UMNO's unfinished revolution: one step forward and 2 steps backwards.
We can't go back to 1946 and wished the motivations and inspirations that awoken the Malays remained unchanged. That wish would have to assume that every leader is born at the same time and is of similar constitution- boldness in character, dedication to public service, possessing selfless dedication.
Let me illustrate the stark contrast in character constitution that I refer to.
When Tun Razak died, he had little money. His only liquid asset of any merit was the Magsaysay Award. He didn't have enough funds to finance his medical bills in England. After he died, the government had to step in to give his wife a home for her and her children.
When Tunku Abdul Rahman died he too had no money. A few times he was saved financially by Tun Datu Mustapha.
Let's take the case of a more plebian leader- Khir Johari. When he was alive and in power, all sorts of accusations were hurled at him. I remember looking at a picture of him and his wife donning traditional Chinese costumes wishing the Chinese, Happy New Year. It was probably done in good sport. Towards the end of his life, every one found out he had only one house in Bukit Damansara. Those rights over that house were disputed. In the end he had to leave the house and moved into an apartment. He died in that apartment.
What these examples show is that, by and large, these first generation UMNO leaders were actually of selfless material, enjoying the trappings of power indeed while in office, but taking none after they leave.
Present day UMNO leaders are a world apart. The majority are loud in every sense of the word.
This difference can only be explained by one factor. UMNO has been taken over by leadership of different material who is conditioned by different experiences having less service to the public motives. This may be a shocking admission – but I hope the present day UMNO leadership is aware of the general perception that is getting stronger by the day, that present day UMNO leadership consists of a bunch of sly politicians intent on making hay while it shines.
But certainly, what we could expect is to have those motivations and ideals behind the UMNO of 1946, refined and enhanced. From closed mind to openness, from debilitating traditionalism to modernism. These must the founding principles behind the 'betulkan orang Melayu' drive of Onn Jaafar.
Sad to say, UMNO must bear the primary responsibility over the more or less unchanged mental landscape of Malays in general. UMNO alone is responsible for the regressive ideas of Malays. If they have been sleeping over eons, they now have been given sleeping pills to slumber along while the world passes them over. Over the years, UMNO leadership has caused the motivations and inspirations that moved an entire nation to degenerate into besieged paranoia and parochialism.
So before I go on, maybe it's timely for me to remind Malay readers especially of what Zaaba said some time ago.
I tell you not in mournful numbers
That the Malays are a dying race
I only want the soul that slumbers
To wake and work in these bright days
I tell you not in mournful numbers
The way in which to improve the Malays
I want that each Malay remember
Modest, contented shouldn't be always.
Allow me to explain. What was the catalyst that galvanized the Malay population? Without a doubt, it was the idea of a Malayan Union. Regrettably I am not going to repeat the usual stuff about Malayan Union etc. etc.
Malayan Union must be regarded as a wakeup call for the Malay leadership to understand, that Malay politics cannot remain forever insulated. The rule is that those who failed to adapt perish. Those who failed to acquire tools for survival disappear. The present day leadership of UMNO and UMNO members must be conscious of the bigger designs of the Malayan Union.
UMNO got the Malays a reprieve to adapt. If UMNO fails to do so and Malays do not succeed in adapting, it means UMNO has failed the Malays.
If I were to view objectively the clash between the world represented by UMNO in 1946 and the new world represented by Malayan Union- I would have to say things in the following manner. UMNO's resistance and objection to the Malayan Union then was the result of the awareness of Malay leadership in general, that Malays were not ready for the challenges of an open society. For that is what Malayan Union represented really- an open, competitive and democratic arrangement in the relations of the citizens of a modern world. Malays were not ready.
The mission of UMNO then would have been only one- to prepare Malays to be ready for the open world. Equipped, competitive and having the tools to do so. UMNO's mission was never to dig deeper into a trench and cocooned itself and Malays in general. If those were the objectives of UMNO, it was wrong. If these are UMNO missions as understood by present day leadership in UMNO, then they shouldn't be helming UMNO.
Dato, I don't know where to begin...You seem to have said loud and clear terms what UMNO should be begginning from 1946. I totally agree with you, UMNO since 1946 and till the death of Tun Razak was doing its best to put the malay race in the right perspective as you mentioned what UMNO should be doing for the best the malay race. There was a lapse of time for UMNO beggining in the era of the late Tun Hussein's premiership. But I don't blame him because that was the time the country was fully focussed on the communist threat.
ReplyDeleteThe actual threat to the malays began during the time of Mahathir. He completely destroyed UMNO's legacy and it's objectives together with it. They were buried in 1987 after the clash of the titans, M vs R episode. With the the formation of UMNO baru, all was lost for the malay race's survival. Every effort was spent in developing the Mahatharism ideology. So, along with this development alot was destroyed. The country's main Institutions representing JUSTICE was buried. I don't want to dulge into details because every one knows what happened to the Judiciary, the police, Badan Pencegah Rasuah ( SPRM now ).
Mahathir left too much baggage for the later prime ministers and is still throwing more bagges for the presnt leaders to not focus on the malay race but on Mahathir's prime objective, that is his legacy and the development of his children's empire. Today, he is only concentrated on his ambition to make sure that his son Mukhriz is the future prime minister. So, Najid or whoever that becomes the next prime minister can never focus for the good of the malay race. What the malay race need is not 'tongkat'. They need EDUCATION, TRAINING and whatever that can DEVELOP THEIR MINDSET and not take some 'few dollars more' from the Napoleons and become little napoleons. Little do this 'little Napoleons' realise that they are destroying their own race and making 'haram' money to feed their children.
I can go on...but guess it's enough for today. I totally agree with all your findings and elaboration. Carry on the good work...Dato.
Dato' still not too late for the Malays.
ReplyDeleteSimply put... kick the present UMNO leaders out but since the second echelon leaders are as useless as Jibby and the rest therefore it is about time all Malays to wake up and either tell off people like JIbby and his stooges or macam biasa la dato' that we go for the next option!
PAS ganti UMNO... not a bad idea....!
PAS ganti UMNO will be the finished UMNO's Revolution and when the PAS leadership turn monster like UMNO leaders now then the next revolution will surface until orang Melayu pupus!
ReplyDeleteGood luck to you sir!
I remember Khir Johari. He promised to give RM 100.00 to any man who married a woman of another race. He as encouraging inter racial marriage, I suppose. This as in the the 60s.
ReplyDeleteAs for the future of the Malays. Just look at the universities. Only 30% of them are Malay males!!
Most of them are Mat Rempits and Mat Sikal... waiting to become soldiers, gabbage collectors, grass cutters, security guards,bus drivers and car re-possessors.
Academically they can never match the Chinese because the government rewards them for mediocrity.
We have only mediocre Malays in the Cabinet and civil service.
Can we expect excellence from mediocrity??
Dear Dato,Going back to history lets talk about the time from Tunku to Tun Hussein.We have three PMs with different styles of leadership.Tunku's style although he was firm with his Ministers,he was well like by the people.He was seen as fair to all irrespective of race.And he did not hide from anybody that he like a few drinks once in a while.When Tun Razak took over he was considered a racist,and wasn't well liked by the minorities.But being the PM,he cannot act and talk like he used to when he was the DPM.So eventually he moved from the conservative right to the middle.Only in the middle of his term was he accepted by most of the people.He did a lot to raised the standard of the people.The Malays benefited the most from Felda,compulsary Bumiputra involvement in coporations and big contracts given to Malays.Then when Tun Hussein took over the people saw him as a fair man.He was well like but his critics consider him soft.He shocked the whole nation,especially Umno members and his critics, when he ordered the arrest of one of the most powerful Umno warlords at that time.This Umno warlord was a corrupted Menteri Besar and Umno youth head.All three PMs were true Statemans but different style of leadership.During their watch corruption was mostly from the lower level civil servants,PDRM,Customs and middle level politicians.Corruption was on a smaller scale then.After Dr. Mahathir took over corruption was big time.Under the watch of Dr. Mahathir corruption was from the top down.From cabinet ministers down to the office peon.Every body was following the "BOSS" robbing the bank dry like nobody's business.Nowadays corruption is an accepted fact of life.Like blogger KTeMoc said "Malaysia has gone to the Dogs".
ReplyDeleteYou are talking about Umno leaders who were really in politics to serve country and rakyat.
ReplyDeleteThere are no more Umno leaders. What you have now are Umno Baru's or Umno Mahathir's leaders. They are corrupt to the hilt. When Mahathir or najib dies, they will leave billions...all held either by their families or held on trust by cronies.
The 'piratisation' projects implemented by Mahathir which include the IPPs would have brought hima and his family a few billions. Why..isn't Mokzani one of the country's wealthiest man.
The purchase of defence equipments notably Scorpene and Sukhoi would have brought RM1++ billion to najib or for that matter rosmah. The list of wealth accumulation through deceitful means by Umno Baru leaders are endless.
You need to give PR just 1 term to unravel the mess..and to find the missing RM50 billion worth of assets meant for Bumis.
Interesting one, Sir.
ReplyDeleteHow true when the first Malay leaders looked at us Chinese and Indians as brothers and co-owners of this land.
They worked selflessly for the people.
But today's UMNO is a fake. They send their children overseas for education and they themselves seek medical treatment overseas.
Many UMNO leaders (and their children) boast about their clothes, houses, cars, the 5-star hotels they have stayed in and casinos they have been to.
And mind you, they can tell you all about making the best cocktails and about the finest wines and whiskeys.
AND THEY ALSO SWEAR TO DEFEND ISLAM TO THE LAST DROP OF BLOOD.
This, my friend, is the present UMNO Malay.
Salam,
ReplyDeleteDato',
In PAS, sincerity / ikhlas is reduced to Lailahaillallah / There is no God but Allah.
I do not know what is meant by ikhlas in UMNO especially in present UMNO.
-MAKORANG-
UMNO Corporate Song:
ReplyDeleteBaa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir,
Three bags full.
One for the master,
One for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.
Dear Dato,The present Umno leadership's mentality has to change or else the Umno members have to change it for them by voting them out.Just like Najib with the clowns around him can do no right,Anwar with Azmin and his jokers are giving them a run for their money by doing everything wrong.Instead of concentrating on consolidating their strength in East Malaysia, they concentrated on placing their cronies there.Many disgruntled local leaders left PKR.Now PKR has no strong presence in East Malaysia.This coming GE has Umno and its lapdogs Mca and Mic at its weakest.But with PR weak in East Malaysia there is no way they can beat BN this coming GE.So we are stuck with Najib again.It is better to be stuck with Najib,provided he can get rid of his present deputy and "BALDY".If Najib can get rid of the factions and consolidate his position he can still be a good PM,leaving aside his baggage.It is better to have the devil we knew than to have two demons we don't know.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just "Present day UMNO leaders..."
ReplyDeleteYou shld include all bn component such as mca, mic and those from east malaysia
Camna lak Tun Ghafar dalam scenario ni?
ReplyDeleteDear Sakmongkol
ReplyDelete“UMNO's unfinished revolution: one step forward and 2 steps backwards”.
The revolution that Umno started ended decades ago. The revolutionary fervour began to cool when Umno got the British out and after it gained complete control over the country in 1963. But up until the 1970’s Umno was still very much in the “revolutionary” mode in the sense that its leaders - Tun Razak and Tun Hussein - were men of public service, as you have pointed out.
The ascendance of Dr Mahathir changed everything. He brought a certain violence into Umno, challenging the supremacy of the Sultans directly. He was impatient to see Malays get rich, even if that meant “helicoptering” them into big corporations that they couldn’t manage (and what consequences followed!). He was desperate to stay in power, buying votes in 1987 to fend off Tengku Razaleigh, and thereby igniting money politics. Vote buying wasn’t confined to just within Umno, but involved also the general elections. To raise massive amounts of money – the so-called war chest – cronyism was condoned and supported so that “sludge funds” could be channeled for political purposes. Besides, since many (not all) of these cronies were Malay, these newly minted Malay million/billionaires could be paraded as a success story of the NEP. And so corruption became a way of life; it was seen as being condoned and practiced by BN politicians and their friends. Corruption was no longer shameful. It was more shameful in business if you didn’t know anyone important to pull strings with. A new bad culture took over, and with that whatever idealism that Umno had left evaporated.
Umno has ceased to be a party of all the Malays, but has become a party for the few fortunate Malays who can climb its ladder to reach the honey pots. For the many millions of ordinary Malays, the party that claims to represent them had left them to fend for themselves. So, one step forward and two steps backwards, ad infinitum, would leave the ordinary Malays further and further away from everyone else in this fast changing world. Forget about revolution, and forget about idealism.
Here, I've always wanted to say this to the UMNO/BN people: "Pergi jahanamlah semua pemimpin-pemimpin UMNO/BN yang hanya tahu menyiksa rakyat. Saya sedia untuk pilih pemimpin dari kaum lain walau apapun risikonya dari di buli sepanjang masa oleh bangsa sendiri"
ReplyDeleteDato,
ReplyDeleteYou have to accept the fact that the present day UMNO and its leaders have only one thing on their minds which is to enrich themselves at all costs.
The truth is the public no longer holds any perception that the present day UMNO leadership consists of a bunch of sly politicians intent on making hay while it shines. The public already knows this is a fact as it is so openly done. The fortunes amassed by the UMNO leaders and their cronies will make the likes of Hosni Mobarak cringed with envy. The cancer of power and wealth is malignant in UMNO and its leaders in their blood that there is nothing more that can be done to save UMNO, let alone change UMNO.
UMNO has gone through a re-birth via UMNO Baru in the 80's and yet still unable to raise the standard of the malays. Through all the never ending affirmative actions, weren't those who were connected with UMNO became the "towering malays". What happened to the normal every day malay? Well he is still being fed some bits here and there from time to time to remind him that he has to depend on UMNO. And of course he is fed with the continuous UMNO propaganda that the bogeyman are the pendatangs depriving them of the bigger pie.
One will never progress when one always blame the others for its own weaknesses. The present day UMNO is destroying the malays. For the malays to progress, they have to decide if UMNO is the way for them or if UMNO is getting in their way.
Of course the Malays were not ready back then in every sense of the word. Even foreigners helped draft our constitutions.
ReplyDeleteUMNO worked tireless back then but now UMNO worked tirelessly for themselves. They gave new meaning to the idea of economic hitmen aiming at laundering billions overseas.
As I opined in another column, the Malays are a people without destiny. That's the reason why we do all sorts of things without a predefined destination in mind.
The Jews wandered in the wilderness for forty years before they come to their senses. I am not giving up hope. Either the Malays knock themselves out of their folly or wait for a divine intervention that will help shape and shake them to their destiny. And that was is meant by Qada' and Qadar, and that is an obligatory concept that we must believe in.
salam,dear sir
ReplyDeleteUMNO...simple n uncomplicated facts :
1. what revolution ???...patronisation(of the british)...YES
AND
2. pun sudah MATI,"DEAD N BURIED", 1988
3. then the CLONE is born, whose 'father' is not even a bumiputra/malay
so what do u espect???
"UMNO is rotten to the core" Dr M said.
ReplyDeleteBetter to set up another Malay party or better still join with PAS.
Money and Jewish Financial advisers like Milton Freedman,Soros etc have destroyed our leaders with economic greed.
The escalatin price increase/inflasion is a a dangerous path taken by Najib that would lead to total destruction of Malaysian economics leading to a depression similiar to of Hitler Germany and the 1929 GreatDepression in America.
UMNO/Najibs inability to control spending is going to be translated into our Great Malaysian Depression.
Read more my article "Cara baru UMNO/BN rompak duit rakyat"...at
http://warongpakyeh.blogspot.com
Sir,UNMO since Dr.Mamak has become a corrupted political party.Its leadership in only interested in enching themselves.The national wealth has been systemitically siphoned off millions by he day. See how rich is Sarawak CM with Roll Royle driving around in town.See the 20m house belongs to ex.MB of Selangor.Top 20 richest person is Mamak's son.Only poor Malays live in kampung.
ReplyDeleteAnother good piece of analysis. Well written and thought out. You have to admit that Mahathir was the one within UMNO who destroyed the founding fathers' legacy for his own personal benefit. Its a fact that until today, his policies are meant to protect HIS WEALTH for generations to come. Its interesting that UMNO accepted and are blinded by an INDIAN MUSLIM/MAMAK then AND now. But then Mahathir has accumulated so much wealth to supplement his policies that nobody dares to challenge him, even now. Since Mahathir created an 'acceptable' governing style, the 'have nots' within BN/UMNO see this as perfectly acceptable behavior to emulate. The whole cycle is propagated until it is now an embedded culture of governing. Do you or anybody really think change in this form and manner is possible in reality? We can debate, write columns, argue till the lembu's come home, but nothing will change in as long as current MINDSET is there. The only way to change and put founding fathers' legacy back ontrack is wholesale change in government. This will shock the system to the core where the new team will have to reconstruct from scratch for a better society, better lifestyle, better future for our children. Look at Philippines. It is taking generations and many presidential govts after Marcos' era to right his wrongs.
ReplyDeleteForget UMNO's revolution. It is dead a long time ago. We should focus on EVOLUTION from hence forth to realign the path forward, to retweak the foundations build. We have plenty of capable politicians to undertake this challenge, regardless of race, religion, color, height, etc, etc. Dare we take this challenge? Can the rakyat have the courage to vote out the current administration to move forward? What other dirty, filthy, slimy tactics will the incumbents use to retain power AND hence, WEALTH? We are in for darker days before the skies clear, that we are....
ada kata pas ganti umno...tapi aku cakap kalu pas ganti umno sama saja macam penang selangor dan perak masa dulu sama maknanya dap ganti umno...aku ingat tu lagi baik...kah...kah..kahhhhhh
ReplyDeleteA: 'I miss you, Sir.'
ReplyDeleteB: '(eyes pop, jaw drops, kretek embers land on sarung, burning hole size of ten sen coin)..You do? Well then, goodbye pink mop, and hello Sofea!'
A: '(looks at smoke spiraling up) Oh dear, is it hurting?'
B: '(grins bravely) Not yet.'
A: 'Emm, Shall we not focus on your sartorial simplicity for the moment but ponder what our blogger has written? I think he has written another intelligent piece.'
B: '(flicking ash off) That's hardly surprising, Sofea. With only a few exceptions, the others in the Umno leadership also display intellect too. Unfortunately all bovine. Kekeke.'
A: 'I see you have not lost your bite.'
B: 'But the other wire has also broken off....oh, never mind. What is it that weighs on your lovely brows, Sofea?'
A: '(eyes roll). I think Umno's revolution will never be finished because the brobdingnagian challenges it has been facing will soon consume it completely.'
B: '(jaw drops again, twenty sen coin). You mean its legacy problems of economics and politics? Give me a minute to respond. (Turns away, opens kamus)...
I think it's like this, Sofea. Every organism in life goes through its own phases of growth and decline. Under normal circumstances, they trace a sigmoid curve. First, slow palpable growth, then rapid accelerating growth, and finally slowdown to a plateau before decline to end somewhere.
The key to maintaining growth, or in this case political relevance, is to continuously find new S-curves before expiry of the old one.
What has been happening to Umno, Barisan for that matter, is that it has not been able to locate new relevance for itself anymore that can not only equal the original kickass spirit at the time of the formation of this country but also provide a real counterbalance to the emergence of new forces of change demanded by the rakyat.'
A: 'But, Sir, Umno's government has been delivering the goods to the rakyat, don't you think so?'
2
ReplyDeleteB: '(eyes glint). You really think so, Sofea? Let me ask you two questions.
Firstly, which government can govern for long if it doesn't deliver goods to the rakyat? In other words, any government run by any political party worth its salt will have to deliver goods to the rakyat. That's what governments are for, isn't it? So don't arrogate to Umno some transcendental right that only it knows best or can do best. It hasn't and it doesn't and, by the denouement of recent events, it won't. Remove the fulcrum of its spin and you will see its politics has devastated this nation. Let me put it bluntly - even if Umno wins the next general elections, the country loses, and frankly, i think it'll be the end.
Which comes to the second point. By itself, politics is just a tool. It is just a tool to levitate and moderate the economics of nation-building. And the fortunes of Umno and Barisan have risen and fallen with the economic fortunes of this land. We must understand why.
When Malaya started, much of the country was relatively under-developed so that the potential for growth and development was assured. With expansion of the population, demand for goods and services increased until we reached the high-flying days of the 70's when hot money flowed in followed by massive FDI that had helped build an industrial base beyond our plantations. Public finances were also shored up by oil and gas revenues.
Today, all that has changed. Hot money is only here to take occasional pot shots at punters in a market where share prices have had to be quoted in sen so as not to reflect how minute are the valuations. And that is because the fundamentals of good management to build real enterprises have been sacrificed for window-dressed performance not shored by real capabilities.
Next, FDI where it really matters is only going into industrial bases in Opposition-run states like Penang and Selangor. The others? Buildings again, as if another complex can produce things for export to earn currency to discharge deficits. Come to think of it, what has happened to Zamry's Perak state projects? He's quiet as a tikus, no? And other investment projects? The announcements are reruns of the same projects, like Rais’ tv movies.
And let's not belabor how our oil and gas resources have depleted, even for their half-hearted verisimilitude of new finds. Aren’t we now importing gas as well?
Sofea, the economic legacy of Umno's politics of the 70's is the problem today. That period was growth but few saw that it was growth borne by subsidy. Instead of realizing it hard enough then to build real capability for the future, they just sat back and milked the cash register.
So that now when reality has finally bitten, the entire Umno leadership is amok, and right after the Sarawak elections, if you would care to note.
Because they have suddenly found the twin threat to their personal survival from the convergence of economic non-sustainability and political irrelevance.
All those wild spending in the 70's went into crony projects and piratisation schemes but with financing charges for the treasury's attention.
Just imagine, one of many such financing charges is no less than USD1 Billion. The rakyat are indirectly asked to pay for generations to come for a project that was not tendered out properly but benefited cronies who declared huge dividends to themselves while protecting their turf by cabling into Umno to bear the risk on some flimsy rakyat-centric excusatory spin.
Now, how did this happen? It happened because someone whose son has just been paid RM90 million for the land where resides Pudu wet market thought he was clever by buying early ahead of future inflation but clean well forgot how financing charges can balloon the final cost, what more on depreciated items.
And who will ultimately be paying for these mega-projects from future benefits foregone? Our momentarily happy, jomhebohing, rakyat.'
3
ReplyDeleteA: 'I see what you are driving at, Sir. In fact i cannot understand how a government which could finally release the details of the road toll agreements could not release the details of the IPP agreements. After all, isn't TNB a government-linked enterprise?'
B: 'Exactly, Sofea. Too much dirt has been swept under the carpet. Now the rakyat have the internet as their vacuum cleaner. It’s all coming out and the shit has hit the fan running at speed tiga. And our Barisan jokers have the nerve to say seventy five percent of households won't be affected by the power tariff raise.
Well, if this government is so clever to talk about positive multipliers for the ETP projects, why can't it answer whether there won't be negative multipliers for this tariff raise? Electricity courses right through all businesses and inflation will kill our poor. Because their income is static with no prospect of near-term dynamic. Meanwhile, their families starve. Shit!'
A: 'I empathise and agree, Sir. This country was given only one providential chance to transform itself starting from the 70's. But Umno and Barisan didn't do the right things. It only had the idee fixe about hardware and personal aggrandisement. It did not embrace the necessity to constantly feel vulnerable despite the good times of that past era.
It failed to subscribe to a long-term commonweal for all the rakyat but instead did all the pejoratives to only amplify those who could guarantee support of its elites so that they could continue to harvest their positions. Unlike Nottingham forest, the rich robbing the poor.
The nations which really thrive are those with weltanschauung, or pragmatic world views. Umno never had that because it infested itself with those displaying only the brains of ocelots which would explain their jejune behavior unbecoming of real leaders. Perhaps that will explain the mad political propaganda of using the youths to protect Putrajaya. Isn’t that like the Sheriff of Nottingham using the long-suffering peasants of the land to protect his castle?’
B: ‘Yes, parsing what you have said, who can deny the present Umno leadership is just made of chicken-livered, yellow-bellied, scrofulous poltroons?
Our Malay race, and by that i mean the real Nusantura's, is marked by savoir-faire characteristics. What's that phrase? Ah, semper aequus. Well, the Perkasa's, Utusan's, Gaps and so on, so forth have just finished those characteristics with their racist taunts officially excused off as expressions of community and norm. Before the whole world, how shameful to drag the Malay race down to that level of gutter politics?! Those jabbering and hawing jokers don't even know how to interprete the federal constitution. Sofea, with all that, you can jettison any hope of 1Malaysia taking root. It’s finito.’
4/4
ReplyDeleteA: 'Sir, i sense they knew all along. They just wanted to drive the less-informed segments of the community towards some fear-struck loyalty towards Umno, little realizing that the Umno of today bears little resemblance to that of the Umno of yesteryear which had carried the real torch of our community. Nowadays, that torch is just for a few elites to enter the den of thieves and cart away the national jewels. Anyway, our urban Malays will take the message home to their kampongs and wake up even the dead. Indeed, i am puzzled how the son of an ex-premier can possibly own that piece of land.
B: 'Perhaps it's because the father had owned the other piece of prime land along Jalan Tun Razak? He, the man who said he was not interested to know any project below two million ringgit? I give up, Sofea.'
A: 'Yes, Sir. Arrogance is manure for the vineyard of error.'
B :'(fifty sen coin) Indeed?!'
A: 'How do you see the GE ahead?'
B: 'Penang, Kedah, Kelantan, Perak, Selangor, Federal Territory plus parts of Terengganu, Sarawak and Sabah. And if the Almighty so decides, a taste of Negri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor as well. Pahang, Perlis and Labuan, Barisan can keep.'
A: 'Then the real revolution will be by the rakyat, Sir.'
B: 'It always has been that, Sofea. The MENA states in the Middle-East have shown the way.
The Almighty is the Final and Ultimate Reckoner and sees through all pretenders. Even those who use the federal institutions to win by unfair and most cruel means.
Meanwhile let's pray those PSD scholars will get what they have really earned, not some halfbaked unscrupulous measures unbecoming of our Malay race. I leave unsaid Umno's racist treatment of our STPM scholars. To deny them any full-fledged state scholarship for overseas study of their choice i would count as an execrable act which will exact the full fury of our nonMalay voters.'
A: 'Sir, please say no more. We all know why and who. Umno has never had a fair and just gesamtlösung for our nonMalays.'
B: 'And that is finishing off this nation.'
Dear Dato,The fixated corrupted siege mentality of our present day Umno leaders are here to stay.The only way that can change is to have two party systems.With the so called two party systems we have now,where the lead party PKR(TAIKO) is the weakest link in the opposition pact.The present day PKR leadership consists mostly of former Umno clones,that is why the "TAIKO" will always remain the three legged donkey of PR.There has to be a total change in PKR leadership now or it will self destruct after GE13.I hope that I am wrong,but PKR is the party that is going to get thrashed in GE13.Then maybe new young leaders will take over.In order to force Umno to get its act together we got to have "very strong" second party.DAP has a second crop of young professional leaders.Hopefully PAS has some too.When there is a strong two party system only can there be checks and balances.Umno will not change its corrupted siege mentality until it knows that it is about to be deported to a third country.Hopefully in GE14.Until then we can only keep dreaming of the "cows coming home".
ReplyDeleteDato, you should write that article in Malay because the people who should really know about this are your Malay brothers.
ReplyDeletePeople who can read this article in English are already converts who are either committed to changing Malaysia or committed to plundering Malaysia.
My only conclusion from your countless English articles bashing UMNO is that you are an attention seeker with little courage in bringing the case to your Malay brothers.
Bet you crave for attention and praise from all those who continue to praise you for your "wise thoughts" but not dare to face the gauntlet.
The key to a good article is what impact do you want your writings to really achieve? You write good articles but obviously, the impact you are looking for is definitely not get your Malay brothers to critically think about where they are.
Dato,you are the UMNO member that is real,the real UMNO,not Mahathir's UMNO Baru,can you advice some more real UMNO members on what is happening to the party that is suppose to help the Malays,
ReplyDeletego create a rukus amongst the members,reawakeing,remodeled,reboot or whatever,perhaps our 3 former PM's dreams can n will come true,Insha Allah.
This article is good but can't achieve anything. UNMO 1946 has been dead and buried in 1987, right? UMNO today is UMNO Baru, born in 1987 - made to look like UMNO, sound like UMNO.. but not really UMNO lah!
ReplyDelete"present day UMNO leadership consists of a bunch of sly politicians intent on making hay while it shines."
ReplyDeleteI don't think highly of the past umno as of the present umno or vice verse.
i think more of where is the center. Take care of the center , the leader and the follower will oblige.
You are a leader , Dato, ....building the center.
Good.
Datuk,
ReplyDeleteI have read all the comments posted in your "UMNOs unfinished Revolution" and although all of them are good and thoughtful, yet there is ONE significant and perhaps CRUCIAL factor for change and reform which NONE of your comments carried. This is the need for UMNO to downplay and eventually abolish the racial factor. You can do this by transforming UMNO into a United MalaySIAN National Organization. Everyone accepts that Malaysia is a multi-racial country where Nationality (MALAYSIAN) should be ahead of race (Malay, Chinese, Indian, etc). That is what Najib's 1Malaysia concept is about. But to date, there is no sincere and determined attempt to multiracialize UMNO. Datuk Onn Jaafar had seen this way back in the early 1950s, but he was ahead of his time. Now we are in the 2010s heading towards Vision 2020. Much as you and other UMNO leaders may disagree, you can't wish away the spirit of the Malayan Union. It may have died in 1946. But today all Malaysians subscribe to its spirit, and surprizingly, many young Malays, especially those who benefit from the NEP. You have a situation similar to the English-educated Malays of the 1950s opposing colonial rule. Now the educated Malays oppose UMNO's NEP and Ketuanan Melayu.
Malays no longer buy UMNO's propaganda that they will lose out in a multi-racial Malaysia where nationality is ahead of race, where Malaysian takes precedence over malay, chinese, Indian, etc. Malays are confident to compete with others on an equal footing, but with NEP and Ketuanan Melayu, they are hampered by UMNO's artificial crutches which perpetually remind them that they are weak and have to depend on UMNO. Why should Malays fear Datuk Onn's multi-racial politics, now articulated by the opposition? Malays are in a majority (60%) and Chinese and Indians have accepted Malay dominance in politics, even though it is multi-racial. Even if PR wins the federal govt, it is Anwar and not Kit Siang who will be PM.
Having said what I have to say above, I tend to agree with Razaleigh that the only way UMNO can reform is to be in the OPPOSITION for a stint, perhaps 5-10 years. Let UMNO/BN be defeated in the next GE. Let Najib or Muhyiddin be leader of the opposition for a change. If they refuse, then let Razaleigh take over. If UMNO is in the opposition, the first good thing is that all the corrupt and useless people will on their on accord desert UMNO. These people who bend where the wind blows will defect to PR, especially PKR and in time corrupt the party. Meantime UMNO can refor, and the first thing is to transform itself into a United MalaySIAN National Organization. I am sure many good people from MCA,Gerakan, MIC, PPP will join this new multiracial UMNO and desert their racist parties. The new multi-racial must now espouse MALAYSIAN and multi-racial policies and carry them out sincerely. Meantime we can expect the new PKR/PR in power to fall into the same corrupt path as UMNO. PKR, PAS and DAP will quarrel because of divergent ideologies. Let PR fight and self destruct, the people will be aware of this and looking for an alternative viable mass based multi-racial party. That is when the new multi-racial UMNO will emerge. It must fight on non-racial, egalitarian moves to attract the best possible defectors from the PR. Work on the gorund for the next 5 - 10 years and THE NEW UMNO WILL SURELY BE REWARDED BY COMING BACK TO POWER AGAIN, perhaps by 2020.
Harapan Baru
We cannot totally blame Mahathir for all the maladies suffer by the nation now.The question is who followed him if not the malay leaders and their grassroots read UMNO.During the communist threat the communist were dominated by the Chinese and in the aftermath we faced economic threat also dominated by the Chinese.We needed then double quick time to catch-up with the Chinese to avoid a bigger May 13 that could have destroyed all of us not unlike Bosnia or Rwanda.Now the upper crust of the Malays are almost equal with the upper crust of the Chinese and now is the right time to benefit the lower crust of all races.This is the true evolution at whatever price we had to pay to get to this upper level equilibrium.Why fret over successful Malays?If this is evil it is a necessary evil and the people now must not perpetuate this policy as a licence to perpetually plunder the nation.There are good,bad and ugly about Mahathir but we survive as a nation in transition and is this not an achievement?
ReplyDeleteParti UMNO adalah pengkhinat kepada bangsa MELAYU; mereka melalui PARTI PERIKATAN telah memberikan lebih sejuta kerakyatan kepada orang2 Cina dan Tamil selepas kemerdekaan tanpa apa2 tapisan seperti syarat penguasaan bahasa melayu; mereka melakukan demikian kerana itulah konsesi yg perlu dilakukan selepas mengambil wang dari towkey2 cina yg menguasai MCA; kebodohan UMNO terserlah dgn memberikan jawatan Menteri Kewangan pertama kepada Tan Siew Sin dari MCA; 15 tahun diawal kemerdekaan adalah tahun2 malang kepada bangsa melayu, bilamana Pulau Singapura telah ditendang keluar; jika sekiranya pemimpin melayu pertama Persekutuan Malaysia ialah Sukarno; Singapura akan tetap berada di dalam genggaman orang melayu dengan apa cara sekalipun; berkaitan Tun Razak dan Hussein Onn; keduanya mempunyai bapa mertua yg sama; dan bapa mertua mereka juga bersetongkol dengan orang Cina melalui penubuhan syarikat Genting. Itu adalah hubungan yg istemewa; legasi yg akan dituruti oleh anak2 mertua dan cucu2nya yg dilatih menjadi pemimpin pelapis UMNO. Mahadhir Mohamad adalah PM yg memenangi pilihanraya atas tiket UMNO; parti yg kononnya memperjuangkan orang melayu; ironisnya Mahadhir sendir bukanlah seorang melayu; bapa beliau berasal dari Kerala; secara logik bangsa beliau ialah Malayali India. Beliau begitu berdegar2 bercakap tentang nasib orang melayu; tetapi mempunyai hubungan yg sangat istemewa/intim towkey cina dan india melaui pemberian kontrak2 lumayan kepada mereka. Najib Razak sanagat sayang kepada Cina; beliau memberikan pengiktirafan kepada sekolah2 cina dan tamil dgn melakukan pindaan di dalam akta pelajaran yg memberikan kuasa kepada menteri pelajaran utk menutup sekolah2 tersebut. Itulah perkara yg beliau selalu ungkit2kan kepada orang2 cina. Sekolah2 cina adalah sekolah perkauman; anda akan dapati 70% orang Cina di Malaysia tidak dapat bercakap bahasa kebangsaan dengan baik; malahan pekerja asing dari Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal boleh bercakap bahasa kebagnsaan dengan lebih baik dari rakyat malaysia berketurunan Cina ini.
ReplyDeleteNajib nampaknya sangat bersimpati dgn tuntutan2 cina; oleh itu beliau dan PARTI UMNO tidak lagi boleh diharapkan.
PAS juga tidak boleh diharapkan. Bangsa MELAYU mesti mencari platform baru yg bebas dari UMNO dan PAS. Definisi melayu yg baru yg mesti dirangkumkan meliputi peribumi Sabah dan Sarawak; dan bukan sekadar bumiputra.
Platform baru yg lebih agresif dan KIASU; siapakah yg boleh memimpin kita kepada masa depan yg baru di tanah air kita ini.