Everybody likes to talk about the type of change that needs to happen in the country. Many non-Malays have predictable dreams of wanting to see a non-Malay becoming prime minister.

But no non-Malay will want to make way for a Malay to be the chief minister of Penang which is more likely to happen than the prospect of seeing a non-Malay becoming prime minister.

In fact, one dares not even ask if there is any possibility at all for a Chinese woman to become prime minister in Singapore? Indonesia and Philippines have elected women as their presidents, despite their countries being less developed economically, but not politically.

Strangely, in Singapore, the opposite happens. With economic advancement should also come political advancement.

Change, to the non-Malays, must be when the Malays lose more ground, while the latter keeps whatever they have already got. And when more road signs are also written in a few other languages, even though it is not stated in the constitution that it can be done.

I do not wish to be engaged in such a petty display of immature political analysis. For me, the real change that Malaysia should see is when the whole group of old guard make way for a new one. This for both sides. We have seen enough of them already. Their style is old. Some have not said anything new in the last few decades!

The only reason why they continue to survive is because their respective parties do not dare replace them with new and more capable ones. Without mincing words, I really want to see Nik Aziz, Abdul Hadi Awang, Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh, Dr Mahathir Mohamad and some others in move on to better pastures, if they can find them anywhere in the world.

Sometimes, I feel why must we allow our members of parliament to work on a part-time basis. Many of them are part-time politicians and they work as lawyers too or are senior officials of major corporations.

If they are members of parliament and lawyers, then they are part-timers for both professions since one cannot be a full-time member of parliament or lawyer at the same time.

Where else in the world can we find politicians who are members of parliament who are also CEOs or chairpersons of major corporations or lawyers who operate their own legal firms?

I think they should all retire and spend the next phase of their lives teaching at the universities in the country or abroad, ie, if there are any universities that wishes, that is, to accept them since they may not have enough knowledge to share with their students.

And for that matter, I also want to see Raja Petra Kamaruddin doing other things. He has had his day. And Malaysia can thank him for it.

Yes, the New Malaysia needs a new group of more dedicated politicians and leaders of all types, including in the corporate sector, academia, social, cultural as well as economic sectors..

I was a rookie reporter with Utusan Melayu (which is now defunct) when I first came to know of people like Rais Yatim who was then deputy minister. Yet, after more than thirty years, he is still around in politics, doing pretty much the same thing as he had done before.

This leads me to wonder if there really is a future for political leaders, including people like Syed Hamid Albar, Rafidah Aziz, Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang and the others, including those in PAS, such as Nik Aziz and Hadi Awang.

Will Malaysia be any worse off if we do not have them in our midst? The truth is, most, if not all of them, can never show off any new capabilities and are still around doing the same old thing they have been doing all these decades.

Whereas, in real democratic countries, leaders and politicians from both sides of the divide move on after they have been around for one or two terms. They do not hang around and try to sound like they are new on the scene.

In the US Barack Obama was a new face, so the people could trust him. And he did not go around America to speak in ceramah denouncing just about everybody and everything.

Here, in Malaysia, we have many politicians from both sides who had lost elections a countless number of times. Yet, they are still insistent on staying on to run in the next election or by-election. Don't they have any shame?

A politician who loses even once should consider himself to be useless to the cause of the country. If he stays on, he can be said to be concerned with his personal welfare more than that of the people whom he allegedly wants to care for.

Yes, there have been a few of them who had been charged in court for which they had to spend time in prison. But can they say they had to do that on a matter of principle or for being plain corrupt and criminal?

Therefore, one cannot be wrong if one says that Malaysia has been held ‘hostage’ or to ‘ransom’ by just around a dozen or so personalities who do not seem to know what else they can do, or where else they can go to.

Sometimes I feel sorry for them for thinking that they are there for the good for the country.