Ditching race-based parties: Will BN lead?

The BN will die if changes are not made now. The leaders in the BN must leave their comfort zone for the survival of the ruling coalition.

COMMENT

It makes sense for a multi-racial country to have multi-racial parties and when DAP chairman Karpal Singh said all raced-based parties should be deregistered, Umno leaders came out with guns blazing.

The era of race-based parties are all gone and BN with its tunnel vision is refusing to accept the reality of the current situation.

It takes a great effort for changes to take place and the talk about transformation by the BN after the recent general election has come to naught.

Even after the defeat of BN in the 2008 general election, there has been talk that a single multi-racial party is the way to go. It is all said in the heat of the bitter defeat in the polls but forgotten in time.

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has promised a government inclusive of all races after the recent polls.

But things have started to change with Najib slowly moving away from his moderate stance.

He has to be seen as taking a more aggressive approach towards the Malay agenda or risk losing support of his own party. The Bumiputera Economic Empowerment agenda is seen as one way to gain support within his party. One would have expected him to be more inclusive of all races after the polls.

Najib has decided to concentrate on Malay support because his attempt to woo the Chinese before the polls failed miserably leaving him disappointed and frustrated.

The prime minister must not forget that Pakatan Rakyat will also be trying to make in-roads in the Malay rural areas and there is no guarantee BN will receive 100% support next time round.

For sure if changes are not made and with the present crop of Umno leaders who are also ministers making ridiculous statements, the downfall is imminent.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in a hard-hitting speech recently said Umno will die a natural death if it does not change and bring in young leaders.

Taking it bit further, the BN as a whole will die if changes are not made now. The leaders in the BN must leave their comfort zone for the survival of the ruling coalition.

A new entity called BN

The race-based parties in BN know that the people want a single multi-racial party but they are unwilling to let go of their power base and risk of losing all in the next general election.

The parties in BN have to go for broke and the only way to start the ball rolling is to get rid of their identities and names under a loose-based party which can still be called BN.

The old race-based parties can have separate wings under the new entity.

Each party for the time being can retain their leaders who can be made vice-presidents of the BN party and members of the supreme council.

A slow transformation is needed due to the complex nature of the BN structure. But at least the identity of each party will be gone as a first step.

It will take time for a broad-based single party to take proper shape but taking the first step is a major leap forward. Will BN lead the way towards this truly 1Malaysia scheme as envisaged by PM Najib?

RamaSegar is a FMT team member.