'Does Najib have the political acumen and guts to do what is right for the country or will he cave in to the demands of the Umno warlords?'

Dr M: Suicidal for Umno to part from Perkasa

DOC: Here a few points to ponder on with Dr Mahathir Mohamad's persistence that Umno should work closely with Perkasa:

i) Is Dr M going head on against Najib Razak and will this lead to a similar Dr M vs Pak Lah spat?

ii) Najib is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea with Perkasa. Join Perkasa and he will get some Malay support, and more importantly, get Dr M off his back. But he'll lose support from the non-Malay community along with the much-needed foreign investment and the cash needed to keep Umno sharks happy and thus stay in office longer;

iii) Does Najib have the political acumen and guts to do what is right for the country or will he cave in to the demands of the Umno warlords?

iv) Are we witnessing the final days of Najib's term as PM?

Kgen: Mahathir is advocating racism to gain more votes for Umno. Is this correct? Racism and being ultra-Malay only drive away non-Malay voters from BN but gains very little Malay votes. Moderate and educated Malays can see how racism is destroying the country and they will move further away from Umno. PKR and PAS Malays see multi-culturalism as the way forward.

The only Malays who support a right-wing Umno are already hardcore Umno supporters. So Umno gains no extra voters by being racist but BN loses non-Malay votes. Of course, this is hard to explain to a bigot who uses his racial prejudice instead of his brains. He has not given an iota of reason why Umno will disadvantage itself by snubbing Perkasa.

Singa Pura Pura: If it were suicidal for Umno to part with Perkasa, it would be ‘genocidal' to sleep with it. If the Perkasa and Mahathir doctrines had taken over the Malay mind, sheer anarchy would be let loose on ‘bumi' Malaysia. The ‘nons' and ‘bukans' would become the Bosnians of Southeast Asia.

Anonymous: Please show us the social contract. Where is it written? The constitution forms the backbone of the country and the rights of the bumiputera are clearly stated in it. The majority of the rakyat is not challenging this, they are just asking for greater transparency and accountability and good governance, for goodness' sake.

Vincent Najib Tan: What Mahathir did for 22 years is to put fear into people and threaten them. He is full of envy and doesn't want to see leaders during his time such as Lee Kwan Yew and Anwar Ibrahim getting recognition in the international arena. What a pitiful old man.

1Me: If Najib had any real will to strengthen Umno, the best he could do would be to end racism, cronyism, corruption and the NEP, abolish ISA, allow a truly independent judiciary, stop politicising Islam, stop interfering with the media, stop buying outrageously expensive military equipment that don't work, and stop allowing the building of overpriced palaces, mosques and stadiums that collapse.

If he did just one of these things, Malaysians would start to feel happier about being Malaysian, Umno would reap the benefit of positive public perception, and camels would fly.

Rajm: Mahathir strongly feels Perkasa is an NGO and that Umno should listen to them. How many NGOs did he listen to during his tenure as PM? What he did was to put their leaders under the draconian ISA.

Umno should work with its coalition alliance members, ie MCA, MIC, Gerakan, PPP, etc, not with a racist organisation like Perkasa.

Proarte: What is the big deal if Umno decides to commit suicide? With its record of criminality, racism, wanton nastiness, corruption, and perversion of the constitution, the plundering of the riches and wealth of the Orang Asli in the Peninsula and the bumiputera of East Malaysia, the scandalous waste of public funds running into hundreds of billions, the deliberate policy of keeping Malays intellectually backward and insecure so that Umno could exploit this for support, the destruction of the rule of law, the manipulation the media, the dumbing down of our universities, the bastardisation of Islam as a means to control the Malays and to divide the races, the list is endless - all of which led to the best and brightest leaving Malaysia's shores - has Umno shown any guilt?

If Umno committed suicide, it would paradoxically make people think Umno had possibly a vestige of decency so utterly lacking in Dr Mahathir.

KSN: That is the state of Umno you (Mahathir) left behind, that it needs the support of fanatics like Ibrahim Ali to survive. There is no need to say anything about the country you bequeathed to the future - it is divided, corrupt, messed up, abused, destroyed, and more.

That is not a legacy any human being will take pride from. But you cannot understand that, can you, Dr M?

CTlaw: Mahathir has done this nation and the Malays wrong by harbouring and sheltering cronies, plunderers and appointing greedy incompetent Malays to lead Umno/BN. All Malaysians, and Malays in particular, have no more reasons to continue to trust Umno/BN. We deserve better politicians as our pemegang amanah (trustees) for our children.

Swipenter: Dr M is distorting and revising history to suit his right-wing and exclusive politics. For all his convictions that there exist a ‘social contract', he has not been able to prove that there is such a document or point out where in the constitution the ‘social contract' is written. He is just interpreting history to fit his political agenda and kind of politics that he is preaching.

The constitution only contain special positions of the Malays and that is not cast in stone either. The ‘social contract' came to life in the 1980s when he was beginning his tenure as PM. He invented the ‘social contract' and he has not stopped justifying its existence even though he can't prove its existence.

It is about time we move beyond Dr M and his brand of exclusive politics and think of national unity instead of Malay unity, Chinese unity, Indian unity, etc, which have proven to be inherently divisive. This divisiveness only boiled over when he ‘retired'.

Keturunan Malaysia: Dr M, it is not suicidal for Umno to part from Perkasa. In fact, it spells doom for you and your interference. All PM Najib has to do now is to ask you to show your hands, and he definitely has the cards to beat you hands down. Believe me, the bluffing is about to come to an end.

As for the PM, he must call your bluff now or he will never have another golden opportunity to do so. It is an accepted fact that Perkasa is a disease nobody wants to be saddled with.

Kee Thuan Chye: Why does the media, including online media like Malaysiakini , still give this man who has done so much damage to Malaysia and Malaysian society - and still continues to do so with his divisive racial comments - so much space to spread his rubbish?

If he cannot shut up - for the good of the nation - then the media should shut him out. Don't cover his press conferences. Don't ask him to comment on anything. Isolate him. Let him just write in his blog. That's his prerogative. Don't pick up anything from his blog either. We the people don't need his opinions. They are warped, anyway. They are behind the times.

He says the things he does because of his vested interests. Not just in his political son, but, even more, in his not wanting Pakatan Rakyat to take over the government. If it should do so, he would be in a lot of excrement. So please don't help him spread his propaganda. Please do us this favour, media people.

Limml: People may not take this non-practising doctor's prescription seriously. If he thinks his prescription is the best for the party and the country, and he have faith in himself, then he should seek the people's mandate again in the coming election. Or he can openly support any independent Perkasa-linked candidates who wish to contest, especially against Umno candidates to see who enjoy the support of the people.

Dingy: This is a test for Najib to disagree with TDM (Tun Dr Mahathir) once and for all instead of bending backwards to please this old man. Najib is in a dilemma because he doesn't have 100 percent support from Umno. Najib can be overthrown any time by his deputy with TDM's help.

Anyway, whoever is PM won't last long. Mahathir's ultimate aim is to put his son up to the very top. Unfortunately, the son is a deadwood who have no ideas of his own. He only knows how to echo what his father says.

Cascara: Umno need not fear losing Perkasa supporters' votes. If they do not vote for Umno, who else would they vote for? Unless, of course, they boycott the elections, but that is most unlikely.

Not Confused: As a European who has lived in Malaysia for eight years, try as I may, I cannot fathom why the Malays continue to need ‘protection'. Protection from what? Why do they deserve more ‘protection' than other races in the same financial, educational or even social position?

After 52 years of BN rule and over 30 years of ‘protection' under the NEP, many so-called leading lights in the establishment are still making all kinds of stupid threats that the Malays rights must be protected at all costs. From my reading of the constitution, it says nothing about ‘Malay rights' but refers to the special position of the Malays. What about the rest of the Malaysians?

I despair for the Malaysians who just want to be treated fairly and on a level-playing field, rather than in accordance with an accident of birth into one particular race or another. It is so sad for what was once a nation headed for greater things. Now, I am really not so sure any longer.

Malaysiasakit: It is equally suicidal for Umno to remain in alliance with Perkasa. Damn if you do and damn if you don't. This happens when you create a monster to try to dig a way out after the debacle of March 8, 2008. Surely the smart people in Umno know is no other way out except to mend its ways to stay relevant to the peoples. As the Malays say "Nasi sudah jadi bubur."

Ferdtan: If it were not for Dr Mahathir Mohamad, right-wing groups like Perkasa and Gertak would cease to exist, says Mohd Nazri Aziz. Now we get an idea of Mahathir's desperation to save both groups from the current onslaught by key Umno leaders.

The support of Perkasa by Mahathir is more of self-preservation for himself and his family, rather than a fight for betterment of Malay Malaysians.

Elysium: Is not so much that Umno needs Perkasa, rather it is Mahathir that needs Perkasa and Umno to execute his objectives.