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 12^th 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.