Saving UMNO

 

Dr Mahathir retired in 2003. In 2004 his successor, our 5^th PM took us through the GE11. UMNO won big. The period 2004-2008, can be said to be wholly Pak Lah's era. He took many measures. He carried out a lot of programs. He brought perestroika onto local politics. He gave too much room to UMNO people. They became critical and at the same time, went out of control.

The freedom given, tuned many lesser UMNO leaders into political fiends. Nazri Aziz was particularly fiendish when he continuously belittled and berated Tun Dr Mahathir. When he did that, I thought this is it. You are hitting at the great helmsman.

I find some parallels of what happened in UMNO with what happened in Tiananmen square. Zhao Ziyang was liberal and gave too much space to students and Chinese citizens. They were at first given freedom to agitate for democracy even though as admitted by many students, they didn't know what democracy meant, but wanted more of it anyway. But when the freedom spilled over to explicit criticism towards Deng Hsiaoping, that was it. The Chinese government sent in the tanks. Li Peng, the hardliner won the day and he was supported by Deng.

Nazri and his ilk did just that. You hit back at a former premier who governed for 22 years who gave Malaysians a sense of purpose and pride, you can't expect not to suffer consequences. Pak Lah wanted to be loved more than to be feared. By fear, I don't mean, he orders people to be shot or incarcerated indiscriminately. Fear as in firm and resolute and having a just do it attitude.

When GE12 came, the BN was severely mauled. The opposition won several states and got 82 parliamentary seats. Now of course the Opposition has less MPs as a result of defections. It also lost Perak when its members reneged and went over to the dark other side.

On all accounts, Pak Lah has been failure. He failed to win big in the elections. The losses incurred reflect what is wrong with the BN its policies. But it was also a reflection of heightened political and social awareness.

Pak lah's failure is also Dr Mahathir's failure. It reflected badly on him as far as picking choices is concerned. He has failed in this aspects several times already. Beginning with Musa, then Ghafar Baba and then Anwar Ibrahim. He wasn't able to bring in a good running mate. Pak lah was smart in the sense he kept his true self concealed. He later proved to be not docile as expected by Dr Mahathir

When he began dismantling many of Tun Mahathir's legacy and projects, that unleashed the master's fury. The unleashing proved fatal as it galvanizes moves to oust Pak Lah from office even before his tenure was completed. We can say, this was a palace coup. Orchestrated by people within UMNO leadership itself, drawing impetus from the attacks by Dr Mahathir.

Beyond the clash of egos, we can look at the politics in this way. We have failed to develop a system of self continuity in which the best and ablest can come forward. Much of the fault lies with Dr Mahathir too. Because he wasn't able to put in place a system that ensures self continuity which require space for the best and ablest. Instead he puts in place a system, where the second best and mediocre rise to the top to ensure the same system is replicated. In UMNO the quota system designed to prevent busybodies and crackpots from challenging the president's position. The system proved to be a hurdle for the emergence of credible leaders who can offer competitive values.

Instead we have a system, where self perpetuation is the driving force. The system breaks down, when it elevates people not up to their job. Pak Lah proved to be inadequate for the job. The jury is still out on Najib although he is showing dangerous signs of also being inadequate. Many UMNO people, deep in their hearts are not saying that Najib is doing a good job. UMNO may implode during his watch. Already the UMNO grassroots are thinking how to save UMNO.

It may because, we haven't put a system where the ablest and brightest can offer themselves to public service. We have a lot of cartoon characters yes. But the ablest and brightest are shying away from UMNO.

The problem with Pak Lah is- he wanted to be loved and not feared. He didn't study the Prince which postulates that it's better to be loved or feared or both. If one has to choose one, then to be feared is better. Not sure if he was loved. But certainly he wasn't feared at all. he lets loose all the Kraken in UMNO and in the BN component parties. MCA an MIC demanded so many things that people were saying, during Mahathir's time, these parties were all muted.

Look at the leadership of UMNO now. you have the 3 vice presidents. You have the Sabahan who always seem to be diffident and has a nervous energy emanating from him. You have the defense minister from Perak who says he is just looking at the papers passing through his desk. And then you have that ow, ow Minister of Home affairs.

….to be continued