Learning from Neil Kinnock
The soaring acceptance of Najib, in stark contrast to the fading popularity of his party UMNO, highlights the problems of the BN government.
When Najib is upholding the "1Malaysia" concept, UMNO sticks to its "1Melayu" mantra.
Najib wants to put the people first, but UMNO chooses to put the community above all else.
The leader promotes liberalism, openness, fair competition and meritocracy, but the party adheres to conservatism, racial quotas and privileges.
To really push ahead the national reform agenda, it is imperative that Najib should go about reforming his party first.
There aren't many leaders who can lead their parties to real reforms. Neil Kinnock, the Labour Party leader during the 1980s, was among the handful.
Britain's Labour Party traditionally functioned around the trade unions, with its supporters hailing principally from the working class.
Labour Party's supporters began to drain away in large quantities and the party's philosophies began to appear outdated. The party suffered repeated defeats in elections and was seen as heading towards sure decline.
Just when the party was going through its most critical moment of survival, Kinnock, hailing from a Welsh mining family, took over as the chief of the Labour Party. He pushed ahead constitutional amendments to renounce obsolete socialist struggle for more pragmatic policies.
A string of reform measures injected a new lease of life into the frail party, restoring its erstwhile vibrance and relevance. However, Kinnock's effort met with stubborn opposition from his own people, who held dearly to the party's many old fashioned, rigid dogmas, and would not compromise with him.In one of his most famous speeches, Kinnock lashed out at the recalcitrant elements: I'll tell you what happens with impossible promises. You start with far-fetched resolutions.
The many old habits and burdens of our UMNO today are identical in nature to what plagued the Labour Party during those years.
UMNO is currently suffering from poor public image and sliding support, the same thing the Labour went through two decades ago.
A graduate from Britain, Najib should be familiar with the changes taking place in British politics, including the reengineering and renaissance of the Labour Party.
Read more here :
Lord Neil Kinnock is from England.
ReplyDeleteEngland has no NEP.
England has no Bumiputra.
England has no non-Bumiputra either.
In other words, in England, no one is getting any preferential treatment based on race alone.
Not in Malaysia.
And J4OTK, please be reasonable.
Lord Kinnock can do what he did because he didn't have to do much convincing to change his labor party members.
Over here, any call for change is scary for those who have been suckling the tits since 1967.
Especially those who have amassed their BILLIONS through abuses by playing the NEP game.
Most umnoputras are like drug addicts. They are addicted to NEP. Nothing can change them, like nothing can change the drug addicts, except for Divine Intervention.
But the drug addicts have one thing the umnoputras don't have.
The drug addicts know that drug addiction is BAD for them.
The umnoputras on the other hand, keep on insisting that NEP must be continued forever, even if that spell the death of Malaysia as a country.
For them, their pockets come first. The country can go to hell but as well as their pockets are full, they are happy.
And oh, btw, you are not that bright, are you?
ReplyDeleteComparing the Labor party to UMNO is a comparison of Apple to Orange.
The only thing that can be compared to UMNO is KKK, since both UMNO and KKK are race-based party, and both parties have that "My race is superior than the others" attitude.
What I find interesting is that MCA still wants to work with the KKK of Malaysia, UMNO.
How can one work with KKK and not be tainted?
Similarly, how can anyone work with UMNO and not be ridiculed?
Obviously your reasoning power has some deficiencies .
ReplyDeleteNo one and neither did I doubt what you are saying about UMNO . And I do not know why you are asking me to be reasonable when I never agreed to what UMNO did .
However there's a difference in this article if only you bother to think what this writer is trying to say .
See the highlights in blue in reference to Najib and UMNO .