Sakmongkol answers Walla

I could have chosen to let Walla's comments to my article remain as a footnote on my blog. But because the thoughtful Walla chose to fortify my article with his insights, I thought it would be selfish of me to leave his thoughts as mere comments. So, I decided the comments needed to be read by as many people as possible. I placed the comments as a main article. Both articles subsequently were posted on Malaysian Insider.

Why would I post an article that can be seen as demolishing my arguments in Why I remain in UMNO?

I have said why in my short preamble. Because I wanted all thinking UMNO leaders and members to be aware that this is the perception that people may have when they think of UMNO. Or a perception held so by a critical, questioning and potentially influential sections of the public. That if we choose to ignore, it will be so at our peril.

Hopefully what I and many others do within UMNO is to create awareness. First, UMNO stands for reasonableness. This was so at the beginning when UMNO was formed in 1946. It fought for Malay political, cultural and historical rootedness. Malayan Union wanted to uproot the Malays from these. UMNO was formed to oppose this.

It wasn't formed as a movement pushing for racial exclusivity or establishing a master race rule. Reasonableness has always been the inner self of the Malays collectively. UMNO as an extension of Malays with these inner values cannot operate as anything but a political party founded on the principles of moderation.

Creating and pushing for this awareness through writings, engaging people, politicians influencing their followers through the force of their personality and thoughts- all these are efforts of people who believe in UMNO. We do this so that people will know that UMNO is not just made up of layers upon layers of dumb-asses who are thinking of corrupting and despoiling the nation worse than a Caterpillar bulldozer.

It is also intended to underscore an awareness that the problem in UMNO is caused by (1) leadership problems and (2) neglect of the UMNO's fundamental principles of existence. Doesn't matter if we are a minority. A minority with strong convictions is potent. Onn Jaafar didn't start with a million people.

We are channeling signals from the UMNO mass. The central message from UMNO supporters is UMNO should be committed fully and firstly to the interest of the greater public good. That was the Tunku's idea. That was Tun Razak's motivation.

The commitment of UMNO's leadership must transcend loyalty to personalities, more to causes for the greater good. Once this is consciously reminded, the leadership elements at all levels operating in reaction to these should be rejected by right thinking members of UMNO.

I have said why I choose to remain in UMNO as honestly as possible. I shall not entertain the stupid people who suggested the reason I remain in UMNO is because I am afraid of something or I am waiting to secure my share of the loot. Indeed I feel sorry for such people for being consumed by blinding irrationality.

I am also particularly put off by one person who keeps accusing that I am motivated by my hatred of Anwar Ibrahim. If I could I would like to say FU to this person because he keeps repeating this imbecilic spew. Obviously he hasn't read my very much earlier articles about Anwar. Hatred isn't a sustainable motivation to induce you to stay in UMNO. If that is so, I should have left UMNO because at one point I hated Dato Najib for not extending my tenure as ADUN. So, please don't use such a pedestrian argument.

As for Anwar, I am more interested to shatter the myth surrounding the man. So I keep finding areas of his thinking where I can attack him. When I did, his followers keep pulling off the dirty trick of enticing me to go personal. I am not keen of ad hominem condemnations. While doing so, I have not been shy to acknowledge his abilities. So I suggest this particular person who keeps repeating the same accusation about my being motivated by hatred, to check his own mental state. Please prevent us to accuse you of being a mad person.

This is the point I want to stress. People don't stick to an organization because of hatred and other transient elements. You don't stay in UMNO because you hate Anwar. You don't stay in PKR because you hate certain people in UMNO. I hope you don't because if it's so, then your existence in PKR hasn't got any factual or reasoned foundations. Then, you are likely to be those people who can be easily bought out. The fact that PKR has suffered losses by the desertion of many of their elected members appear to prove that many choose to go into PKR without ideological convictions.

So what motivates a person for staying his course? The same applies to unshakable PKR members. I am saying, electing to stay inside a party which is said to be rotten in so many aspects can only be motivated by a belief in the fundamentals of the party's struggles. UMNO was founded by reasonable people and supported by reasonable rakyat.

Hatred for a person outside the party isn't a strong enough motivation to stay the course. As you know in politics there are no permanent friends nor enemies except permanent interests. Hatred for other races too cannot be the reason for staying in a party.

This is what I think UMNO stands for. It did not stand for xenophobic ethnic or group think. It stands for fighting for the interest of its group but only to the point of refusing to let its identity being diminished into oblivion. Had the Malayan Union been put in place, that would place the Malays into irreversible marginalization. The Malays can't be expected to voluntarily disown their political, historical and cultural rootedness to this land.

UMNO and the Malays who supported the party were fighting to keep ownership of its cultural, historical and political dominance. It was fighting to secure these. Once assured, UMNO and the Malays did not seek out to dominate other people nor do they work to obliterate others' rootedness. That cannot be UMNO's mission because that would be contradicting its own reason for formation.

UMNO fought on these principles because they are not people who are transplanted into a new geographical entity where complete fusion is possible. America was able to turn into a melting pot precisely because it became home to people transplanted from their original homeland who could accept fusion into a new 'American race'. Singapore was home for people transplanted where the only option was fusion. Malaya wasn't a new adopted home for Malays.

When Walla sent in his comments, I thought it they were very good and said so. I transferred the comments which would otherwise be some footnotes on my article into a main article. The purpose is to open honest intellectual debate using civil language. Unfortunately judging from the comments, most of us have not leant how to differ as gentlemen. Both my articles were also reproduced in the widely read Malaysian Insider. Both of them drew lively debates and counterpoints. Again I am disappointed at the savagery of the arguments.

The arguments appear to forget that by and large, the UMNO members and the Malays who supported them since 1946 and the successive generations that continued so, have never lost the one thing that makes a Malay commendable- their good nature and a sense of fairness. This is the fundamental value that UMNO was built on and must renew because it's never lost. This was the sense of fairness and good nature that allowed Onn Jaafar and a number of other nationalists to form UMNO and went on to press for independence for all Malaysian races. It started as a pure nationalist group because its identity was threatened but that pure nationalism never descended into a master race philosophy. The absence of such narrow minded group-think allowed UMNO to press for independence for all Malayan races at that time. The realization of this observation may have prompted Walla to declare that:-

And the rakyat who are Malays have found again their good nature and sense of fairness.

If the Malays have these as Walla pointed out, how come they are said to rediscover them only by being outside UMNO? If these values are inherent in them, being in UMNO will not lead them losing the inner values. If more Malays brought these inner values to bear on the UMNO leadership, demanding those best able to represent these values lead UMNO, then UMNO is still relevant.

Next.

How do we answer the things pointed out by Walla? Economic injustices and unfair distribution of wealth? I am not going into income disparities between nations. I know that the GINI coefficient within Malays is the biggest among the races in Malaysia pointing out to unfair distribution of wealth among Malays.

The despicable things about UMNO associated with the names like Khir Toyo, Rahim Tamby Chik and the various other individuals are real. But it would be unfair to conclude that these shape the UMNO personality.

That is the reason why many chose to remain in UMNO providing unbridled criticisms and objections to ensure these kind of people never get to lead UMNO again.

I find the criticisms that Walla advances, not to contradict what many in UMNO believe in- that these criticisms should provide ample cause for the leadership to act decisively. If it doesn't, then the people out there will exercise their final judgment on UMNO. They are a stark reminder that the UMNO leadership beginning with the UMNO President can't operate on personal whims and fancies any longer.

So what do people see when the speak of UMNO?

They think of the leadership material that has brought about peace and prosperity to this nation of ours. They think of leadership material that pushed for civil society based on mutual respect between races. Malays think of comforting thoughts that their cultural, political and historical rootedness are not disputed. Other races think of an UMNO leadership that values their contributions.

People think of a need for a strong and upright leadership in UMNO that does not tolerate what people like Khir Toyo, Rahim tamby Chik or even non UMNO person like Taib Mahmud represent. People demand a leadership that puts an end to all these.

When people talk about UMNO, they think of a renewed leadership and even a new leadership if the current leadership is weak-kneed or spineless to actualize what the rakyat wants.

Walla is the last person I hope, to claim that these thoughts are exclusively owned by those opposing UMNO only.