Review on 'Kifarat Mahathir'..2

Locking the stable doors, after the horses have bolted!.

Kifarat or kifarah can also mean paying for our sins. Then, the author seems to suggest, we are now paying for the sins for allowing Tun Mahathir be in power. Perhaps it is similar to the Christian concept of carrying the original sins of the father? Indeed the author alludes to this when he stated that UMNO members had to endure living under 22 years of dictatorial rule.( see page xi)

Sakmongkol declines to apply the meaning in this sense, because it elevates the debate to a pseudo- religious thrust and parry. It would also imply that allowing Tun Mahathir to be in power is such a sinful act. Therefore, sakmongkol prefers to apply the term in a more basic and less religiously toned meaning- the after affects of Tun Mahathir’s rule. Sakmongkol is thankful to be able to clarify this point as a result of a comment from a regular visitor to his blog who calls herself Mekyam.

The book launches immediately with tirades against Tun Mahathir. It attempts to point out the differences between the UMNO created in 1946 and the UMNO Baru created by Tun Mahathir. The author piously points out that the original UMNO was formed out of genuine nationalistic feelings uniting all the people/read Malays. And the author is quick to point out the new UMNO was formed by a group of individuals interested in retaining power.

The new UMNO according to the author, was formed to destroy the unity of the Malays.

The gold standard of a perfect UMNO is the UMNO that was formed in 1946. We all know about this. How UMNO came about to unify the Malays to reject the concept and the formation of a Malayan Union. Dato Onn Jaafar and other tireless and selfless leaders galvanised Malays to oppose the creation of the Malayan Union, believing it to be British Imperialism’s tool to steal Malaya from the Malays. And the classic imperialism approach was to dilute the indigenous population by a more dependable section of the population( i.e. bringing non Malays into Malaya and offering them citizenship). Second by co-opting parasitic feudal institutions into the Union, high pedestal them.

But if Sakmongkol remembers, this original UMNO was also seen as another collaborator of imperialism. This was the perception held by many revolutionary strange bedfellows like Mr Kamarazaman himself.

A feudal organisation tolerated by British imperialism as a bulwark against the rise of the Malay and revolutionary left. It is surprising to Sakmongkol, that the author who is a pure and true socialist( whatever that means to him then and now) ,now finds it convenient to use the UMNO of 1946 as the gold standard. Whereas the Malay left has always regarded the UMNO of 1946 as an imperialist creation, tolerated and allowed to live because it can stop the rise of the left. And the author has always identified himself with the urgings of what he perceived as revolutionary struggles.

One immediately becomes conscious, that the author’s real intentions are not about mollycoddling UMNO 46 but to condemn the UMNO Baru, which the author thinks was the sole creation of Tun Mahathir. And therefore, in defiance to his long held leftist leanings, he conveniently adopts UMNO of 1946 as the gold standard. Sakmongkol suspects he does not like the original UMNO but finds it convenient to pummel the UMNO Tun Mahathir revived.

Therefore the first 20 pages are nothing but an indictment of Tun Mahathir. One can already deduce the ingredients which will flavour this book. The author thus quickly set out to establish that:-

Tun Mahathir was responsible for the demise of the old feudal UMNO of 1946 by not interfering with the courts to stop them from being confronted with no other decision but to declare the UMNO of 1946 illegal. The author insisted that Tun Mahathir should have stopped before the courts resorted to using Section 12(3) of the Societies Act.

And even after UMNO was declared illegal, Tun Mahathir who was the Home Affairs Minister then could have used ministerial powers through section 18(F) and section 70 of Societies Act to revive UMNO and to excuse UMNO from being de-registered. Tun Mahathir did not and because he didn’t, the author charges that Tun Mahathir was the one destroying UMNO.

And once a new UMNO was resurrected, Tun Mahathr, says the author, launched a night of the long knives seeking and destroying his political enemies. These enemies whom the author believed would have taken Malaysia onwards to a better future.

The real intention of Tun Mahathir, says the author is this:-

“ keghairahannya untuk menggenggam kuasa terserlah kepada rakyat. Sifat keangkuhan dancuna menafikan kehendak perwakilan dan rakyat sudah tidak terselidung lagi. Sikap inilah yang di bawa nya ke mana mana sehingga rakyat dapat mengenali nya. Rakyat semakin kenal siap beliau. Rakyat dapat menyingkap topeng dan mengenali wajah sebenar nya”.

His appetite to grab power becomes more transparent to the people. His imperviousness and conceit and dismissal of the wishes of the UMNO delegates and people cannot be hidden anymore. This is the attitude he portrays all around as the people get to know the real him. The people can unmask and reveal his true face.

Now, Sakmongkol asks, is the author talking about Tun Mahathir or are the same words and temperament be applied to our present UMNO president?