Finally, Umno starts to repair its image

 Umno finally get their act together and sidelined Tajuddin Rahman.

I have always believe that the guy was more a liability to the party in the overall scheme of things.

He may be popular in his local environment in Pasir Salak but not as the face of the party.

Umno really shouldn't keep such boorish and irritating people as its frontliners.

There are several others who are similar to Tajuddin.

I'm not saying that Umno should get rid of them altogether but it should really stop letting them shape its image.

One of the reasons Umno and its allies lost in GE14 was because people see it as being led by a bunch of stupid gangster-like figures who were most likely corrupt and racist.

That's why the Pakatan's campaign of Asal Bukan Umno worked.

Umno needs a new image with good and performing leaders like Mat Hasan, Hasni, KJ, Ashraf Dusuki, etc,

Of course, the media doesn't seem to like what's happening, as many of them don't really like Umno.

They tried to portray the sacking of Tajuddin from the supreme council as a big rift within Umno, which would split the party.

Well, as long as Umno members don't think that's the case, then it should be alright.

The party really need to stay the course and replace those who were actually liabilities.

It needs to do so across the board, and not just among those who went against the party leadership.

For instance, they need to push to the background personalities such as Puad Zarkashi, who has been busy propping himself to be a leading party man, including in the case of Tajuddin.

The media have been highlighting Puad's statements quite a lot lately as if his voice is the voice of Umno. Just check reports on him by FMT, okay.

They like Puad to be the image of Umno - irritating and unpopular.

Do remember that when Puad won the Rengit seat during the BN's landslide victory in the Johor election earlier this year, he did so with a significantly reduced majority. 

The former Umno's Rengit assemblyman Ayub Jamil had won the seat amidst BN's defeat in 2018 with a majority of 4,172 while Puad only managed 1,920.

Really, Umno has better leaders for its image than Puad.

The party also needs to replace those who clearly failed to perform in the run-up to the 2018 defeat.

For instance, a state party leader who lost his state seat, parliament seat and the whole state should not remain as the face of Umno.

Umno would be stupid if it continues to prop up such a failure as its top leader.

Well, maybe such a leader can still be fielded again in his constituency where he lost in 2018 but don't lah try to put him to contest a safe seat to make sure that he could remain as a top Umno leader.

If the guy had contested a seat such as Pasir Gudang, let him stays there instead of sending him to Mersing or Kota Tinggi where he has a better chance of winning.

Errr, I think the Umno leadership can understand that.

Anyway, for now, I still think Umno and its BN allies will do well in the next general election, especially if it's to be held very soon.

Their opponents, whether Pakatan, Perikatan, Pas or any others, are too much in disarray now to repeat their victory in 2018.

About Bon Odori and visiting a Shinto temple

So, the religious people are now saying that the Bon Odori celebration is haram for Muslims.

Sigh.

And all these while I thought the festival is celebrated here just for fun and enjoying Japanese stuff.

Never been to one despite it being actually celebrated here over the past 30 years, but I wish I had, now that as a Muslim I'm no longer allowed to do so.

I wonder how many of those Muslims who had been to the Bon Odori celebrations here over the years have actually lost their faith in Islam.

Well, I once visited the famous Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto and am still very much a Muslim.

I found that the scenic Shinto temple more of a tourist attraction than a place of worship, actually.

It was fun walking up and down the hill where the temple is located while shopping for authentic Japanese stuff at the shops along the pathways.

I saw quite a number of Malaysian tourists, including girls in tudung wearing rented kimonos posing around the temple complex for pictures.

It was late autumn and the scenery was fantastic.

After the trip, I had a chat with my Japanese friend and asked why the temple felt more like a tourist attraction than a place where people worship their gods.

He laughed and said in Japan, religion is categorised the same as entertainment as the majority of Japanese don't take religion too seriously.

The guy, who is a political analyst said that was why at first he was baffled with how religion-based parties in Malaysia could do so well.

Personally, I don't find the Bon Odori celebration here is a real threat to the faith of Muslims who took part in it.

It's more a cultural rather than a religious thing. A bit of a cosplay Japanese party, really. 

Many Malaysians love the Japanese culture and it's an event where they could express their fondness of it.

At least that's how I see it.

Of course, the religious people see it differently.

I guess, the religious authorities will after this tell Muslims more firmly that it's haram to join in the celebrations of Deepavali, Christmas, etc.

Well, they are the experts and being a Muslim, I would try to abide by such a fatwa as much as I could.

Hopefully they wouldn't ban me from celebrating Chinese New Year because that would give me quite a bit of a problem.