That’s right. Blame the cyber campaign!

The level of denial has reached stupendous proportions. Not to mention the shirking of personal responsibility. Where leaders actually say “well, I didn’t see that coming.” Or “lets get together and have a talk and see what we’ve done wrong and how we can correct this,” we have shirkers who have buried their heads and are spitting at each other while they’re in the sand.

In life, in business, and in politics (though I’m not well versed in the last, I’d imagine it to be the same), if you take a hit, you go away, and have a think to see what needs to be done differently so that you can do it well the next time round. And there is ALWAYS a next time round.

However, looking at the way our top leadership and leaders are looking at this, they’re scurrying around trying to frame an agenda that not only ABSOLVES them of responsibility but attributes it to external forces beyond their control. If actions speak louder than words, then let’s have a look at the following laundry list of examples;

1. The new cabinet – the number of political rewards tells you how much the message has actually NOT sunk in – Muhd2 Taib being the most glaring example
2. The altercation with the Sultans on the part of BN and how they’ve been handled – For one, these could have been avoided, for another, it would seem that these signal a blindness to new realities on the ground
3. Statements by Zainuddin Maidin and various other ex Cabinet Ministers like Samy Vellu who refuses to give up his seat or blames the electorate or even worse, warns/threatens repercussions for voting the opposition in.

What prompts this short sightedness can perhaps be understood by UMNO’s value set and to a lesser extent the “patron client” relationship which BN component parties have with UMNO which admires power and operates on a neo-feudal basis. Feudalism perpetuate idiocies like this. However, while it can be understood, it certainly should not be condoned.

For one thing, we have not seen any signs that there has been a “taking stock” where the whole BN comes together to have a good jaw, yarn, fight, of where they went wrong. Do it indoors and away from prying eyes for all I care but include the “little man.” Then come up with a list of things to address. It would, of course, be most effectively done with transparency but it looks like there’s fat hopes of that!

At this point, our Dear Leaders are caught in a North Korean bubble of their own making with no will to burst it. They’re like mice, scurrying around trying to fix their own little world which they see as the be-all and end-all of their existence with only a passing acknowledgement of the current reality on the ground.

Sad. Very sad; because the rest of the world looking in are doing so in amazement at how silly they look.

One thing’s for certain; in life, if you continue down the same road that you’ve been travelling on, you are certain to end up in the same place with the corollary to that being obvious. If you don’t like where you’re going, change the route and it’s probable you’ll end up some place different.

In BN’s and especially UMNO’s case, if they continue this ostrich-in-the-sand style of decision making, they’re heading for oblivion.