Proposals for BN reform and beyond (+video)
- Open Barisan Nasional to direct membership by individuals only. Do away with membership by parties.
- Only parties whose membership reflects the racial composition of the country will be allowed to contest elections. Race-based organizations may no longer register as political parties to contest elections. Every party that wishes to submit candidates for elections must be able to demonstrate that its membership is open to all Malaysians and reflects Malaysia’s racial diversity. We will need to apply some workable formula to measure this. It will feel artificial at first, but we have to start somewhere.
Amend the Societies Act and, if possible, the Constitution, to set these rules.
I shared this proposal in a taped interview for AWANI news after the live interview with Agenda AWANI last night (March 9). It will air at 1.30am and throughout the day on Tuesday March 10.
Recall my five proposals for the reform of UMNO (plus term limits)
- The president, deputy president, vice presidents and members of the supreme council to be elected directly. This ends the delegate system.
- State party chiefs to be elected by the membership at state level, not appointed by the president.
- The nominations quotas to be abolished
- Parliamentary candidates to be nominated by their Divisions, not by the party president.
- Separate party politics from the responsibilities of government (see below)
- Set term limits. Three terms for the President. Two terms for state leadership.
To ensure the separation of party position from government positions, recognize a parliamentary party of BN, consisting of BN’s elected MP’s. This group elects its own leader. In a reformed UMNO, this person would not be the President, because the President would not be allowed to lead the parliamentary party. If the leader of the parliamentary party obtains the support of enough members of the House, he may be called by the Yang Dipertuan Agong to form the government as Prime Minister.
This is how it often works in other parliamentary democracies.
India’s Congress Party is chaired by Sonia Gandhi. But the leader of the Parliamentary Congress Party is Manmohan Singh, who, because he commands the confidence of a majority of Parliamentarians, is also Prime Minister. The world knows the name of the US President but few people know the name of the chairman of the Democratic Party.
There is nothing strange about this. The tasks of running a country and of building up a political party are very different, and should be kept separate. When we confuse the two, party leaders who also control the government use that power and the resources it commands to ensure their dominance of the party. This corrupts both government and party as people join political parties and enter government for the wrong reasons. This is what has happened to Umno.
For parliamentary democracy to work we must have a healthy system of political parties. My proposals aim to rebuild our party system for the 21st century.
LIMA PEMBAHARUAN UNTUK UMNO
On point 2 of reforming BN, religious based organisations should also no longer be allowed to register.
Parties must appeal to everyone and not a select group.
vijsans
March 10, 2009 at 2:03 am
Excellent proposal Tengku. This makes a lot of sense as the party head and the PM would have to cater to a different audience.
juarez8
March 10, 2009 at 7:32 am
It is a good idea, but my concern is the intended audience may not be listening.
However tough, don’t give up the fight. The GOOD will always win over the EVIL.
timmysay
March 10, 2009 at 8:29 am
Dear YAM Kuli,
YAM has indeed suggested very Bold measures both for UMNO and BN.
I agree with the measures as suggested.
The question I have however, is …..will the present leadership ( more appropriately called ‘goons’) at UMNO and BN even consider it? I doubt it very much. I say this simply because it takes the leadership of both the BN and UMNO to carry out such bold measures and that the present leadership of both these organisations will never do it.
Why?
Below are my reasons:-
a) They (the leaders) are incompetent.
b) The are not democratically elected leaders.
c) They are there not to serve the rakyat but only themselves.
d) They also lack self confidence (mainly because of (a) to (c) above) and believe that any change to the status quo will render them irrelevant and useless.
There however remains one practical route for the rakyat to have a good government and in the process good political parties, that is by being responsible at the pooling booth come the 13th General Elections.
First, all rakyat eligible must go and register to vote (I am told you can even do this at the post office(only computerised ones).
Secondly, be politically aware of matters around you and think long term i.e for the next generation and many generations to come. Don’t be fooled by position and power(read money and bribes) for the short term.
Thirdly, ensure you do your civil duty to vote responsibly when the 13th General Election is held.
Everyone, including you and me count in a democratic system. We deserve the Government we elect.
Raja Chulan.
rajachulan
March 10, 2009 at 11:49 am
Dear Raja Chulan,
Spot on….!!!
tuanpuan
March 10, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Tengku
I admire your tenacity but you and I know that the current UMNO (this means BN in general) is incapable of the change you are advocating. There are many good people still in UMNO that think like you. I think it is time that you pull them out and form a new party and join PR. BN needs to be taught a lesson and perhaps you can pick up the pieces after the next election. I am not a politician so my comment may be abit naive. If it is all about timing, I can understand. However, given the recent events, the government will cling onto power come what may and what they have done to the Rule of Law and The Constitution is a tragedy. Malaysia is already the butt of International jokes. The country is fast being equated to Zimbabwe. If that is OK with Malaysians then who am I to criticise?
jonno8888
March 10, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I’m afraid it will be an uphill battle to change UMNO. Too many vested interests and too little concern for the future of the country.
Most are in it for the money.
Sad, truly sad.
longjaafar
March 10, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Indeed, good proposal. It is up to BN whether they want to implement it now or let the PKR to implement it later. Don’t be regret later, BN. We have lose our patience.
alangbk
March 10, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Together for 1 Nation, 1 Malaysia as 1 United Bangsa Malaysia
Proposals for BN’s Reforms and Beyond for a BRIGHTER FUTURE for MALAYSIA
10 March 2009
Dear YAM Tengku Razaleigh and All Malaysians,
308 and the results of subsequent by elections are affirmative actions from THE RAKYATS that THE RAKYATs rejected rule along party/race/religion/language/gender/
self gratification and self denial line.
The differences in opinion and views by our leaders from both BN and PR and even within BN and PR alike on PPSMI and fence sitting and time buying stand of THE CABINET for a decision confirmed our leaders are NOT ISSUES CENTERED and COWARDICE along party/race/religion/language/gender/self gratification and self denial line.
The unhappiness expressed in Parliament today by Sabah’s MPs on being sidelined by Federal Government due to development funds promised in 2008 are not felt by the state is clear sign of unease and unhappiness with the state of affairs in the country.
Now that Tengku had outlined Tengku’s proposals for BN’s and UMNO’s reforms, 1 United Bangsa Malaysia’s humble view is that there is no necessity to have legislation to bar race based political parties.
This is because THE RAKYATs had spoken and let all those hard core race based political parties to live in self gratification and self denials to face the full consequences of their lip service to THE RAKYATs voice.
1 United Bangsa Malaysia humbly suggest that YAM Tengku Razaleigh be that COURAGEOUS LEADERS who are ISSUES CENTERED for THE RAKYATs and MALAYSIA by tabling a motion on PPSMI in parliament to resolve the issues by the august house. The voting should be by way of secret ballot instead of a show of hand. This will also answer whether our MPs from both BN and PR are ISSUES CENTERED for THE RAKYATs without fear and favor and a test case for UNITY GOVERNMENT.
Other issues which could also be carried in similar manner would cover the stimulus package, housing issues/JMB and foreign workers.
Thank you.
Together for 1 Nation, 1 Malaysia as 1 United Bangsa Malaysia
cintanegaraku
March 10, 2009 at 4:14 pm
To change a situation 180 degrees in BN will be distrarous.Never can achieved due to the current policy in place.We must think out of the box.
We need to work from what we have now or transform the current situation.This is possible.How? MP are representative’s of the rakyat.Either Tengku lobby with the MPs or the rakyat pressures the respective MP in their areas to support Tengku to be the prime minister and form the new government till the end terms to reform and pass all the bills mentioned “demi kepentingan rakyat jelita”. To be strong in your carrying out your duties you need to have an “absolute” endorsement from these MP which means no changes in leadership till next election and giving you full veto to pass these bills. Just an idea! I see things differently. Government is rakyat and rakyat is government. King is defender of rakyat interest. The formation of government are concepts decided by political party for their self interest and does not have members or rakyat endorsement.With majority you can form the government thats what BN did for the last 50 years.Remember Tengku you are in BN , so the Police or Army cannot create chaos.If the opposition wants to form the government then there will be chaos in the country.As long as the Prime Minister is from BN is Ok , the rakyat spoken since March 2008.Follow the flow why go against it.
freedesire
March 10, 2009 at 4:26 pm
What do you think of the budget? Is Najib and his team capable of handling finance after all? He seemed to have listened to everyone that the stimulus needs to be an adequate one. He did give a big number. 60 Billion. Where is it coming from though?
adeliza79
March 10, 2009 at 5:12 pm
YBM Tengku,
You have come up with a very realistic and bold proposal on what should UMNO do and the way to have a clean government. UMNO leaders are only interested in themselves, their family members and cronies. Our leaders have become too corrupted.
In the past our leaders were honest and sincere in developing the country and improving the standard of living of the people. Our present leaders are only interested in enriching themselves and nothing more. To them the country and the people comes next. That is why the rakyat decided to teach us a lesson in the March 2008 general elections. Yet our leaders have not learned anything.
I agree with you that we need to separate party politics and responsibilities of the the government.
But I would like to add one more thing to it that is we must stop appointing MPs as ministers and deputy ministers. We are small country and we have just too many ministers and deputy ministers. We need only 10-12 minsters who are professionals or specialists in their fields to manage our country’s affairs.
MPs and ADUNs will “bodek” the party President or the PM and blindly support him so that they are in his good books with the sole reason to be selected as a minister, deputy minister, MB/CM, state excos, etc. Their main objective is just to make money.
All our MBs, ministers and deputy ministers are filthy rich because they chair meetings on tenders and have the upper hands on most things. Tenders are being manipulated to the maximum that the people are fed up of our leaders and hate them.
UMNO and even BN component parties are full of leaders who only know one word, “yes”. There are just a handful of them who sometimes dare say “no”. For those who dare say “no”, there is no way they will be given positions in the party or the government.
One thing Dr. Mahathir said rightly of UMNO members that is “Melayu Mudah Lupa”. Just see who are those being given very strong support in the coming UMNO elections. The corrupted, the liars, the power abusers, the rejected ones, those responsible for BN’s poor performance in the March 2008 elections, those who lost in the elections and even former cronies of Anwar Ibrahimn are given very strong support. Something is definitely wrong with our members. Can we performance better in the next general elections with such people holding positions in the party? I am 100% sure the voters will reject us and show us the exit door for good.
The whole country is in a bad shape. Nobody is bothered about following rules and regulations and even the law. Implementation of policies is very poor. The performance of the judiciary, AG’s dept, MACC, police, local govt authorities and all other government agencies and departments need a complete change and overhaul. The civil servants’ mindset and work ethics need to be redefined. The public has lost confidence in all of them. Too much of political interference and abuse of power by our leaders.
Our country needs a good leader like you to rectify all the weaknesses and put back each and every department and govt agencies on the right track to regain confidence of the people. It is going to be a momentous task but I have full confidence in your abilities and leadership qualities. We must save our country from becoming another Zimbabwe and the like.
YBM Tengku, majority of the rakyat feel that only you can change the situation because you are a sincere leader and not involved in money politics like the others in UMNO who will do anything for power and position. Please save our country.
pinkpanther7
March 10, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Dear All,
The several ideas outlined by Tengku Razaleigh for the Barisan Nasional rejuvenation programme are in fact more or less the manisfesto of Pakatan Rakyat. It is Ketuanan Rakyat spelt out in a different manner but the way going forward is about the same. This is no novel or some sudden ingenious idea and if we are to look further back the idea was first brought to light by Onn Jaafar. The idea was outrightly thrown out by the UMNO leaders then and will suffer the same fate with the present batch of UMNO leaders. We have to reconcile with the fact that UMNO leaders are out there for their own survival and interests. They have successfully captivated and used the Malays at large for their own selfish ends. This is not something which many will dispute. MCA has been emasculated by UMNO and MIC unable to marshall strong support from the Indians.
Let us not be foolish as all politicians will only say things which will benefit themselves. For example, the current Daulat Tuanku campaign brought about by the UMNO Youth. They are trying to gather the support of the Malays by branding PKR and PAS as vassals of DAP but in actual fact UMNO Youth was placed the Sultans last in the 1993 face-off with the palace.
appalis
March 11, 2009 at 12:38 pm
appalis says “UMNO youth was placed the Sultans last in the 1993 face-off with the palace”…….true..very true..but then again generally most ppl has short memories,like wise to few of our honourable Sultans…..after all it happened in 1993…too hard to recall….
tuanpuan
March 11, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Dear Kuli,
I applaud the suggestions but how can we put words to action ? Today, We are seeing suggestions aplenty from all sorts of people who claim to be analysts but what changes are we making to ensure suggestions don’t seem mere rhetoric.
The GENERATIONS tomorrow will not remember words with no actions to follow, the MAN on the street will have no remembrance to words if he is not affected by it with actions and implementations.
When do we stop suggesting and start acting ?
I know your hands are tied, I know the actions should you take will result in you being an outcaste but WORDS ??, At this point in time we have plenty from everyone, what we don’t have is someone taking the lead to do something than mere suggesting.
Dear Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh, I mean no disrespect to you. If it was,my apologies are advanced.
sulaiman hamzah
March 11, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Long live Malaysian Malaysia, not of DAP’s, but a new Malaysian Malaysia, a Malaysia for all Malaysians.
suhaimisaid
March 11, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Read the explosive interview of Tengku with AK47 here.
It has 7 parts
sakmongkol.blogspot.com/
timmysay
March 11, 2009 at 4:21 pm
i read sakmongkol.blogspot.
one thing i cant agree with Ku Li is about KJ.
Altho im in the same generation, Watever reason is.. NO, because i know.
and about proposal for BN and abolish the parties within. Its hard. Really hard.The ppl may abuse the system one day.Ppl will also hard to accept.unless, PKR has become really strong,then BN need to revamp.
We all know wat happen to Parti Negara and S46.
farizkb
March 11, 2009 at 10:09 pm
mycitizen09
March 12, 2009 at 11:52 am
Our very own Martin Luther King. Nice one Tengku.
Let us not divide but unite. It might not see happening this in my life time but at least I can sow the seed of change. Let us do the back breaking work of ploughing and sowing but let our children harvest our sweat, effort and dream.
1nonlydave
March 13, 2009 at 1:37 am
Well, Tengku Razaleigh, I am waiting for you response to mini budget, stimulus package of RM60bil. Your proposal was RM30bil. This is RM60bil. Anwar dan Husam, both gave sound response, now we are waiting from you!
suhaimisaid
March 13, 2009 at 3:58 pm