Is the Malaysian Titanic (read Umno) still on course?

The greatest urgency for Pakatan Rakyat now is to quickly bring into shape the style and substance of its liberal and pro-rakyat governance, as contrast to the BN’s self-enriching elitist rule.

Kim Quek

When former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad relentlessly lashes out at Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi for the disastrous electoral setback suffered by Barisan Nasional, does Mahathir realise that that he is in effect slapping his own face?

BN was heavily punished by the electorate only because Pak Lah had failed to clean up the filth left behind by Mahathir. So, the latter is still the main culprit for having “destroyed UMNO and BN” - the very accusation he made of Pak Lah in an emotional outburst upon learning the election results.

For, was it not Mahathir who had perfected the art of dictatorial rule and transformed UMNO into a hegemonic power that has brought havoc to the country through massive corruption and abuse of power? Now that the people have grown wiser, they have emphatically rejected this corrupt hegemony, as demonstrated in the election results of Mar 8.

Almost one month after the election, the leadership of UMNO appears to be still groping, unsure what exactly has hit them so hard. While Mahathir and his supporters are still merrily baying after the blood of Pak Lah, former UMNO vice president Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Ku Li) is frantically sounding the alarm bell that Malays are loosing political power, and yet other UMNO leaders are vaguely talking about “reforms”, “reinventing” or “strengthening” the party without being specific what these mean.

Perhaps the nearest to any policy response to this election came from Pak Lah himself when he delivered his first major post-election speech during the Investment Malaysia 2008 Conference on Mar 25. Pak Lah admitted his failure to fulfill reform pledges as major factor of the electoral setback and vowed to energetically renew reform efforts – on corruption, crime rate, judicial rot etc. However, his reform resolve was thrown into question when in the same breath he said his “biggest mistake” was to have failed to wage a successful cyber-war as the opposition did. This reminds us of the doubtful admission of guilt by former minister Chua Soi Lek who recently resigned in disgrace from the exposure of a video clip secretly taken of his sex exploit. Chua said his biggest mistake was the stupidity of using the same room every time he had a sexual roam with the girl.

IT'S MISMANAGEMENT, NOT INTERNET!

Make no mistake, BN/UMNO is sunk due to atrocious mismanagement of the country, not due to the Internet, as the latter is only the messenger, not the message itself. If UMNO’s so-called reforms or rejuvenation or whatever you call is only the revamping of the long antiquated racist formula to run this country in this globalised age without genuine rehabilitation of the impaired democratic institutions, as it appears to be the case now, judging from the tenor of the present brewing rebellion, then the titanic is on course to meet the fateful iceberg.

In fact, UMNO should realise that, the opposition was still seriously handicapped in the dissemination of information to the masses, as all local newspaper and TV channels had been monopolized by BN to belt out completely one-sided election propaganda. If the media had been independent and truthful in their reporting, BN would have been erased from the political scene, considering the mountain of corruption and misdeeds that have been endlessly emanating from its leadership.

Indeed, the first indication of the shakiness of Pak Lah’s reform pledges came when his so-called “reform cabinet” rejected de facto Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim’s maiden attempt to initiate judicial reform. Entrusted by Pak Lah to spearhead judicial reform, Zaid had proposed to apologise to former Lord President Salleh Abas and other judges in the Supreme Court who were unjustly sacked in the 1988 judiciary crisis which has caused the collapse of judicial integrity in our judicial system, the duration of which has lasted to this day. No less than the second and third highest leaders in UMNO, namely Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and International Trade and Industry Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had publicly slapped down on this Zaid initiative. So much, for Pak Lah’s renewed effort at reforms under the “rejuvenated” “reform cabinet”.
And so, Pak Lah’s call for reforms looks destined to remain a “voice in the wilderness”, in line with its similar destiny in his previous term of premiership.

While there is no visible movement on the “reforms” front, actions seem aplenty in the camps that champion racial causes – presumably “revival” of Malay power through UMNO, with an apparent convergence of purpose between Mahathir and Ku Li. The latter is agitating for a party EGM and has declared his challenge for party presidency.

KU LI'S RACIAL LOGIC

It is pertinent to look into Ku Li’s line of thinking when he invokes the fear of “loosing political control to non-Malays”. He theorises that Penang, Perak and Selangor are already under non-Malay control. He arrives at this conclusion by numerically adding the non-Malays in PKR to those in DAP in the respective state governments.

This narrow interpretation of racial power is both illogical and unhelpful in forging racial integration. First, a party member’s first allegiance is to the party (where members share the same ideology), not to his race. It is the policy of the party that determines the treatment accorded to the various races, not the racial identities of the officers executing the party policy, for a member that strays from party policy cannot survive within that party. Second, these state governments are ruled by coalitions of PKR, DAP & PAS, where none has won enough seats to govern alone. So, policy decisions are, by necessity, consensus under collective leadership.

In fact, Malays should be least worried of being marginalised under these coalition governments, for is it conceivable that PKR and PAS would allow Malays to be so treated?

Ku Li has equated Malay power with UMNO, so in his logic, Malays loose political power when UMNO looses control of government. Why should it be so? Aren’t both PKR and PAS led and controlled by Malays? Is Anwar Ibrahim not a Malay? Is Hadi Awang not a Malay?

Malays should logically be more worried about whether the elected government is good or bad, rather than whether the government is or is not UMNO-controlled.

NEP AND MALAY RIGHTS

Perhaps the issue that invokes the greatest concern among Malays is the NEP, which has come to be identified with Malay privileges.

Admittedly, NEP had made considerable contributions towards uplifting the status of Malays in economic and educational field, particularly in the earlier stage, resulting in the creation of a respectable and sizable Malay middle class. However, as UMNO assumed increasing hegemonic power under Mahathir, NEP has degenerated into a gigantic camouflage for massive corruption and cronyism that sustain the political patronage system which in turn sustain the UMNO hierarchy with the party president and prime minister at the apex – a phenomenon we call Umnoputraism. The latter is now the plague of the country, causing the country to loose economic competitiveness while rule of law continues to slide.

When Pakatan Rakyat – an alliance of PKR, DAP & PAS - proposes to do away with NEP, it actually means to discard Umnoputraism. In place of NEP, a genuine affirmative policy known as the Malaysian Economic Agenda (MEA) will be implemented to uplift the economic and social status of those who are in such need, irrespective of race or creed, in an ambience of transparent and frugal rule that will surely revive investors’ confidence in this country.

Malay confidence in Pakatan Rakyat should further be reassured by the avowed intent of the three component parties through their respective manifestos to uphold the Constitution, in which the special position for the Malays and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak is safeguarded under Article 153. There is no reason to believe that this status quo will change anytime in the future.

PAKATAN RAKYAT

The greatest urgency for Pakatan Rakyat now is to quickly bring into shape the style and substance of its liberal and pro-rakyat governance, as contrast to the BN’s self-enriching elitist rule. The perception of the goodness of PR’s rule must be quickly and firmly established so that PR can face off with confidence any sudden political challenge that may erupt in this time of transition and fluidity of political power.

In this connection, PR must follow through with determination its top-priority agenda of public declaration of assets of elected leaders, re-instatement of open and transparent tenders and legislative initiatives in judicial and electoral reforms and restoration of civil rights.

The people have spoken loudly in the election of Mar 8. Has BN understood the message and possess the political will to make the necessary changes? Is PR up to the challenge to fulfill the people’s wishes? The people are keenly watching for answers in the months ahead.