Almost immediately after the news of Dr Mahathir Mohamad calling for a Russian balance against the United States appeared in the media, a question was raised in a Chinese-language website: Who would balance against Umno and Mahathir, their hegemonic and narcissistic grand design?

It is indeed a question that deserves comprehensive and in-depth public discourse. For years, it has always been Umno and its political and intellectual elite who practised the art of balancing one group with another.

Shouldnt Umno itself be balanced against as a hegemony threatening democracy and human rights in domestic politics?

Within the ruling Barsian Nasional, Umno has always been perceived quite rightly by the dominant faction of MCA, to be using its intra-party dissidents and Gerakan to balance against the second largest component party in the coalition so that it would not make excessive demands.

After the outbreak of the protracted civil war in MCA last June, Mahathir set up his own directly-employed Chinese secretariat and gathered around himself a group of wealthy and influential Chinese businessmen to check and balance against the two warring factions of MCA as well as Gerakan.

Similarly, in Indian politics, while Umno normally relied on MIC as the principal partner for symbolic purposes, it keeps Indian-based parties like the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) and other influential Indian businessmen and community leaders to serve as a check and balance against its ally.

The traces of Umnos secret works of balance of power can be found in almost all component parties in BN, as well as the civil society where its supporters, open or secret, form and activate NGOs.

A knowledge of this political craft of Umno helps to explain many otherwise mysterious occurrences in Malaysian politics.

Mahathirs checks

Within Umno too, Mahathir always seems to be keeping checks and balances against his subordinates, especially his deputies. Thus, while all others in Umno are dispensable, he himself is not.

As for Mahathir himself, after the departure of Musa Hitam and Anwar Ibrahim, there is no more check and balance against him anymore.

The survivors or survivalists seem to be far more intellectually inferior and politically credulous and malleable than him, Musa and Anwar.

Since 1988, the judiciary and the institution of monarchy have been 'rationalised' by Mahathir's Umno to serve what it calls 'national interests' and 'national security'.

The Parliament has always been dominated by Umno and its allies. While the mainstream English and Malay media have always been under its control, the Chinese newspapers have also recently fallen into the hand of the hegemonic power.

Umno thus remains in the centre, and Mahathir, the centre of the centre. Umno and Mahathir are not satisfied yet. They now openly call and quietly work for an international alliance to weaken the moral legitimacy of Western democracies, by attempting to pit Europe and Russia against the United States.

At another level, Umno and Mahathir also pit the Islamic and Third Worlds not only against the United States, but also Europe and Russia. It is a double game, but the ultimate target is clear and obvious in this game-plan: the United States.

They also use the same method domestically against the parliamentary opposition, the Chinese and Tamil educationists, human rights NGOs and the alternative media.

Seen in this holistic and long-run perspective, the accelerating trend or pattern of behaviour is dangerous. It leads inevitably to the absolute concentration of absolute power and influence in one party and one person, or a small group of persons.

After all, Mahathir has not only unilaterally proclaimed a so-called 'Islamic State', but also hinted on establishing a 'good dictatorship'.

Reversible trend

However, this trend is reversible if the judiciary, institution of monarchy, Parliament, non-Umno component parties of the BN and media reassert their institutional powers, influences and roles in the polity defined by parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy.

The parliamentary opposition parties and NGOs have their roles to play too. They must not again be tempted or provoked into hard-splitting debates on vain subjects like theology or ideology.

A balancing alliance or the political art of balance of power against a hegemony is only about strategy, not ideology or theology.

Western democracies and democrats must also realise that while they have differences in trade and foreign policies in some cases, they must continue to unite and speak with one voice on the issues of democracy and human rights.

The search and competition for business, trade and investment opportunities should be firmly balanced by consistent commitment to liberal democracy and human rights in the non-Western world.

Besides being the defining political and cultural identities of the Western civilisation, democracy and human rights serve as guarantees for business transparency and accountability. It is to the interests of Western business to have transparency and accountability in developing countries.

Just as moderate Muslim oppositionists must not see the West and the United States as a satanic monolith, the West and Americans must also not define moderate Muslims as only those who are in power. Just as there are fascists in the rank of secular nationalists, there are also moderate Muslims in the opposition.

As for ethnic minorities like Chinese and Indians, their interests in a globalised age are best served by making as many friends as possible in the Western and Islamic worlds. We can make friends in both these worlds without going through the middleman  Umno or their intellectuals.

Similarly, Westerners and Muslims can also make friends with Chinese, Indians and other minorities without going through Umno, MCA and MIC. It is an age of multilingualism, direct and fast communication and easy travel.

In short, in the post-Cold War politics of alignment, de-alignment and re-alignment, Umno's 'poison' could be others' 'meat', and vice versa.

JAMES WONG WING ON is chief analyst of Strategic Analysis Malaysia (SAM) which produces the subscriber-based political report, Analysis Malaysia . Wong is a former member of parliament (1990-1995) and a former columnist for the Sin Chew Jit Poh Chinese daily. He read political science and economics at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. While in Sin Chew , he and a team of journalists won the top awards of Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) for 1998 and 1999.