Badawi Makes a Good Speech but....

The atmosphere must have been tense at the PPP assembly for the PM after that "bombshell" from the Malacca MB who abandoned all etiquette for a guest and roundly insulted his host by telling them the PPP could simply leave the BN NOW if they did not like it.

You may know that I have criticised our PM before for making terrible speeches but if you read this article from malaysiakini, you find that Badawi handled the situation well.

I watched a short exerpt of his speech on TV3 and I thought the segment shown was also quite good.

We know that race-based parties in Malaysia had a historical reason when Malaya gained independence but after 50 years as a nation, we see evidence that such parties can also be damaging to national harmony when ultras from the different races can stir up race matters.

Since the PM compared the BN to a family, perhaps this simple analogy could be useful.
In fact some parties in the BN can be likened to the Prodigal Son in the Bible. He demanded his inheritance from his father and then spent it all on loose living untill there was nothing left. He returned home and his father welcomed him back; much to the chagrin of the other son.

While it is good that the PPP's problem will be settled via discussion and consensus within the BN, this problem highlights a long-festering sore within the BN - how to manage the different aspirations of the BN parties.

There will always be conflict between the different parties as they operate on different principles. The main parties are racist while the PPP and the Gerakan are the main parties that have adopted values based on concepts other than race.

For Malaysia to achieve developed nation status by 2020 I feel that the BN leadership should encourage the non-race based parties to grow while those like UMNO, MIC and MCA should be phased out gradually.

This is a very difficult problem to resolve and I would compare it to asking the defense industry in the USA to sue for peace in the Middle East.

But of course voters have the right and the duty to tell them what we feel.

Photo: Thanks to http://www.bbc.co.uk/vietnamese/specials/images/1736_mideastquotes/117340_190706-badawi-afpgetty400.jpg