say all efforts to clean up Umno and put it back on the right track must be given full support by everyone because Umno is the backbone of the Government and if it breaks, the Government will collapse.

When the world is staring at the very real possibility of a global economic meltdown, instability in Government is the last thing that the country needs. If Umno and its leaders and former leaders feel that they are the right party for the people then they had better start pulling themselves up by the bootstraps and prove it.

Again, sort out whatever problems that you have quickly and cleanly and get on with the work of governing this country.

You want a new leader? Well the party election is in December right? Open it up and let the full force of democracy rip through the party. This cyclone of member’s opinion will be the best thing for the party, it will uproot and fling aside the weak and pointless, and it will pick up deadwood and throw them out.

All that will be left behind are the strong and purposeful.
What Umno leaders enjoy now is not genuine respect and I say this because for the past three decades we hear that telling off leaders is not the Umno way, challenging the leadership is not the Umno way and open dissent is not the Umno way.

Respect cannot be enforced by tradition alone; it still has to be earned.

I do want UMNO to regain its strength, I want it to regain the people's respect and I want it to lead again not because I want Umno to lead but because we need two strong opposing parties for a two party system to work.

If Umno collapses then it would bring Barisan Nasional down with it and the people would be left where they started with a one party system, only now it would be called Pakatan Rakyat. Well, at least that is Anwar Ibrahim's dream.

A note on leading: When I say lead I don't mean just being in front by being the most powerful political party in the country. When I say lead, I mean the party should have foresight and vision and be able to bring the people together and march towards the greater good of the country.

Yes Umno is still the strongest political party in the country but leading it is not.
It is staggering with every heavy step, dragging its feet under the heavy burden of false tradition and bleeding respect from the many wounds of infighting.

Just remember one thing, Democracy is about choosing leaders from the ranks of the people and the people are made of the intelligent as well as the stupid, the honest as well as the criminal, the strong as well as the weak, the visionary as well as the backward.

We can choose whichever way we want.

If the system is open and free, then most of us will try to choose representatives who are smart, honest, with strong conviction and a visionary. If the system is manipulated, the stupid, bent, weak minded and backward can remain in power.

If I can only have one quality in a leader, it would be sincerity. A leader can always find smart advisors to help him or her run the country but if a leader is not sincere then no one can help him.

Once again, stop the politicking and get back to work.