COMMENT It was the ancient Roman statesman Cicero ( below ) who said, that "true nobility is exempt from fear". Yet, as a party that has just declared the Malays it claims to represent as 'noble', Umno continues to spout the rhetoric of fear, incessantly playing the race card, while at the same time denying that it is a racist party, and insisting that it is 1Malaysia friendly.

When suggesting the switch to the term 'Kemuliaan Melayu' (Malay NONE nobleness) as being more relevant to the Malay community today compared to 'Ketuanan Melayu' (Malay supremacy), Umno Wanita chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said that such a concept can help Umno regain its image of integrity and confidence from the public.

" Ketuanan Melayu was relevant once upon a time. But if we consider the political climate today, the concept which needs to be revived is Kemuliaan Melayu, or the nobility of the Malay community.

"If we look carefully, it is the noble characteristics of the Malays which had brought independence for Malaya and steered BN towards its achievements (seen) today," she said in her speech while opening the Wanita meet, adding that the wing at least, must return to the original struggle of Malay politics - duty, responsibility and public service.

She said that such values will instill respect for the Malay race and will serve as a guide for the future.

Her statement can be seen as an open admission that Umno has indeed lost its way from its original roots of struggle to become the 'contract-minded' party that it is said to be today.

NONE Though Shahrizat's ( right ) suggestions of nobility may not hold much water for a leader who lost in an election only to be given a ministerial position via a back-door senatorial posting. How noble is it for a failed political candidate to have taken away a senatorial seat reserved for those who truly served the nation, one may ask. Is this the 'original struggle' of the Malay politics?

And if the crosswinds blowing at its currently ongoing AGM itself can serve as an indication, the party itself may not be able to instill respect nor serve as any shining beacon except for a how-to guide on maintaining one's grip on power.

Muddying the waters are the Umno leaders who contradict each other, as if trying to preach to the choir (made up of Malays with their race rhetoric) and charm the audience (made up of non-Malays with their 1Malaysia 'inclusiveness' dance), both at once.

Consider for one, the reasoning of deputy president, 'I am Malay first Malaysian second' Muhyiddin Yassin in insisting that his party is not racist.

Non-racial claims and the facts at large

"The race-based politics practised by Umno is not a form of racial or racist party," he said.

He reasoned that racist politics means that they only prioritise the interest of their own race and then condemn the needs of other races, something which he claim Umno doesn't do, as it fights for Malay rights while still respecting the rights of other races enshrined in the constitution.

However, with the Umno-led BN government continually eroding the rights of the Orang Asal and indigenous tribes of the peninsula as well as Sabah and Sarawak through insidious and stealthy legal amendments, one wonders if this is truly the case.

orang asli protest putrajaya Hundreds if not thousands of acres of Tanah Adat or customary lands belonging to the Orang Asal stand to be taken away by the Umno-led federal government should an amendment to purportedly 'give' lands to them be pushed through the BN-dominated parliament.

The amendment that the government is keeping in the shadows reportedly will see large swathes of Orang Asal lands being taken over by the state in exchange for a mere pittance in land awards to families.

Interestingly enough, Malays are not the only race of people with special rights enshrined in the constitution so revered by Umno and its Malay-rights-fighter brethren Perkasa, also mentioned are the bumiputeras, i.e. Orang Asal. Though, the government has slipped in another clause into the Orang Asli act, allowing them to decide who is or is not a bumiputera.

One can ask Muhyiddin how noble is Umno's fight for the Malays as the government it leads continue to bulldoze Orang Asal rights?

Muhyiddin also said that the NEM means the end of rent seeking, but in the light of the recent direct-nego award of the contract to design, commission and build the RM700 million National Cancer Institute to a 'consultancy' firm and the controversial Istana Negara being allegedly awarded to a company without a letter of intent and with no expertise, his statement seems more like a public relations game than anything.

One may wonder if rent-seeking in Umno and BN is truly dead.

Gordian knot of contradictions

NONE More poignantly the image of an impassioned Umno president Najib Abdul Razak ( right ) calling for an end to racial rhetoric itself paints a distorted picture in contrast to him reminding civil servants at an event for ex-civil service officers just days before, to continue to support Umno because it is the champion of the Malays and to worry about the opposition whom he hinted as being the agents of dissent.

While Najib was trying to paint the opposition to the civil servants as rabble rousers, one may question if he himself is actually rabble rousing the civil servants.

But more worryingly is Najib's call to arms for Umno 'to defend Putrajaya at all costs', even if their bodies were crushed, hinting of major bloodshed and conflict for the Malays if Umno does not maintain control over the national government.

How noble is this statement in the context of the call for moderation that he himself put out before the United Nations not so long ago? Indeed Najib's passionate speech seems more like a Perkasa statement than of any call for 'moderation'.

It is also interesting to note that he avoided reminding Umno to stop calling non-Malays pendatang , despite making the bold statement that Chinese are not pendatang at the MCA AGM recently. How noble is it to be selective in your speech, if one can ask of Najib?

Observing all this, one has to wonder how 'noble' Umno itself truly is, as well as the why, what and wherefore of its fears.

This calls into question if the suggested switch is just a politically-correct label-change rather than any true attempt at changing the ways of Umno.

Of maggi mee and donkey's years

After all former premier and ex-Umno president Mahathir Mohamad himself said that the parties supposedly new stand on racism and inclusiveness is no different than his own taken donkey years ago.

The dictatorship-favouring Mahathir himself was infamous for being quite autocratic in his 22 years in power and presided over the replacement of teachers and activists from Umno's ranks with class F contract-hungry, maggi mee, instant Ali-baba contractors .

In the end game, if the Malays are truly noble, then they do not need Umno's protection. It is probably Umno itself that shall need protection against an awakened and ennobled Malays who may soon realise that Umno is not the custodians of Malay rights that it purports to be, but an outdated ignoble instrument of an elite few to maintain their grip on power.

This is Umno's real fear, to lose its power when the Malays realise how noble they truly are and how they need to reject the outdated rhetoric of Umno. That is why Umno is quaking in its pants. And grasping at straws.

But this may be good if it actually stimulates real change in the party, though if the elegant silence greeting Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin's reform-filled speech is any indication, such changes may be a long way off.