The speech was a wake up call to Malaysians and integral to the whole General Assembly was the Prime Minister’s 1 Malaysia concept with ‘People First, Performance Now,’ as its slogan which is designed to unify the country’s ethnic mix.

The Malaysian government is a coalition of parties under a national grouping Barisan Nasional or BN of which Umno is the leader. A key component party is the MCA, the Malaysian Chinese Association, which is in turmoil with delegates to an EGM last week voting no confidence in the party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat.

The established Indian Party and a component in BN is MIC headed by Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu. Prime Mijuster Najib created a precedent earlier this month when he attended the launch of a new Indian party, Makkal Sakti, whose president R.S.Thanenthirran said the party was established because the MIC had failed to meet the needs of the Indian community.   The new party supports the BN platform although not a component member of the coalition.

Many Malaysians feel that former Prime Minister (and Umno President) Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad retains considerable string pulling power as he constantly takes pride of place at such events and freely comments on his successors and other party leaders. At the Umno General Assembly for example he was pictured being greeted by the MIC President and was quoted  as saying Umno, and its president, Najib,  had to deliver on promises: “It’s relatively easy to give a speech and make promises, but after this the people will be watching if you are able to deliver your promises. You must walk the talk,” he was quoted in Malaysia’s The Sun newspaper.

Never afraid to throw his two cents into any debate, Dr. Mahathir said of the MCA’s upheaval that they would leave a negative impact on BN and said the leaders “must realize that if the people don’t want them, they have to step down.”

He added, “but the culture of stepping down has not developed in this country,” in an apparent self congratulation at his own stepping down. However many in Malaysia feel that while he stepped down, Dr. Mahathir is reluctant to let go. “I wish that old man would retire to his home in Langkawi island and shut up,” one Malay told me.