The Power of the Loo

The future leaders of UMNO are decided in the toilets of PWTC.

Sakmongkol would like to begin this short essay, by quoting what has been erroneously attributed to the Duke of Wellington. Many of us will remember, that he was supposed to have said:-

"The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton"

He of course never said it because when this quotation first appeared he was already dead. He attended Eton for a very brief period and never liked Eton. But the saying is too juicy to dispute and so it remains till today.

As to the leadership in UMNO, sakmongkol is borrowing what the Duke said. Sakmongkol says this;

The future leaders of UMNO and to a large extent, leaders of Malaysia are determined in the toilets of PWTC.

The reasons why, will be clear in a short while.

The present party elections from Pemuda to Bahagian, perhaps Wanita too and later Puteri, are already infested with money politics. In Kelantan you have branch heads driving around in brand new kancils as rewards and inducements for campaigning for certain personalities. In Maran, youth delegates were openly asked, how many lorries of money do you want. In Pekan, sakmongkol’s friends were openly told by youth delegates, no grease, no nomination. its simple as that.

Nominations are up for grabs if the price is right. Youth delegates to divisional meetings have a lower price threshold at the moment. Those 4 delegates to the national youth general assembly will have a higher price threshold. They are already counting money. It’s a rich man’s world out there.

By all reckoning, this year’s battle for supremacy for the youth head’s post will be the most expensive. Large sums of money will be flowing to grease delegates. Everyone are guilty of this gangrenous culture.

The most protracted battle will take place between the three contenders in the youth wing. They are Mukhriz Mahathir, Khairy Jamaluddin and Khir Toyo.

Yesterday, there was an interview over tv. It was a mini forum, moderated by a university kebangsaan lecturer, Agus Salim. The two guests invited were Saifudin Nasution of PKR and Khir Toyo. The theme of the discussion was deciding the future leadership of the Malays.

Saifudin offered the now commonly heard tirade against money politics. He urged the Malays to choose leaders based on meritorious qualities, competency, character and so forth.

Khir was able to meekly counter and unconvincingly at that too, by saying, in the final analysis, notwithstanding the prevalence of money flow, delegates will ultimately choose leaders based on what Saifudin opined. In other words, khir was admitting that, money politics have reached epidemic levels. No point of dignifying the accusation by denying it.

But given that, all other things being equal, where everybody plays the same game, delegates will choose leaders based on merits.

What twisted logic. That will only mean, that in future, UMNO is a club for deep pocketed candidates. And club rules apply.

And so on to march 2009. delegates will converge at PWTC. Operatives and the storm troopers will scour the rooms of the hotels in Kuala Lumpur sizing up delegates. Come the final day, each will receive their sedekah, the UMNO way. At the 11^th hour, in the toilets of PWTC, large sums of money exchanged hands, in return for the promise to vote for certain candidates. The victorious candidates will then declare piously, that UMNO must re-invent itself.

Eton has been referred to as "the chief nurse of England's statesmen" and is often described as the most famous public school in the world. UMNO is the largest political party and can also claim to be the chief nurse of Malaysia’s leaders.

But while the Duke of Wellington is often quoted as saying that "The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton, sakmomgkol is rephrasing the duke by saying, The future leaders of UMNO and to a large extent, leaders of Malaysia are determined in the toilets of PWTC.

ILLIUS ME PAENITET, DUX, SORRY ABOUT THAT CHIEF!