Nobody ever leaves or returns to Umno
“...We can best understand the furies of war and politics by remembering that almost the whole of each party believes absolutely in its picture of the opposition, that it takes as fact, not what is, but what it supposes to be the fact.”
- Walter Lippmann, ‘Public Opinion’
To elaborate, nobody ever leaves or returns to Umno because Umno is a way of life and not merely a political party. Over the years, there have been splinter groups and a party rebirth but ultimately what politicians (establishment and opposition) never openly admit is that the system is Umno and unless there comes a time when people want a change and put in the hard work of actually facilitating that change, then what we are stuck with is the Umno way of life.
So ingrained in this Umno way of life that oppositional forces in this country who claim to be against racialist policies, bend over backwards or turn a blind eye to the racial rhetoric and policies of political allies in their quest for political power. This of course provides the Umno establishment with the ammo it needs to cry "hypocrisy" and deride the opposition of being politically expedient and without principles.
When former deputy Muhyiddin Yassin, now president of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), dismisses returning to Umno - “Because what is the point of returning to Umno since it is no longer a party which we once knew to have fought for race, religion and country” - it really tells us something about the way how the mainstream political opposition operates.
Think about this for a moment. If anything, the current Umno leadership has decided that fighting for race, religion and country is the best way to sustain hegemony. This extends to making alliances with arch enemy PAS, discounting the urban vote, creating laws such as the National Security Council (NSC) Act and waging an ‘unerklärter Krieg’ (undeclared war) on religious minorities in this country.
And if anything, Umno is advancing the cause of “Malay rights” through outsourced thugs and component minority political parties which have a hard time justifying the anti-non-Malay rhetoric coming out of Umno.
Of course, all this is done to keep the Umno grand poobah in power but has there ever been a time when Umno has not used its resources to keep its chief in power? There has never been Umno political personalities who rejected the ideologies of Umno. There have only ever been refuseniks who have rejected the grand Umno chief.
The only person ever to be ejected from the Umno paradise, and who had the charisma to spark off a movement of dissent against Umno in the Malay community, is jailed political prisoner Anwar Ibrahim. Not only was he comfortable slaying Umno sacred cows, he had the political cunning to use Umno's underlying ideology as an indictment against the system but not against him or any of the other oppositional groups who advocated policies which were similar to the policies of his former comrades, which he claimed was destroying democracy and the rule of law of this country.
People seem to forget that when Anwar first took the streets, it was a mostly Malay affair. Before DAP managed to exploit the schisms in PAS, the charismatic former Umno operative with the pragmatism of the late Tok Guru had managed to form an alternative Malay power structure which eventually coalesced into a possible alternative to Barisan National and Umno.
People often ask me why is it I do not think that the corruption of this current regime is the existential threat facing Malaysians at this moment. My answer is simple. There has always been corruption in this country, and if we are truthful, on the scale greater than the current Umno mess.
The only thing that is different this time is because the Malay community is fractured, and Umno has had to play the race and religion card against its own. Playing the race and religion card against your own community is a recipe for disaster, especially when the country does not have an alternative to the Islam proscribed by Umno.
Essentially, like most Islamic states in failing, the conflict will always be between a fascist corrupt state and an extreme form of Islam which is thought to be the panacea for all the problems the state through its excesses creates...
“...We can best understand the furies of war and politics by remembering that almost the whole of each party believes absolutely in its picture of the opposition, that it takes as fact, not what is, but what it supposes to be the fact.”
- Walter Lippmann, ‘Public Opinion’
To elaborate, nobody ever leaves or returns to Umno because Umno is a way of life and not merely a political party. Over the years, there have been splinter groups and a party rebirth but ultimately what politicians (establishment and opposition) never openly admit is that the system is Umno and unless there comes a time when people want a change and put in the hard work of actually facilitating that change, then what we are stuck with is the Umno way of life.
So ingrained in this Umno way of life that oppositional forces in this country who claim to be against racialist policies, bend over backwards or turn a blind eye to the racial rhetoric and policies of political allies in their quest for political power. This of course provides the Umno establishment with the ammo it needs to cry "hypocrisy" and deride the opposition of being politically expedient and without principles.
When former deputy Muhyiddin Yassin, now president of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), dismisses returning to Umno - “Because what is the point of returning to Umno since it is no longer a party which we once knew to have fought for race, religion and country” - it really tells us something about the way how the mainstream political opposition operates.
Think about this for a moment. If anything, the current Umno leadership has decided that fighting for race, religion and country is the best way to sustain hegemony. This extends to making alliances with arch enemy PAS, discounting the urban vote, creating laws such as the National Security Council (NSC) Act and waging an ‘unerklärter Krieg’ (undeclared war) on religious minorities in this country.
And if anything, Umno is advancing the cause of “Malay rights” through outsourced thugs and component minority political parties which have a hard time justifying the anti-non-Malay rhetoric coming out of Umno.
Of course, all this is done to keep the Umno grand poobah in power but has there ever been a time when Umno has not used its resources to keep its chief in power? There has never been Umno political personalities who rejected the ideologies of Umno. There have only ever been refuseniks who have rejected the grand Umno chief.
The only person ever to be ejected from the Umno paradise, and who had the charisma to spark off a movement of dissent against Umno in the Malay community, is jailed political prisoner Anwar Ibrahim. Not only was he comfortable slaying Umno sacred cows, he had the political cunning to use Umno's underlying ideology as an indictment against the system but not against him or any of the other oppositional groups who advocated policies which were similar to the policies of his former comrades, which he claimed was destroying democracy and the rule of law of this country.
People seem to forget that when Anwar first took the streets, it was a mostly Malay affair. Before DAP managed to exploit the schisms in PAS, the charismatic former Umno operative with the pragmatism of the late Tok Guru had managed to form an alternative Malay power structure which eventually coalesced into a possible alternative to Barisan National and Umno.
People often ask me why is it I do not think that the corruption of this current regime is the existential threat facing Malaysians at this moment. My answer is simple. There has always been corruption in this country, and if we are truthful, on the scale greater than the current Umno mess.
The only thing that is different this time is because the Malay community is fractured, and Umno has had to play the race and religion card against its own. Playing the race and religion card against your own community is a recipe for disaster, especially when the country does not have an alternative to the Islam proscribed by Umno.
Essentially, like most Islamic states in failing, the conflict will always be between a fascist corrupt state and an extreme form of Islam which is thought to be the panacea for all the problems the state through its excesses creates.
Slaying Umno sacred cows
In one of my numerous articles about the Najib refuseniks and alternative Malay power structures, I wrote - “However, attempting to create a new Malay power structure - and I am assuming it is a new Malay power structure - when there are already numerous alternatives in place using the same Umno is unproductive. We do not need another oppositional political party that advocates the removal of Chairman Najib. What the Umno refuseniks need to do is work with the opposition without causing any more political fissures.”
Does anyone else think it is funny when the Bersatu president talks to religious scholars and ask if it is okay to “hijrah from Umno”? I know why he is doing this. To reassure some Malays that it is okay to leave Umno. However, are there any Malaysian, even those that oppositional types like to stereotype as “rural and ignorant”, who think that it is not possible to leave a political party? I do not think so.
The Arabisation process happened under the Umno long watch. PAS really had nothing to do with it except stupidly play bogeyman to Umno’s white knight. If the Malay polity really wanted to embrace the extremist Islam that PAS was advocating, they would have done that a long time ago. They would have voted in droves for an Islamic paradise instead of sustaining a somewhat liberal Malay Muslim hegemon.
The only reason why PAS is mainstream is because it decided that the only way to achieve federal or state power beyond the confines of the heartland was to work with a diverse coalition and moderate its Islamists imperatives. However, this should not distract from the fact that the only reason why PAS has this influence within the opposition is because pacts were made without thinking long-term, especially not about the vagaries of Malay/Muslim politics.
What use is an opposition especially a Malay-dominated one when it cannot or will not stem the tide of Arabisation because it thinks that using Umno’s strategy is the only way to win the game? And trust me, slaying Umno sacred cows does not mean political irrelevance. I would argue that this is exactly what the disenfranchised Malay community or least a large voting section of them wants to hear.
Say what you want of the Johor sultan but he said it best when he reminded Malays - “If there are some of you who wish to be an Arab and practise Arab culture, and do not wish to follow our Malay customs and traditions, that is up to you. I also welcome you to live in Saudi Arabia,” but most importantly, “…I believe there are Malays who are proud of the Malay culture. At least I am real and not a hypocrite…”
Having an alternative Malay power structure which may be nationalistic but rejects the Wahhabism of the Umno state is better than having a Malay power structure which apes Umno and hopes that corruption scandals and a tanking economy will bring down the current grand Umno poohbah.
Anwar was smart enough to realise that playing Umno’s game would get the opposition nowhere. If you really want to remove Najib, the only way to do this would be the ignite a people’s movement within the Malay community. You do not do this by offering them the same old Umno arguments. You do this by radicalising your Malay base with ideas that shocked the establishment, much like how Anwar did in the early days of the reformasi movement.
The problem here is that the Najib refuseniks think that the majority of the Malay community are as religiously obsessed, ignorant and wanting of handouts as the way Umno defines them. I think that what a growing section of the Malay community wants is not a Malay who fights for their “rights” but a Malay who has the guts to bury Umno and its policies which have done nothing for them instead of just leaving Umno but continuing its legacy.
Tomorrow: Only in Malaysia, it’s either ‘Rakyat’ or ‘Harapan’
S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
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