What is more significant, the end of the Tengku Razaleigh saga probably marks the real beginning of the end of UMNO as foreshadowed by Kuomintang�s fate in Taiwan after voters overturned 55 years of KMT rule on the island in last Saturday�s Taiwan presidential elections to elect Democratic Progressive Party�s Chen Shui-bian as the next President.
Tengku Razaleigh is the victim of an undemocratic UMNO constitution and party structure which had been manipulated by Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to protect his power base from an open and democratic challenge.
The message from the end of Tengku Razaleigh�s quest for the the top post in UMNO and the country is that there could be no hope for internal party reforms in UMNO and even less hope for political and socio-economic reforms on the national stage by the present UMNO leadership.
May be, the one final slim chance for UMNO renewal and national political and socio-economic reforms by the UMNO leadership is for the voters in the Sanggang by-election in Pahang to vote against UMNO and open the eyes of the UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaderships to the imperative need and urgency for democratisation and far-reaching reforms both in UMNO and in Malaysian system of governance.
(24/3/2000)