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Sakmongkol ak 47

ariff.sabri@gmail.com

Thursday 31 December 2009

Langit kian mendung.

As we move into 2010, UMNO must examine itself. How do we prepare ourselves for the challenges ahead? I am most wary of claims that say UMNO is on the mend. What are the indications? Having a new UMNO president with high approval ratings at the initial stages is not conclusive to suggest UMNO is on the mend.

The 300 or so interviewed by a research group recently may actually be people succumbing to the 'halo' effect. If you were to interview a division secretary for example, would you expect him to say bad about UMNO's leaders? When Pak Lah succeeded TDM in 2003, he obtained the same sentiments which fizzled and ended in UMNO's most dismal performance in 2008.

When the PM recently stated that we have ourselves to lose, I hope the UMNO members in general, appreciate the significance of that statement. Unless, UMNO cultivate itself, it cannot hope to sustain itself wishing calamity to befall our adversaries. If we chose this option, then UMNO survives on nothing but default by others.

Sometime in 1976, I read a very interesting book which I find very intriguing till today. It is a book with the title " Langit Makin Mendung" by a writer no doubt using a nom de plume of KiPanjiKusmin.( Kiyai Panji Kusmin).

Some people thought, the person behind the pen name was HB Jasin, a famous Indonesian man of letters. Jasin put up a very spirited defence of KP Kusmin when controversy erupted around the publication of this book.

The book raised a storm in Indonesia as well as ripples here in Malaysia. The book was a satire describing the general malaise afflicting Muslim people. The book made very liberal use of imageries about  Allah, the Prophet and the Islamic religion. The lab chosen to experiment with the satire, so to speak, was Indonesia.

I especially remembered a passage about Sukarno singing. According to the writer, Sukarno had been sick for some time. Comrade Mao dispatched some doctors to treat Sukarno. He recovered and to celebrate, threw a party. In that party, Sukarno boasted:-

"Padahal (menunjuk dada) lihat badan saya, saudara-saudara, Soekarno tetap segar-bugar. Soekarno belum mau mati. (Tepuk tangan gegup gempita, tabib-tabib Cina tak mau ketinggalan). Insya Allah, saya belum mau menutup mata sebelum proyek nekolim 'Malaysia' hancur lebur jadi debu. (Tepuk tangan lagi)."

Acara bebas dimulai. Dengan tulang-tulangnya yang tua Presiden menari lenso bersama gadis-gadis daerah Menteng Spesial diundang.

Patih-patih dan menteri-menterinya tak mau kalah gaya. Tinggal hulubalang-hulubalang cemas melihat Panglima Tertinggi bertingkah seperti anak kecil urung disunat.

Dokter pribadinya berbisik.

"Tak apa. Baik buat ginjalnya, biar kencing batu PYM tidak kumat-kumat."

"Menyanyi! Menyanyi dong Pak!" Gadis-gadis merengek.

"Baik, baik. Tapi kalian mengiringi, ya!" Bergaya burung unta.

Siapa bilang Bapak dari Blitar

Bapak ini dari Prambanan

Siapa bilang rakyat-Indonesia lapar

Malaysia yang kelaparan …!



"Mari kita bergembira…." Nada-nada sumbang bau champagne.

Re-reading Langit Kian Mendung, reminds me of the many media practitioners doom-saying the condition affecting the many opposition parties. We find ourselves on the reversed side, playing out the role of Sukarno wishing Malaysia is sick. We forgot our body is ravaged with cancerous growth.

Never a day passed, without some minor disagreement within the opposition, not written and read as some major catastrophe about to engulf the opposition parties. It's as though, we the ruling government can only hope to overcome our own shortcomings, and thereafter triumph, when the situation over the other side is not good.

Now, what UMNO and other BN component parties are doing are exactly similar to what Sukarno was doing in that story. We delude ourselves wishing that our adversary is in shambles.

This is a highly deceitful attitude. We hope to become stronger by hoping and wishing that our adversary becomes weaker. So, in the meantime what do we do with ourselves? We don't cultivate ourselves? Build our strengths so that we prosper, advance and triumph by leveraging on our own strengths rather than hoping the other side weakening?

Siapa bilang bapak dari Blitar

Bapak ini dari Prambanan

Siapa bilang UMNO tercemar

Pakatan yang berkocakan



Suddenly the views of 300 over delegates taken as a sample are elevated as indicating that UMNO is on the mend. Are we crazy or what? These are 300 people who probably secured places as delegates employing the very tactics which UMNO wants to obliterate. And their views are taken as definitive to signal that UMO and its president are in good stead?

Hello- the over 3 million Malays who didn't vote UMNO candidates during the 12th General Elections will probably say, the findings by the Merdeka Centre as 'frivolous'. The more cynical ones will likely say in Augustine Paul-esque manner- not relevant! These are not the 300 Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae my friends. These 300 were probably those out for a good time during the UMNO general assembly wishing actually, for contests for the top posts.

It is we who are keenly judged by the people. We are because it is we who run this country, manage the economy and govern. People will make comparisons- how the pakatan governments are doing to what we are doing.

It seems obvious to me, we shouldn't depend too much at what the dunderheads in the media and the propaganda boys tell us.

10 comments:

Anonymous,  31 December 2009 at 12:47  

Hello,

This is the first time I read youor blog and I must say it is indeed refreshing. You hit the nail on the head about how propaganda can work against anyone.

A painful yet timely reminder to Umno not to believe the mainstream media as March 8, 2008 will be repeated.

Anonymous,  31 December 2009 at 14:20  

Sak why you waste your time in UMNO?

Anonymous,  31 December 2009 at 14:20  

well said. Dato sak.

amatMok 31 December 2009 at 14:43  

Salam Datuk,

Wish there are more people in UMNO who thinks like you. But, alas ... no wonder you are no longer in the 'mainstream' UMNO.

The worst thing that could happen is when you start believing your own lies. And I think this is what is happening to the leaders in UMNO.

Reminds me of the story of the Emperor's cloth. Or, the story of Catherine the Great.

Keep up the good work, Datuk

Anonymous,  31 December 2009 at 15:03  

i got a confession to make here. though i am not involved in politics, but i do vote. when i was younger i vote for umno/bn. as i get older and got to know umno ppl, i lost faith and i no longer vote for umno/bn in elections. here are the reasons.

whenever i had the chance to sit and talk with umno ppl, i found that they have no interest at all in the nasib and future of the ugama bangsa and negara. their topic of conversations are always projek tu siapa dapat projek ni siapa dapat and what are the coming mega projek would be and who will be getting it. as to wanita/puteri, favourite topic of conversations, siapa dapat orang tu siapa rasa orang ni, orang tu dapat apa dari orang ni. its true, kid you not.

don't get me wrong, i love my ugama bangsa dan negara, but i feel umno has let me down and has lost its way.

i still want to vote for umno. i hope umno change its ways back to the landasan perjuangan. i hope the ordinary umno members starts a revolution and reform the party. start supporting leaders with integrity, those who cares for nothing else but the future of ugama bangsa dan negara.

i am not alone in this. almost all my friends neighbours and kampung folks that i had the opppurtunity to share teh tariks with, share the same sentiments. we want umno back. but umno has to change from within. we are simple people. we are not concerned with the complex power struggle and intrigues in umno. unless umno goes back to memperjuangkan ugama bangsa dan negara and make this nation a better place for the general population and common people, we will continue experimenting with alternatives.

please umno. i beg u all. change. put honest leaders to lead the party. forget about individuals and focus on ideals. if you continue putting self and individual interest above noble values, they will be more people like me. disillusioned.

i expect politicians, diehards fanatics and followers of personality cults will throw bricks at me, call me names and accuse me with of being the most vile of creatures, but i tell you people, i say this from the bottom from my heart. my voice may mean nothing, but what if they are many more like me? simple folks with no interest in politics, silent majority who speak only with our votes. it is not difficult to figure out why a significant number of malays didn't vote for umno anymore. they are people like me.

we are not impressed with people with just lots of money. we look for something more.

Anonymous,  31 December 2009 at 18:11  

Sak,

Good luck in your quest. I really mean it.

ex-UMNO

Peter,  31 December 2009 at 18:47  

When the country sinks and money inflates it is the rakyat that loses because businessmen can still make money by charging higher.

Who forms the biggest salary depended of the economy. I think it is the Malays. They would still be earning inflated Ringgit and pay inflated prices for goods.....

Well.. what to do. No new FDIs to create more jobs. Sound very much like Zimbabwe.

In the end we have to pay the price of inefficient use of our resources. Most of corrupted money are already converted to Sing dollars.

Just watch lah... nothing can be done.

Suci Dalam Debu 31 December 2009 at 22:04  

Maka saya teringatkan sebuah lagu di antara liriknya berbunyi

"kapankah mendung datang mengalun
mengusir kemarau kali ini....."

Sir,that is as far as my "mendung" goes.

Btw, all the symptoms typical of empires in decline are clearly seen in UMNO, yet their master spinners have the audacity to draw conclusions from so small a sample.

Rasa malulah, mahu tipu pun tak pandai.

walla 31 December 2009 at 22:20  

(sigh)

The fireworks are about to start. Not that there's anything to celebrate....anymore.

down.

Read somewhere the Komodo (Indonesia) will soon have over 23 million people with average income higher than ours. That's about the whole population of this country. It's also a regional influencer as well as a potential market, depending on how one sees it.

The whole operating model of Umno is out of whack. It has become a food chain ecosystem. Those who rise up become predators on the future of those who remain below. Poverty, needs and dashed hopes are not fated reasons to justify the rush for power for personal gratification. Needed are brains, focus, standards, directions, clarity and real pragmatism. Not fizzles.

Umno has failed to show its members what the real world is and how it has developed. It has not delivered the real wake-up calls on how dire the situation is for everyone, malays and non-malays. It continues to condone malpractices, poor work ethics, juvenilism in politics and everything to take the country further away from the tipping or inflexion point before things change dramatically faster than what spin can do to hide them.

If this is clear enough, it won't matter.

down and out.

sigh

Anonymous,  1 January 2010 at 00:09  

Dato,

Tolong suruh lah polis polis supaya jangan kacau bilau rakyat terutama orang orang muda, janganlah pukul orang kena tangkap yang hanya suspek, suruh lah polis jangan begitu kejam terhadap manusia.

Allah tau apa mereka buat di polis stesen.

Polis ni banyak sekat jalan nak minta wang kopi dan buru orang muda demi alasan sama.

Polis tu begitu korap lah Dato.

Tolong lah beritau orang atasan.
Rakyat dah tak hormat polis, ada yang memang takut kerana polis dah macam gila kalau tangkap dan buru buruh buruh/pekerja luar negeri. Polis pukul mereka dan minta wang dari kocek mereka.

Kesian lah bila tenguk orang yang tak bersalah di khianati polis.

Idris

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