The Malay, who we are told that Umno would not allow to disappear from this earth, is now confused. He is told only Umno could do that, but only if the Malay rallies around it as forcefully as it once did. The future of the Malay race is in Umno's hands, make no mistake about that.

Besides, Islam in Malaysia must only grow at Umno's direction. The other political parties misuse and misunderstand Islam. Never mind the Malay has no food on the table, but Putrajaya and the Petronas Twin Towers is to Islam what the best of Ottoman civilisation once was.

Umno, which once held the Malay ground on what it did today resorts to talking in riddles and symbols, to achieve a glorious future to forget the hunger of the present.

This, in essence, is what the Umno General Assembly, now meeting at the Putra World Trade Centre, wants the delegate to return home with. The Umno president, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, as usual, sidestepped the party's problems - and it has many - to talk of a brilliant future.

The horrendous party problems are swept under the proverbial carpet, nothing of importance is discussed, as usual, and delegate after delegate skirt around issues and concentrate on the inessentials. Nothing emerged in two days of debate which suggests Umno knows what ails them. It is, like Mahathir's speech, a re-statement of past practice: long on form, short on substance.

Lighting a fire

Admist it, Mahathir lights a fire under the MCA president, Ling Liong Sik. Ling fights for his political life after he unwisely bought Nanyang Press, with its stable of two Chinese newspapers and magazines. He saw it as a feather in his cap, but the Chinese community rebels against it and sets that feather alight.

Ling in his closed-door meeting with party loyalists said, so it is claimed, he was given a fortnight to take over Nanyang Press or see it slip into Malay hands. For Mahathir to now claim he had no say in it, is disingenuous. He saw the Malay ground slipping with the Chinese, and that would be fatal to him in the future. One wonders why he did not consult his Chinese aides and save Ling from disaster.

Mahathir is caught, for he had encouraged the buy even if he now pours cold water over it. This refusal to consult party counsels when leaders mortgage their parties is endemic amongst Barisan Nasional and some opposition parties. But in his mind, Ling has become a liability which could drive away the Chinese he needs to fill the gap of receding Malay support. So he kills him with faint praise.

The more he is pushed to the wall in Umno, the more multiracial support he needs to survive. Politics in Umno is no more about Malay well-being, but sheer numbers, no matter from whom. So, when Umno talks of the unattainable to wean Malay backing, it is as out of touch under Mahathir as the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) is under Ling. So, if Ling cannot produce this Chinese support, let there be another leader.

This is why the Umno general assembly lost its way. The most dramatic event in the runup to it, is the resignation of its long-time treasurer, Daim Zainuddin, but hardly a word is mentioned of it in the proceedings. Mahathir himself laughs it off, playing cat-and-mouse games with the press, making inane remarks to serious questioning. Once, it would have been clever; now it is supercilious.

It accentuates the divide between Umno leaders and members. Every Umno leader, from branch chairman up to the president, sees it as his birthright to be as arrogant as he or she can. The kerfuffle over money politics, when some division leaders and others were suspended or reprimanded, is toted to reflect Umno's seriousness to root it out.

Petty corruption

But can it? Several delegates are convinced it did so to ensure one man who lost a divisional election is brought back. Umno leaders, from branch to supreme council, survive because they help out with school fees or other regular payments to party members throughout the year so that incumbents have a built-in edge in party elections. In the last month, the challengers had to compensate and the loud cries of money politics rears its head.

Umno has over the years encouraged this petty corruption. The prime minister is as guilty of it as the lowliest branch chairman. It is what makes the wheels of Umno turn. It worked so long as Umno was perceived to be the heart and soul of the Malay. It no more is.

Besides, it resolutely prevents the young men and women from holding office. Umno is caught in a time warp, in which the founding generation still hold office. The second generation is ignored, and those who dare challenge, like the former Umno president, perdition awaits them in the form of a jail cell.

The third generation, those just out of university and find the world outside uncomfortable, unlike the second generation where gravy was given even if they did not want it. The geriatric Umno leaders could not comprehend this growing dissonance with the youth, and tried to rein them in with threats and denial of government succour.

It backfired. Mahathir and his Umno leaders reacted against jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim as Ling with his detractors, and lost the ground. But they continue as if nothing is wrong, it is the challengers who should be destroyed, and the Malays are stupid if they do not follow him. Even the Malays now feel Umno should fight for the cultural heartland as PAS and Keadilan do. It is no more automatic.

This is why the Umno general assembly is no more a reflection of what ails the community. It is orchestrated to the last detail to the president's wishes, and no issues get resolved when it is over, with no one the wiser. Those who tag along come for the change of climate more than any serious interest in the proceedings, a far cry from previous general assemblies.

Unseen and unheard

It is political machinations more than a serious interest to address the issues that characterises this meeting. And the overriding central theme is to ensure Mahathir remains at the helm for as long as he wants. For a man 20 years in power, he is still vague of whom his successor would be.

That he cannot say it aloud it is his deputy president, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is a sign that, like the Umno youth rejecting their leaders choice of delegates to the general assembly, the man would be chosen by the general assembly, not anyone else. So, he walks on eggshells as he manouevres around Umno to make him unchallengeable.

Like Daim, another though more credible Anwar was the unseen and unheard presence. Both are creatures of Mahathir, and both are now on the outside. Umno does not want Daim, but lean more and more towards Anwar. It is a movement Umno leaders look upon in astonishment.

But Anwar has an aura of a wronged leader unfairly humiliated, and attracts a growing support from those who would rather Mahathir go into retirement.

Quietly and without fanfare, the Malay reshuffles his priorities in Umno and elsewhere to paint Mahathir into a corner. It is not openly discernible, certainly not under the rules of political and scientific analysis, but the Malay has begun to twist the screw on Mahathir.