New BN, Umno faces but same old mindset — Fikry Osman

Barisan Nasional (BN) is putting out a refreshed and reshuffled list of candidates for the 13th general election, with a third new faces for Parliament and 49 per cent for the seats in 12 states.

Does it even matter if 100 per cent are new? Do the candidates matter more than the parties or coalition and the manifesto they put out days ago?

One has to understand something about BN and Umno. Their people subscribe to the same ideology and chauvinism as the old people they are replacing in the May 5 general election.

Is Rais Yatim’s replacement going to have an enlightened media policy or is he still going to offer a 10-minute slot to the opposition? What do you think?

All these new Umno candidates are products of the party mindset and thinking, the same thinking that gave us the Ibrahim Ali and Ridhuan Tee who blight our landscape.

How will these candidates even think they can promise a “better nation” with them in power? They are cut from the same cloth as their predecessors. Otherwise they won’t be in BN or Umno.

There is no transformation with such people, let alone reforms. BN and Umno have an assembly line of politicians who think and act the same way as their predecessors.

They’re just old wine in a new bottle. It might look sparkling new but it’s the same old, same old. You can be sure of that.

* Fikry Osman reads The Malaysian Insider.