Dealing with PERKASA- which is the UMNO way?

Ibrahim Ali had his open house for Hari Raya at the Pasir Mas Railway Station. He is a freight train that runs over UMNO's gravy train or anything that stands in its path. . Ibrahim Ali is offering Malays an inexhaustible resource- emotional comfort while UMNO hasn't got enough gravy to distribute around anymore.

There is one BIG problem. The top man is sending ambiguous messages. He has asked his lieutenants to speak against what Perkasa stands for. He has asked his people to distance themselves and UMNO from Perkasa. He has even toyed with the idea, supplied by his pandering dogs of apple polishers no doubt, of setting up rival NGOs to smother the fire of Perkasa.

Problem: if he has done so, then it behooves him to give unqualified and absolute support to his people by saying clearly what he thinks of Perkasa. Instead we see him pussyfooting by saying we are not at war with Perkasa. They are fighting for Malay interests which we are also doing. But we are asking them to allow us to fight it our way….alamak….

UMNO is asking Perkasa's approval? If we can't give unequivocal and undivided support to our troops, then don't say anything against Perkasa. We will look even more stupid in the near future, if we were to later bend over to ask Ibrahim Ali and Perkasa to support us. And I predict we will do so in future.

On the other hand there is a silver lining too. So far only the so so smooth operator the UMNO secgen and UMNO's own Wyatt Earp Nazri Aziz have come with guns blazing. UMNO's Ketua Pemuda has fought battles with Ibrahim Ali and Perkasa very early on and has not also received unequivocal support from other senior UMNO leaders.

I repeat- if we are not willing to state clearly where we stand on this issue, don't say anything. The UMNO president is circumspect about this too. He is walking gingerly. I'll let others use harsher terms.

There is only one way to settle the issue UMNO has with Perkasa. The latter is no political party. It is an NGO, led by the political demagogue Ibrahim Ali. It has been able to get under the skin of UMNO and causing paranoia among UMNO people.

The solution is to call a snap election. That is the way to settle the issue. The main problem with UMNO as I see it, is the inability of the UMNO leadership to prevail over Perkasa with an alternative story to tell Malays, UMNO people and ultimately the Malaysian rakyat. The inability is telling on the quality of our leadership. Let me be more direct- our leadership is stupid, scared or doesn't know what's happening. Therefore it cannot give answers to the message Perkasa is bringing.

What is it that UMNO can offer that distinguishes itself from NGO Perkasa? UMNO can provide Malay leadership as opposed to Perkasa which is providing Malay supremacist agendas. Leadership is responsibility. Supremacist ideas are reckless.

What UMNO hasn't done is to argue that its providing leadership. Why hasn't it done that? Because most of its members and sadly most of its leadership are not bright people. I don't mean not bright in the sense of being a stupid or dullard but not bright as in the inability to articulate a compelling and reasoned agenda. So we end up with a situation, where the majority of the not so bright UMNO leadership and the likewise majority UMNO members, while frothing in the mouth shouting support for Dato Najib are actually leaning towards the simple but emotionally attractive political recipe of Perkasa.

Here is the reason why I say the UMNO leadership is not so bright. The arguments for Malay leadership is indirect and requires reasoned and well thought out analysis. It is an indirect argument. The argument for Malay supremacy is emotional and primal and is also direct. Between the rational and emotional sides of the human brain, the emotional side is more developed. Ibrahim Ali has found an emotional niche while the UMNO leadership either through its stupidity, cowardice and ignorance cannot overcome that emotional assault.

I find parallels of the above in Milton Friedman's introduction to FA Hayeks' The Road to Serfdom.

Surely that is one answer to the perennial mystery of why collectivism, with its demonstrated record of producing tyranny and misery is so widely regarded as superior to individualism, with its demonstrated record of producing freedom and plenty. The argument for collectivism is simple if false; it's an immediate emotional argument. The argument for individualism is subtle and sophisticated; it is an indirect argument.

Hence the equivalent of dropping an emotional atomic bomb that can decimate the messages of Ibrahim Ali's Perkasa is to have a snap election. That would be the mother of all emotional arguments. Malays are spiked up for a general elections, so let's give them one to deliver the blow to Perkasa.

Yes, Dato Najib should call for a snap election. If only to remove all the deadwood in his cabinet. This is to allow him build a new team from scratch. He needs to have a team who shares his vision and which is able to enthuse articulate and implement his vision.

At the moment, his cabinet is full of court jesters and clowns. His party? So many not bright people.

What he needs to do now, is to cross the names in the cabinet who he thinks are no longer useful or functional. Those who don't understand much less articulate what 1 Malaysia is all about. Those who don't enthuse about the NEM. Those blatantly implicated in corruption and abuse of power. those lazy bums who are mentally challenged.

This should be almost all the names he has in the cabinet especially those from UMNO.

Because none of his cabinet members can counter argue what Perkasa is bringing on the plate to the table. The way to counter PERKASA is not to belittle it as an organization of has beens, or by saying Ibrahim Ali is a froggie. Dato Najib should replace the UMNO secgen and leave out Nazri Aziz in a future cabinet. IFF UMNO is still in control, that is.