Will there really be change?

Remember this album by The Who? The definitive song on this album was the eight-minute long version of Won't Get Fooled Again. This is a real rocker of a song. You've got to listen to it with the volume high to hear how Pete Townshend, Roger Daltry, John Entwhistle and Keith Moon rocked.


In my opinion, the most memorable lines in this song were at its end when Daltry screamed out:

Meet the new boss, Same as the old boss

Let's see whether this refrain will describe the new Cabinet which Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is going to unveal later today. Although it is widely reported that he intends to trim down the Cabinet's size, the question is: by how much? Will there really be significant changes? Or will he retain many of the same old faces?

By all accounts, he will still likely surround himself with his Yes Men in UMNO. And I suspect he will still be holding the plum Ministries like Finance. He won't let them go, and he'll still place Najib in charge of Defence, Rafidah Aziz in International Trade and Kerismuddin in Education. If they are retained in his new Cabinet, it will be a big, big disappointment to everyone who had hoped he would take a cue from the General Election debacle.

If Abdullah still doesn't understand that the goal posts have shifted, it will be the end of him. Not even years but possibly in the months to come. Change, what change? Reinvent, what reinvent? Political will, what political will? I hope I'm wrong.