Pomposity and Hypocrisy in UMNO

UMNO’S HERD INSTINCTS- SAFETY IN NUMBERS.

UMNO leaders have ceased screaming their heads off boasting about the party’s membership. That is timely for we feel nauseous of UMNO’s pomposity and hypocrisy. Nowadays, UMNO leaders and members are embarrassed to speak about its membership. They should be. Except for the DPM. After all he champions the UMNO tradition. I will now tell you the story about UMNO’s tradition.

It is a tradition of hiding behind large numbers. Hoping that it is safe to be in large numbers. Unfortunately, UMNO members are not Gnus on the Serengeti. If lions don’t get them, the Nile crocodiles will.

Large numbers are meaningless. It is true that a smaller number can defeat a bigger one. Simple. If the smaller party is composed of quality, dedicated, determined and disciplined lot, it can easily vanquish a bigger adversary composed of riff-rafts.

It is not good for UMNO’s amour propre. You can no longer hold a monopoly over the Malay mind. In the 12^th General Elections, Malay voters numbered 5.7 million. UMNO says it has 3.5 million members. Probably around 3 million are registered voters. It is common knowledge that UMNO members only register as voters if they are paid. Otherwise they prefer to be ride-alongs on the UMNO gravy train.

Now, during the 12^th GE, UMNO candidates secured only 2.4 million votes. Deduct about 400 thousand from this number, we are left concluding that perhaps only about 2 million UMNO members voted for UMNO candidates. 1.5 million did not. If UMNO secured only 2 million, that meant that 3.7 million Malays rejected UMNO. UMNO cannot unashamedly claim, it commands Malay support, can it? What is happening? We have the quantity but questionable quality.

Actually, the suspect quality of UMNO members should not surprise anyone. This the quality preferred by the DPM. Sometime before the elections, the DPM said UMNO does not need people with strings of qualification to become its leaders. UMNO prefers those who can attend funerals and kenduris.

A few days ago, the DPM said if Malaysia wants to become a developed nation, we must have 40% of our population comprising of graduates. The level is currently 28%. With the commitment of the DPM, it looks like we will stay as underdeveloped country for a much longer time.

What then of UMNO’s 3.5 million members? If attendance and seriousness by which its members attach to the current branch meetings are used as proximate measures of quality, UMNO is in serious trouble. UMNO boasts about its membership but is immediately embarrassed by exceedingly poor attendance at the branch meetings currently taking place. I am talking about branches in Pekan, Pahang the citadel of Dato Najib.

The signals from the UMNO headquarters in KL are confusing matters further. Initially it said that in order to qualify as legitimate quorum, any UMNO branch must be attended by at least 25% of its registered and fee paying members. Next came the message from UMNO HQ that to qualify as quorum, the minimum number of attendees is 18 people. Now, isn’t that embarrassing? Here we have the largest Malay political party yet it sets as minimum ceiling, an incredibly abysmal qualifying quorum. Barely a few days into the meetings came another directive to revert to the 25% requirement. Who are the idiots running UMNO HQ?

Is UMNO only a paper tiger?