It takes a foreign observer to see through our folly

and I take the liberty of reproducing the comment from Bradley Clay in Malaysiakini's:

VoxPop: No-contest for Rafidah? Why?

Bradley Clay: I would like to say, as an ongoing expatriate observer, that the mindset within this government is totally beyond reckoning.

To read now that Rafidah is finally stepping down is a relief - she really should have stepped down after all the AP incident issue.

But now I read that she is asking her fellow Wanita Umno people to not contest against her or her deputy in the upcoming Umno elections.

What right does any politician have in a democracy to choose their successor?

Is it not the right of the people to choose who will represent them? And in this case, should it not be the right of the party to choose who will lead them as well? Not the choice of the current outgoing leader.

The same thing is happening with Abdullah and his choice of Najib to take the position of PM.

This sort of behaviour by the leaders of any country would have me asking what has been promised or given to these outgoing leaders to pass the torch of leadership to a particular person.After all, the positions these people are being ‘given' are powerful positions in government, positions controlling vast assets, public monies, and, of course, power.

I say the only way to stop the possibility of this sort of inherited leadership corruption is to outlaw it. If someone is stepping down, have a proper democratic election.

If someone dies, then the deputy temporarily holds the position and hold an election as soon as it is possible.

I have heard what it ‘costs' to get a government project, and as we all know, these projects are large sums of money in themselves, often mismanaged because they don't go to the right person for the job and often failing and having to be fixed with more money by another ‘project winner'.

Who or where is this money going? Now, I am not about to start making blind accusations, but someone somewhere is receiving this money for these government projects, and I blame this inherited leadership process.

I call on whomever has the power to pass law that all political positions, both within the government and within their respective parts, must be elected positions.

The next thing we can expect is a rountine 'butt out' response from Umno Youth.