UMNO’s Long and Winding Road

 

I was reading an article in Malaysian Insider with the title of Long Road Ahead of UMNO. Immediately after the Hulu Selangor election, I posted an article UMNO and Nike. Not a few people wrote in saying I am a traitor to UMNO for disputing the victory. Now, this article came up with quotations from UMNO luminaries make me want to say- said that, written that.

UMNO people have a choice. They can accept my criticisms or they can just ignore them. Howsoever they chose, they must rebut my criticisms with cogent reasoning. I shall be happy to acknowledge the shortcomings and defects of my own reasoning.

My point of contention is that UMNO cannot sustain itself by the approach it took in Hulu Selangor. PM Najib came into the fray with a fire fighting mentality instead of preventive fire strategy. In that emergency situation, all political scruples are abandoned. Everything was done in the name of political expediency- we come to solve problems. Hence we spent a lot of money to secure a 1700 majority. We pay here. We pay there. We spoil the atmosphere.

Look closely at the results. We lost Chinese trust. The Chinese don't trust MCA any longer and therefore I wrote 2 articles about the role and relevancy of MCA. Because they know an MCA being led by a president who allows his dick does the thinking for him, isn't going to bring dignity to the Chinese. Chew Mei Fun couldn't stomach the prospects of MCA being led by "Dick' Chua. My thinking is that, we can do better by building direct trust with the Chinese community. I answer one commentator who challenged UMNO to do it alone. Hello, I am talking about the impotent MCA leadership not the Chinese community.

Look also at the shift in voting preference among the young. They support Anwar Ibrahim and PKR more than they do UMNO. You think UMNO can solve the p[problem of its future by paying its way through? So UMNO depends on the support from the graying population who has given us but a contingent support. Their support stays provided the balance of the money owed to them is paid. Will Azeez Rempit who is going to develop the Sungai Buaya Felda land be able to come up with the money? If the money comes from the government- we are back to square one- UMNO needs more money to secure allegiance.

It appears to me, that when I wrote that UMNO cannot sustain its longevity by paying its way though has irked many UMNO people and bloggers who may not even be UMNO members. I am speaking from the perspective of an UMNO member, a former ADUN and now an itinerant critic of my party. I have chosen the road less travelled i.e. by speaking about what I perceived is wrong with UMNO.

Wining the people over by spending money is one of them. UMNO simply can't sustain itself by this way. You will need more and more to win allegiance. You reduce your supporters and voters to payable supplicants. Your support base then is made up of mercenary voters. The essential character of mercenaries is that they vote according to the money. In order to retain their loyalty, the benefactor must continue paying.

History has shown that even great nations that have relied on mercenary services have ended in destruction. The mighty Roman Empire which in the days leading to its ultimate oblivion entrusted whole defences of the empire to mercenaries, in the end, capitulated because the defence of the empire was abandoned by adherents to Roman ideals. The adherents to ideals and principles were replaced by payable supporters whose loyalty, remained as long as the paymaster was capable of paying.

Allegiance and loyalty purchased are short-lived. This dependence on paid mercenaries became one contributing factor eating at the foundations of the Roman Empire. When money becomes the substitute of substance, the sustainability of greatness, the permanence of allegiance and loyalty are eroded. When ideals and principles become corrupted, the 'soul' that nourishes the physical fades away. UMNO becomes in the end a spent force and should it face a more resolute and determined adversary, it will have only blank bullets to fight with.

What does the party become then? It becomes essentially a big ATM dispensing 'cash' to mercenary voters.

What happens to the ideals that supported the formation of UMNO then? Such as the mission and vision contained in Article 3 of its constitution? They diminish in value and over time are trivialized as nothing more than just some articulation of ideals of some historical value only. In terms of current relevancy, they serve nothing because all UMNO apparatchiks think; all they need to do is Just DU-IT!

What makes the difference in a political party? The answer which readily comes to mind- is that it is leadership that makes the difference. UMNO then provides leadership to Malays. The basis of that leadership? Its commitment and resolute articulation of its goals, vision. It operates on ideals and values that elicit a sense of shared commitment between the party and the people it leads.

It's a long and winding road.