Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Deja vu - Ku Li's unity government

About 40 years ago, Tun Razak enlarged the coalition Alliance to include Gerakan (which won Penang) to form Barisan Nasional.

Acccording to The Malaysian Insider's report, Ku Li says a unity government may be the way forward :

Tengku Razaleigh says he is considering an enlarged coalition to form a unity government if he wins the Umno Presidency. He had meetings with opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, PAS’s Hadi Awang and DAP’s Lim Kit Siang. Deja vu! When the opposition is strong, include them to form a bigger coalition!

In another report of the same news portal, Tengku Razaleigh has proposed to radically reform Umno if he wins by introducing the following:

-turn the Barisan Nasional coalition into a single political party with direct membership;
-future Umno presidents to be directly elected;
-BN becomes a multiracial party open to all;
-to allow members from each division to directly select candidates for the general elections.
- to limit the term of the president of Umno to eight or nine years.

It would have been ideal, if only the proposals were made before March 8. Such proposals now would appear to be opportunistic rather than pragmatic.

If Tengku Razaleigh can have his way (which seems improbable because he lacks the necessary support for such radical reforms) I cannot help thinking that Umno is willing to change only when the situation demands and provided it continues being in charge.

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