Barisan Nasional (BN) lost the by election at Bukit Selambau and Bukit Gantang held on 7 April, nevertheless there is an increase of Malay voters compare to the previous general election.

The return of Tun Mahathir Mohamad to Umno maybe the main factor of the increase Malays votes. Nevertheless his return itself is not enough to win the two by elections.

The Malay votes are divided between BN and Pakatan Rakyat whereas majority of the non-Malay votes goes the opposition party.

A number of political observers seem to agree that it is not Umno that is weak but the problem lies on other component party like MCA and MIC .They fail to get votes from their own people.

Even before the voting day, there are rumors going on that BN will lose at Bukit Selambau because they put a MIC candidate. It is said that MIC will not get support from the Indians mainly due to Datuk Seri Samy Vellu factor. If the Indians themselves does not support MIC what more the non- Indians.

Samy Vellu recently won as MIC president uncontested for the 11th consecutive term. His rival Datuk M. Muthupalaniappan fails to get enough nominations to contest for MIC President due to technical fault. Therefore many people regard Sammy Vellu as a dictator.

As for Bukit Gantang (before the election campaign start) it is widely speculated that Datuk Seri Ir Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin will get sympathy votes.

There is a theory that the non-Malay vote for the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) because they hope if PR were to form the federal government, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will abolish the special Malay rights in the constitutions or at least implement a new economic policy that does not favors the Malays.

Perhaps it is time not just for Umno to change but MCA and MIC parties also need re-engineering and re-branding.

There is also a popular belief that BN fail to get support from the young voters who are very much exposed to internet technology. Maybe it is because the nature of young blood to go against an establishment.

It is the task of Umno Youth wing to get the young voters to vote for BN, therefore it can be said that Umno Youth has failed in this aspect. Again the burden should not be only on Umno youth but also the other BN component parties youth wing.

No doubt the lost of the two Bukit by election is a blow to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. But he shouldn’t be blame because he just sworn in as Malaysia 6th Prime Minister less than a week.

His capabilities as a Prime Minister are not tested yet. The result of all the three by elections does not show the real picture of how Malaysians feel about Najib.