Amanat Presiden 2010- whats new pussycat, whoa, whoa,whoa

The UMNO general Assembly is almost over. This Saturday, it will be winding up session. I think it was after the 1st day session, I received a call from someone representing Astro Awani. They wanted me to be one of the panelists discussing the speech by the UMNO President. It is to take place shortly before or during the winding up debate.

I said I am game. But I must warn you, I told the caller, that my views are not exactly mainstream. I will speak as I see it. On that note, the caller, said, ok, we shall call back to confirm. The caller never called back and I am not meant to become a panelist.

If not, I would have my 10 minutes fame.

It is alright. I can still be the only panelist on my blog. I can do a better thing- write my impression on the President's Speech.

So today, I will write my impression on that speech. It shall be followed by my take on the various issues spoken by the delegates.

Just a little on the assembly. It is another round of an orgy of self congratulatory and pat on the back performances. It's a contest to come up with the most banal, the most stupid and the most outrageous thinking. One such banality was the call to end the advertisement of ladies sanitary pad because such advertisements lead people astray. Malay or non Malay, missy?

Then there is this joker from Melaka, who within a short space of 10 minutes pronounced the evils of the free market. So, he called for bigger government and bigger intervention. He wants bigger penetration. Hello, towkay, it's this sort of strategy that led to the highest GINI indices within the Malay community.

Why should Malay economic well-being depend or not depend on the help of non Malays. Malay economic wellbeing MUST be the outcome of own doing and the doing of a Malay led government.

But I am slightly ahead of myself. more of the not exactly mainstream thinking will come later. For now it is Najib's 95 point speech.

What was I expecting?

I thought this would be the best opportunity for Najib to close the disconnect between his ideas and bring his ideas directly to the UMNO warlords and leaders. They would then disseminate his ideas down the line, making his ideas, shared ideals.

Sadly, his ideas are the making of consulting firms, fabricated in the several labs overseen by Pemandu. He didn't bring his ideas to the people that matter most- the UMNO foot generals. There were only brief remarks about GTP, ETP , 1 Malaysia, NEM and NPM. New Political Model.

I was expecting Najib to elaborate on his NPM. Instead he talked in terms of generalities hoping UMNO people will fill in the blanks. They can't, if their heads are blank too.

So while his speech was good in the manner it was presented, in terms of its efficacy to get the desired objectives, to paraphrase the infamous words of Mukhriz son of Mahathir- there's nothing new.

Why nothing new? Talk about the history of UMNO struggles. Been there, done that. Talk about the Monarchy? Been there, done that. Talk about UMNO working hard? Been there and done that too. We have heard the themes repeated over and over again, varying only in the manner of presenting them. PAS bashing, Anwar Bashing, non Malays bashing?- same old stories. Nonsensical speeches, open display of idiocy? It's a permanent feature of UMNO GA.

so, what's new pussycat? Whoa, whoa, whoa…

Let's see what's new.

When listening to speeches, I prefer not to see the faces of those who speak. I want to avoid making subjective judgments.

Because if we do see, we are more often than not, likely to be influenced by the nuances, the condiments to the speech- flailing of arms, grimacing of the face to stress a point, the shouting and shrieking. Sometimes artful rendition of a speech hides the substance by which we must judge the speech.

But if we are not concerned about the substance, we must judge the speech by another measure. Efficacy of the speech. Did the Najib speech of 2010, achieve its objective? Rallying the troops, burning the spirit etc?

Najib has an history of shouting when making agitated speeches. The shouting may elevate any of the speeches to a stature more than it justly deserves.

And judging from the response from the worked up crowd, Najib's speech was successful in its efficacy. Even the speaker who is supposed to be neutral and officious joins in hallelujah-ing the speech.

Watch out people,- as we near the end of the UMNO General Assembly, expect a few bawdy and sexist jokes from the permanent chairman. Sample….ok pembentang ucapan, biak renkas ucapan hang ya…kaum ibu dah tungu 4 hari ni dah..alahai… aduih….

I prefer to read the text of the speech. To avoid being emotional. That's why we saw many who wept listening to the UMNO president's speech. The were there and witnessed Najib's performance on the speech.

A few of my friends who were on the golf course, stopped for some good few minutes to cry. They cried when hearing people cried.

But I want to say at the onset, it was a fairly good speech. The comments by the former PR MB of Perak on Najib's speech are irrelevant. First the speech has no bearing on what the PR wants to do. They want to capture Putrajaya and Najib is rallying his troops to defend Putrajaya. PR is stupid if they expect UMNO to hand it over on a silver plate.

That is expected. Second, the speech is made by an UMNO president designed to first, capture the imagination of UMNO faithfuls and hopefully, embraced by the majority of Malaysians.

This time his researches have done an above average job. It was a speech tailor-made for the audience. These are UMNO delegates. People who are easily agitated if there is a maverick or a firebrand amongst them.

It was also a personal victory for Najib. His image has taken a beating as someone who is easily compromisable. He has seen as too accommodative and his Maleness Malayness has somewhat been dissipated. Much of his thunder was stolen by Perkasa's Ibrahim Ali. The NGO led by Ibrahim Ali has been vocal on the articles of the Constitution which Najib now is strangely playing up. Articles 152 ND 153.

What is new, is the explicit acknowledgement of the role of Malay rulers. As the ultimate protector of Malay privileges and Malay rights. They are the final adjudicator notwithstanding articles 152 and 153.

Najib has now elevated the stature of the Malay Rulers. Now, this is very surprising. In the past attacks on the Malay rulers hadn't come from opposition parties what more from non Malay parties. The attacks and assault came from UMNO itself.

Now the UMNO president is extolling and saying in so many words, the Royal Institution is a Godsend. It's the final bulwark against the erosion of Malay rights and privileges. Hence Najib was saying, even if the government and constitution is changed, any attempt to dislodge Malay rights and privileges will have to get past the consent of Malay Rulers.

But I am saying, our kings are kings of also non UMNO subjects. That means if other non UMNO people get to Putrajaya, they are still bound by the Malay Rulers proviso. If the Malay Rulers represent the final authority on Malay interest and Malay special privileges, it is also, by way of Najib's admission, an acceptance that even UMNO is not relevant. That would also mean, UMNO is dispensable and the Malays, because Malay rulers are there, will be none the worse off. Furthermore, Najib of course assumes that Malay rulers are all UMNO members.

The BN non Malay member parties have nothing to fear..Chua Soi Lek said many things can be discussed further behind closed doors. No worries, we yam seng together maa- everything boleh kautim.

He was expressing disagreement on certain points raised by Najib. Rest assured, he will be assured by Najib, the speech was targeted at essentially a Malay audience.

It wasn't a call to arms. It wasn't an incendiary speech asking Malays to brandish kerises and kill of enemies. The whole speech contained 95 points. The few last points included a demand for a pledge to defend Putrajaya at all costs. It was dramatically worded to have the desire effect of galvanizing the UMNO faithfuls.

I am not going to deny in saying, on the whole this was a good speech- provided of course the UMNO people, not just the 2300 of them gathered in the main hall of PTWC, but the whole 3.5 million understood. More important, whether the 3.5 million UMNO members under the correct leadership of the leaders , understood what is being asked of them.

Akan bersambung….