Anwar the Greek.

We must always retain a deep suspicion and scepticism about the motives of those who seek powers over others. In politics, we became conscious of this fatal conceit of those proselytizing their altruism when those countries adopting socialism imploded and later voluntarily embraced capitalism. People are very gullible to the likes of Mr Anwar Ibrahim of their high mindedness to regulate and plan their welfare. Do we place our trust in Mr. Anwar? Perhaps he is the proverbial Greek bearing gifts that we all should beware of. Back during the financial crisis I was dumbfounded to discover what a babe in the woods was Mr Anwar in economic management. Der Doctor was more competent in this field. In Economics, there has emerged a branch in the study of that dismal science that seeks to unravel the vested interests that lurk behind every executive act. This is called Public Choice Theory economics which was started by Professor James Buchanan and the Virginia School.

The great virtue of market economics is that most of the material benefits can be secured through voluntary pursuit of self interests, and hear this- without the interference of government and coercive attempts by others. It is sufficient to rely on the most basic human instinct of pursuing self interests. It is through the natural propensity to truck, barter and exchange , the invisible hand operates to shape an economic order. In that economic order the pursuit of individual self interests where you offer something of value to acquire value, leads to the material benefit of society as a whole.

I have before me several books written by F.A Hayek.[1] Hayek is another great thinker who says that it is our duty to ensure that we preserve the continuance of the extended order of human cooperation. He refers of course to capitalism. Our civilisation indeed depends on the continuance of such an order. The political upshot of such a system is that a society based on such an economic order does not require the interventions of some omniscient and omnipotent central authority so favoured by Mr Anwar Ibrahim and his supporters. I count Azmin Ali as Anwar’s Himmler. Unfortunately there are many within UMNO too who favour such approach, conferring upon themselves an innate monopoly on altruism. Dato Seri Najib certainly falls into such a category. He has succeeded to mould the majority in Pekan into mindless and pliant supplicants.

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[1] F.A. Hayek, is an Austrian economist who was also a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics. Among his books, The Constitution of Liberty and Fatal Conceit.

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anwar ibrahim and his market economics

Anwar Ibrahim’s’ acceptance of free market economics is like the present crop of UMNO leaders belief in the UMNO system or UMNOism. Just because it has worked for so long does not put down deep roots and acceptance of it because it works is dangerous. What is more important is to have the inner resources to become stronger. In the case of UMNO, it is high time for UMNO to have an ideology. If the only reason for accepting free market or in the case of UMNO, its longevity, is short-run pragmatism, sooner or later when political storm clouds and tsunami gather , everything crumbles. It has already happened to UMNO and its leaders stood high dudgeon.

So what is free market economics or for want of a readily recognisable term, capitalism? I must warn however, this short essay is not meant to an exhaustive discourse on free market economics. The subject has been extensively written by technical writers of different persuasions from time to time.

Of course the father of free market economics was Adam Smith, the Scottish preacher. Actually, he was a moralist first before he was an economist, and this fact seemed to escape many. According to smith, any present prosperity is not the result of willful planning and outcome of deliberate involvement of a supra body. Rather, it is the outcome of a natural propensity of all humans to truck, barter and exchange one thing for another. This natural propensity is an application of self interest. Everyone wants to better his lot. This propensity is the underlying principal of all economic endeavors. Because it facilitates and encourages trade between two people who are unrelated at all. Thus in this system, everyone must be able to offer something of value to another so that through exchange, everyone is better off than he was before. Like Adam Smith says 300 years ago, it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. In the 20^th century, another greatly admired economist, Milton Friedman said- there is no such thing as a free lunch. Politically this means that everyone undertakes a personal responsibility to better his lot. He must be able to offer something of value to get value back. Unless you are an invalid or are really incapable of being productive, the government steps in. but it must never be the business of government to care for us from cradle to grave. That strategy would have utterly grave consequence, the chief of which is that it robs the individual of his personal responsibility.

The formulation of the principle of self interest never ceases to make many people uneasy. It could easily lead to the conclusion that the only way to satisfy human wants in the market is through selfishness. Now, everyone hates the idea of selfishness. It is morally reprehensible to ignore the plight of those wretched of the earth. But capitalism does not intend sidelining the poor and the really unfortunate. Adam Smith himself, as we have said, is a moralist first before he is an economist. The perfection of human nature he said comes from the feeling much for others and little for ourselves—to restraint our selfish, and to indulge our benevolent affections.

What is the basic idea behind Smith’s moral preaching? The idea is that while be say we believe that market economics is the better and reliable way of creating wealth, we are certainly not saying that there is no place for altruism. But what we are saying really is that under such a system, everyone must shoulder a personal responsibility to be an active participant in the economy. The abandoning of personal responsibility or in cruder way, being lazy should not be rewarded. Unless you are really sick and old, invalid and debilitated, market economics call for active personal responsibility. In my short stint as a wakil rakyat, I never ceased to be appalled at some perception by many people, that the government is responsible for them. All they need to do is to fornicate and reproduce and send their children to school. The government according to them takes over as soon as their children go to school- providing everything free. My question is, where is your personal responsibility? Anwar Ibrahim wants many like this to be on his side so that he can manipulate them. I am telling you, leadership has no place for ambivalent people.

Margaret Thatcher who once likened Anwar Ibrahim as a good football team captain has an equally apt description of people like brother Anwar. Anwar Ibrahim wants total power. On this kind of people, she said, we must go on to assume anyone who claims, privilege, special powers and rights on the basis that he or she can be relied to be altruistic rather than selfish, must be viewed with extreme suspicion.[1] Anwar Ibrahim is not a selfish person- right? RIGHT?

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[1] Margaret Thatcher, Statecraft- strategies for a changing world. Pp414

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anwar ibrahim and free market economics

ANWAR IBRAHIM AND HIS FREE MARKET ECONOMICS.

Anwar Ibrahim says he is a firm believer in market economics. But he says he is also a humanist. I take it by that he means, the excesses of free market economics must be tempered with goodwill discretion. In other words, he says we must take care of the less fortunate. So what’s new about that?. I have long believed that Anwar Ibrahim has made running with the hare and hunting with the hounds into a political art. He is of course practising realpolitik- i.e. all his decisions and policies are based on calculations of gaining power and furtherance of his personal interests. He is after all eyeing to enter parliament soon as the prime minister.

Anwar Ibrahim’s economic policies will change according to what he is thinking at any given moment. He is I suspect a habitual welfarist. he will always be inclined to tilt towards socialistic policies which are calculated to win him support from the masses. He is in that sense like Gorbachev- he will articulate a strategy to escape blame from the excesses of capitalism and then going on, as he is now doing, to take credit for being more humanist, pragmatic, modern and insightful. Pak Lah of course is not a tactician on the same class as Anwar Ibrahim. .

Having consideration for the less fortunate is not the monopoly of Anwar Ibrahim and his ilk. The present government however despicable one feels about Pak Lah’s indecisive leadership, has accomplished many things to care for the less fortunate. As workers in the JABATAN KEBAJIKAN MASYARAKAT can fully attest, they are up to their necks processing the distribution of living allowances and various forms of financial and non financial assistance. Heck! The whole country is already turning into a welfare state.

Anwar Ibrahim was of course commenting on the recent decision of the present government to increase the price of petroleum products. He says he understood the issues of macroeconomic instabilities associated with unhindered spending by way of giving subsidies. It would of course lead to inflation. Already we the people are feeling the early signals of inflation- the cost of everything is rising which are reflected in general price increase of everything. Although he was saying something related to a specific issue, let us discuss the idea of free market economics.

Anwar Ibrahim’s acceptance and belief in capitalism( another word for free market economics) rests on his belief that there is no alternative to create wealth. But here is where Anwar Ibrahim’s economics ends. He then goes after the jugular- he wants to tax as much as possible. He believes in capitalism because he is not stupid as he looks. He sees around him the triumph of capitalism. Almost every country in the world wants to introduce free market economics. That is the only way to create wealth, relying on the natural impulses or tendencies for every human to pursue what interests him or her. Free market is essentially the full expression of free will of the people. But we must be aware and circumspect of Mr. Anwar Ibrahim- he wants to control every one of us.

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bolehkah Najib menjadi presiden UMNO-2

pendapat saya sendiri, najib tidak sesuai menjadi presiden UMNO. walaupun Pak Lah sudah menyatakan bahawa Najib akan menggantikan nya dan sudah pun memulakan plan peralihan kuasa, pengucapan itu tidak boleh di terima tanpa bantahan. paklah tidak boleh membuat keputusan secara unilateral. perkara peralihan kuasa di tentukan oleh perwakilan UMNO semasa perhimpunan agung UMNO mengikut perlembagaan. apa yang di hebohkan oleh para juak dan penyokong najib sekarang ialah tindakan di luar perlembagaan UMNO. maka jika orang UMNO sendiri tidak hormat kepada perlembagaan UMNO, mana mungkin kita mengharapkan ahli UMNO biasa menghormati UMNO. jika pun Pak Lah mengundur diri sebelum perhimpunan agung UMNO, Najib hanya pemangku presiden sehinggalah di sahkan oleh perhimpunan agung umno. dalam erti kata lain, keputusan memperakui sesiapa pun sebagai presiden UMNO bukanlah keputusan Pak Lah seorang sahaja.
objection saya kepada ketepatan Najib sebagai presiden UMNO bersandarkan pertama kepada kelemahan Najib sendiri dan kedua kepada keadaan UMNO yang sangat tenat sekarang. keadaan UMNO sekarang memerlukan pimpinan yang tegas dan yang boleh mengartikulasikan misi perjuangan UMNO dan seterusnya mendapatkan komitment daripada orang lain untuk mencapai matlamat tersebut. itulah tugas seorang pemimpin sejati. cuba tuan tuan sendiri nyatakan- manakah pemimpin UMNO yang memegang tampuk kuasa hari ini yang dengan tegas nya mengartikulasikan perjuangan UMNO? tidak ada bukan? Najib bukan pemikir UMNO. yang dia fikir yang kepentingan peribadi nya sendiri. untuk mendapatkan pemimpin yang berani dan tegas bercakap mengenai falsafah perjuangan UMNO, kita tidak semestinya melihat hanya kepada kelompok pimpinan yang ada sekarang. mungkin kita perlu melihat di luar kelompok. setakat ini, saya melihat hanya terdapat seorang sahaja pemimpin UMNO yang faham mengenai perjuangan UMNO. pemimpin yang saya maksudkan ialah Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. sepanjang yang saya ingat hanya Tengku Li sahaja yang bercakap mengenai falsafah perjuangan UMNO iaitu Alif Ba Ta UMNO- Alif itu agama Islam, Ba itu bangsa, bahasa dan budaya dan Ta itu Tanah air. sayang sekali, kelompok pimpinan UMNO yang berpentesan kaki sesama sendiri hari ini bukan sahaja tidak memahami perjuangan UMNO apatah lagi mahu meng-artikulasikan misi UMNO. kita akan menghuraikan perkara perkara ini dalam ansuran esei yang akan datang. di harap bersabar.

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bolehkah Najib menjadi presiden UMNO

essei ringkas saya ini boleh di beri judul pejenamaan semula najib. tujuan saya ialah memecat keluar metos yang membentuk najib. pemberita kaki ampu dan akhbar pak turut melukis gambaran yang indah indah mengenai najib. hanya sebahagian kecil sahaja yang betul. sebahagian besar cerita adalah omongan kosong sahaja. imej najib sebagai pemimpin besar adalah hasil putar belit penulis dan akhbar pak turut. imej sebenar najib akan saya huraikan satu persatu.
memang si najib ini mempunyai wajah yang hensem. ini tuah dari baka yang baik baik. kelebihan dato najib ialah dia ada bin tun razak. jika dia mamat biasa, sudah lama dia kena ganyang oleh pimpinan UMNO Pekan. tahu tahu sahaja lah, umno pekan ini tahu hanya berlawan sahaja sepanjang zaman. wajah yang hensem membuat ramai wanita UMNO dan bukan UMNO terpukau dan mengigau. malah saya dengar cerita ada kaum wanita yang naik panas dan stim melihat bibir najib yang sentiasa merah. kita kaum lelaki ada tiori mengapa bibir najib sentiasa merah, tapi kita tak akan pergi kesana lah. prinsip saya ialah saya tidak tahu cerita antara selimut dan tilam najib. tambahan pula saya tak ada masa hendak cari selimut najib. itu kerja balachi orang lain.
saya akan cuba melihat prospeks Najib menjadi presiden UMNO dari sudut pandangan orang Pekan. iaitu kawasan parlimen dato seri najib. cakap cakap di bangsal memasak dalam masa ramai orang kahwinkan anak dan sendiri kahwin ini, ialah inilah masa nya Najib mesti bertanding untuk jawatan presiden UMNO. jika najib tidak buat keputusan menandingi jawatan tersebut, mungkin masa untuk nya sudah lewat dan langit di Pekan, dari kampung Merchong ke Jaya Gading dalam daerah Kuantan, akan mendung. saya ingin menyatakan satu perkara sahaja. hayalan itu akan tinggal hayalan sampai bila bila. ini kerana najib tidak pernah ada dan tidak akan ada kejantanan untuk mengambil tindakan berani. seluruh kehidupan Najib di ongkosi oleh sabsidi dan kebetulan politik sahaja.
cuba tuan tuan nilai kan sendiri. dalam tahun 1976, Najib menjadi ahli parlimen Pekan kerana Tun Razak meninggal. munasabahkah untuk anda berfikir bahawa pada umur 24 tahun, Najib mempunyai kebolehan untuk menjalankan tanggungjawab sebagai ahli parlimen? jawapan nya tidak. pada umur 24 tahun, Najib masih menyemai bijiran liar sana dan sini. Rosmah hanya datang ketika Najib menjadi menteri besar Pahang. kemudian najib mendapat perlindungan politik dari bapa sauara nya Tun Hussein yang menjadi Perdana Menteri setelah Tun Razak meninggal. dalam masa tersebut, di bawah lindungan Hussein Onn, Najib tidak boleh di gugat. Najib menjadi ketua pemuda UMNO kerana Anwar Ibrahim membenar dan mahukan Najib di sana. tambahan pula, Anwar mahu si Najib menyokong nya untuk kerusi Naib Presiden UMNO melawan Dato Suhaimi. Najib menjadi Naib presiden kerana sokongan konco dan pengikut Anwar dan terus memperkukuhkan kedudukan nya kerana menaiki kereta kuda yang di pandu oileh Sheikh Anwar ben Ibrahim. apabila brother anwar di singkir, Pak Lah naik keatas walaupun dari segi kedudukan naib presiden, Najib lebih terserlah. mungkin Tun Mahathir mempunyai perkiraan lain atau seperti pengakuan Tun Mahathir, dia termakan dengan imej bersih pak lah. apabila Pak Lah menjadi presiden UMNO dan perdana Menteri, Najib terpaksa menanti untuk masa yang agak lama untuk disahkan oleh Pak Lah sebagai timbalan presiden UMNO. itu pun kerana Tun Mahathir memperaku Najib Tun Razak. nah, cuba pembaca beritahu saya, mana ada titik dalam hidup Najib di mana dia mendapatkan sesuatu melalui usaha kudrat dia sendiri? tidak ada bukan? inilah sebab nya saya nyatakan, seluruh hidup najib, dia di biayai oleh sabsidi politik. maka, saya katakan sekali lagi, keinginan orang Pekan untuk melihat Najib mengambil tindakan yang berani tidak akan berlaku sampai bila bila. Orang pekan akan kata, Najib tak berbatu.
rakyat Pekan melihat Najib sebagai seorang yang luar biasa yang boleh membantu menyelamatkan UMNO. pandangan orang Pekan ini adalah hasil bertahun tahun lama nya di bentuk oleh jentera najib tun razak menjadi kelompok rakyat yang sentiasa meminta sedekah dari najib. setiap jumaat berbondon bondon orang beratur di rumah Najib di Pekan untuk menghulur tangan mendapatkan wang. kepada sebahagian besar orang Pekan, Najib ialah santa klaus UMNO. dari najib mereka mengharapkan wang untuk membayar yuran sekolah, kolej atau universiti. dari najib mereka dapat beras, biskut, susu, gula, basikal dan lain lain keperluan hidup. apa yang sebenarnya di lakukan oleh Najib? yang sebetulnya terjadi ialah membunuh apa apa maruah yang mungkin boleh berbaki dari orang Pekan dan menjadikan mereka pengemis. apa najib telah lakukan ialah merompak apa apa tanggungjawab peribadi yang masih ada dalam dada orang Pekan. itulah sebab nya, Najib boleh yakin dia akan menang besar sebab banyak keperluan hidup telah di sogok kepada orang Pekan. sangat sedih, hasil akhirnya ialah mengujudkan suatu masyarakat yang tidak mempunyai harga diri. tetapi kepada si miskin di kampung Merchong, Kuala Pahang dan Belimbing, Najib adalah manusia keramat yang mesti di selamatkan dengan apa cara sekali pun. inilah cabaran kepada penulis seperti saya, iaitu meruntuhkan metos Najib yang telah lama di bina.

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does najib deserve to be the umno president? Part One.

My present writing could have been titled de-branding najib. My intention is to de-mystify Najib. I want people, especially UMNO members and supporters to see Najib for what he is. A large portion of the Najib personality is myth, spinned by clever image builders and pliant journalists. Good looks certainly helped. I am told many ladies in Pekan can go into fits of orgasm just by looking at Najib's reddened lips. Of course, there is an expletive version as to why Najib's lips are perpetually red. We shall not get into that. One poor soul has even gone mad. She can be seen cycling around Pekan town, declaring Najib loves her. I am sure he has capitalised on his physical assets. But i must decline any invitation to speculate on between the blanket- and -mattress tales. I know nothing of those. I am more inclined to battle another warrior in the arena.
I am trying to reason out whether Dato sri najib deserves to be the next UMNO president. my own estimation is he does not. I say in a nutshell, this is not his bloody party, this isnt his bloody country and don't take us for bloody fools! i hope Malays in particular will not be fooled by form rather than substance. As UMNO president, he becomes by extension, the prime minister of Malaysia. That is an ominous outcome. UMNO does not belong to PakLah. Despite his stated intention to hand over UMNO to Dato Najib, that must be done according to UMNO constitution.Pak Lah cannot do it unilaterally. UMNO practices democracy and that decision must be carried out by delegates. Unless Pak Lah exits earlier, then the post of UMNO president becomes vacant and Najib becomes acting UMNO President. He can still be challenged at the end of the year. and judging from the political groundswell, his position is not guaranteed. If Najib is endorsed by the delegates in December 2008, then so be it. as gentlemen, we will accept that outcome. if that happens, i will still hold to my belief that Dato Najib is ill suited to become the UMNO President and by extension the prime minister.

For now, I will try to fathom the issue from the standpoint of a pekanite( i.e. those hailing from Pekan). Pekan folks insist Najib must become the UMNO president and prime minister. this insistance is shaped by years of mental conditioning. Pekan folks in general have been turned into pitiful supplicants for handouts from Najib. Every weekend, throngs of people will que up at Najib's Pekan residence to receive money. since 1976, Pekan folks have come to expect Najib to behave like Santa Claus. he has plenty of things to give away.
that was why Najib wasnt at all ashamed to admit he was confident of winning. Reason number one: he has given the poor Pekan folks a lot of goodies. over the years, he has given gratis- school bags and uniforms, food, bycycles, whatever the poor of Pekan desire. and yes, there are many poor people in Pekan despite the fact that Najib has been its MP from 1976 at the age of 24.
I am qualified to talk about this issue because of several reasons.I am a Pekanite. I was born in Kampung Parit in the heart of Pekan. My parents were born in Pekan. Their fathers and mothers before them were born in Pekan. secondly I am a member of UMNO Pekan, the division headed by Najib. Thirdly, I was an active member having served as a division committee member since 1992 and the information chief for 4 years. i am not ashamed to say during my tenure as the party information chief i had carried out the largest number of information activities before and after my tenure. in 1999 Najib won his seat by a 241 votes majority. in 2004, his majority was almost 23,000. i dont care if the other bloody cow-dungs in Pekan unashamedly claim to have contributed to that victory but I, on the other hand, can justifiably claim to have made a substantial contribution. You know the Malay saying, after the house is completed, then only the chisel starts making noises. A certain person now serving in an important political post with Dato Najib started a short lived reunification pact with PAS members. It was to become just a tool to shore up his personal political fortunes. but it is precisely this kind of falsity and pompous parlay of political support that is appreciated by Najib. Najib is a person given easily to artificial adulation. part of the victory is deservedly related to najib's personality and political image. after all he is a thoroughbred. his father was the great Tun Razak. And Pekan people still swear by TUn Razak. Najib is blessed with good looks and is quite an affable person. Of course, a larger part of the victory was due to monetary inducements. I am witness to all these things in their unadulterated form, so I can claim to know the strengths and weaknesses of UMNO Pekan. I was also a member of the Pahang legislative assembly or ADUN or wakil rakyat for Pulau Manis in Pekan( 2004-2008).
how does a typical pekanite view the prospects of Najib?. nowadays, the common talk in Pekan is Najib should take on Pak Lah as UMNO president. i can tell you right away- this will never happen in a million years. Najib has never been and will never be a fighter. he is by nature a timid soul, waiting by default to become the next in line. Najib became the member of parliament for Pekan by default on account of TUn Razak's demise. at 22, he wasnt that politically aware. he was still sowing his wild oats everywhere. he was quite a ladies man. najib was protected by TUn Hussen Onn his uncle when the latter was prime minsiter( 1976-1981). he was quite untouchable. he became the UMNO youth chief because anwar ibrahim wanted him there. otherwise he was contented to sit it out as deputy youth chief. he became the vice president by latching himself onto the anwar juggenaut., during the halcyon days when anwar ruled supreme and money was the god worshipped on the political altar. he was a deputy UMNO president for three terms. during that time, all the UMNO vice presidents literally bought their way to their positions. when anwar ibrahim was sacked, PakLah moved up the ladder. Najib was quite pissed off when this happened. Indeed he was said to have holidayed in Singapore to wallow away. he had received the highest number of votes as the vice president, but was sidestepped. The reason was that he was relatively too young. when Tun Mahathir retired in 2003, he waited albeit for an agonizing long time to be handed the deputy president's post. with that post he became Deputy Premier. now tell me, at which point in time has najib ever genuinely earned his position? through out his political life, Najib lived on a largess of political subsidies. on this reasoning, i say once again, not in a million years. he hasnt got the gumption nor the fortitude to challenge Pak Lah. he would rather wait until pressure pushes out Pak Lah or by some act of divine intervention, Mahathir endorses his challenge. Tun Mahathir is keeping his options wide open.

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UMNO on the throes of death

Malays convened at Sultan Sulaiman Club and formed UMNO.
A few days preceding the formal constitution of UMNO, about 40 Malay organizations met at the Sultan Sulaiman Club in Kampung Bharu. All over the country, the Malays were angry. their anger directed at the British for deviously planning to create a new system of governing Malaya. From the British standpoint, their aim was to achieve administrative uniformity between the various states. it was the political ramifications that proved to be the Union's own undoing.
Unchallenged, it will mean the end of the world as the common Malay sees it. the introduction of the Malayan union however proved a number of things. when push comes to shove, the Malays really must depend on themselves to progress. The opposition to Malayan union accorded the Malays a golden opportunity to shatter the dependency culture. It could have been the chance to establish the strengthening of personal responsibility to make our society work. it also shattered the myth that the sultans are here to protect them. Malays must pull themselves out on their own bootstraps. Of course if the Malayan Union were to be unchallenged, it would have precipitated a sea-change in the Malay mindset. Understandably, the Malays would have none of this. while the progressive elements within Malay society desired a change in Malay mentality, it must achieved on Malay terms.
The new form of governing Malaya was known as the Malayan Union. Under the Malayan Union, all the Malay states will be ruled by the British governor general. he will be helped by a British resident in each state. The British will in fact form the state government. it was clear, the Malays had no role to play in administering their country. by design and default, Malays were sidelined by the Malayan union. Malays were not proficient in the English language and were ill trained to participate in matters of administration. Malays existed at the periphery of shaping the destiny of their own country. perhaps this was due to the observation of people like Frank Swettenham that Malays lacked political institutions and Europeans, were innately more intelligent than Asians.
The only form of government hitherto known to Malays was the rule by Malay rulers. how did they fit into the new form of governing? Malay rulers were reduced essentially as royal yes men and were to play a major role only in matters pertaining to Malay culture and religion. Selected Malays were co opted into state councils to assist the British residents. even in those fields where Malays consider themselves competent, their councils will be attended and presided by the British resident . the bane of Malay anger was the intention of the colonial government to grant citizenship to immigrants, notably the Chinese and Indians. the Malays feared that they would eventually be overwhelmed by these immigrants. already, immigrants were playing a more substantive role in the Malayan economy, increasingly marginalizing the Malays.

The idea of a MalayanUnion drew vehement protests from Malays. Dato Onn Jaafar rallied and galvanised Malay opposition to the idea of a Malayan Union. he worked tirelessly. as a result, over 40 Malay organizations convened at the Sultan Sulaiman Club under the auspices of a National Malay Congress. their main objective was to unite all Malays to oppose the creation of a Malayan Union. Malay leaders pressed the Malay rulers not to sign the formation of the union. it was eventually replaced by the Federation of Malaya Agreement of 1948. the concerns of the Malay people were addressed. the sultans regained their status. the conferment of Malayan citizenship was made stricter. The congress resolved to form UMNO thus giving the Malays the first national political platform. It was also resolved that Dato Onn by Jaafar be appointed UMNO's first Chairman, now President.
as many of you may now conclude, the Malayan Union was essentially a form of government intended to consolidate the rule of British colonialism over Malaya. You may remember beginning from the the 3rd quarter of the 19th century, the British gradually expanded their occupation over Malaya. The Malayan Union was to effectively placed Malaya under direct British Rule by the office of the Governor General. The GG would in fact become the emperor of Malaya. In fact, the GG would replace all the Malay rulers and rule Malaya through a network of British residents. and what role would the Malay rulers play? The traditional Malay rulers were to become hired midwifes endorsing the birth of any legislation and rules. Duped, coerced or forced by any means necessary, Malay rulers could offer only meek resistance. In private, some of them actually welcomed direct British rule.

The two main aspects of the Malayan union that spurred intense revulsion were the diminution of the power of the Malay rulers. The second was the erosion of Malay preeminence in this country. The Malayan Union can indeed be seen an extension and the culmination of the British Residential system. The British Resident System was, in the words of Frank Swettenham, that extraordinary device of running another people's affairs by tendering advice which must be acted upon.
Malays mourned Malayan Union.
one of the symbolic gestures taken by the Malays who convened at the sultan sulaiman club was to wear a white band around their songkoks. wearing a white ringed songkok was a symbol of mourning. and indeed, the Malays were mourning the loss of everything dear and close to them. in fact they lost their country.

in a bizarre twist of events, the Malays are now mourning the demise of UMNO.

when people confront a catastrophe, they immediately fall into two groups. as pointed out by the historian Bernard Lewis, a group will ask who does this to us? this group of people will start shooting at other people, blaming outsiders or external factors causing grief to them. This description fits very well with the majority of UMNO leaders and members. immediately after the results of the general elections were out, UMNO leaders are trampling over one another offering reasons for UMNO's dismal performance. One can only react with dismay at the simplistic explanation of UMNO's losses. the other group will ask what factors caused this catastrophe. usually this group examines the true causes rather than faulting other persons.
applying the second approach, blame can only be attributed to weak, inept and incompetent leadership. this is the main and principal issue. it is not about what Mahathir left us or did or did not do during his tenure in office of 22 years. Mahathir made a mistake by choosing Pak Lah and is ready to admit it and even do something about it. this is a mark of a true leader. like Tun Mahathir, we the majority of the people, admit privately and quietly that, we also made the mistake of being taken in by Pak Lah's pompous piety, humility and loyalty. Unlike Tun Mahathir, we are slow to do something about it. only the retinue of his closest supporters, his immediately family and parasitic hangers on believed Pak Lah is doing ok. theirs is a misplaced and ill afforded optimism.
While conceding that yes, its true- its devastatingly true that people blame Pak Lah as the principal cause for UMNO's Pak Lah is personally responsible for UMNO's debacle, on must not forget the role played by a pliant and submissive leadership led by Najib Tun Razak. yes sir, Najib is equally to blame for UMNO's losses despite his victory in Pekan. that victory is nothing to shout about. it was a Pyrrhic victory. the biggest cost of that victory, is the destruction of an independent spirit of the Pekan people. its sad but my fellow Pekanites are turning into pitiful supplicants for handouts from Najib Tun Razak. certainly this is not the Malay UMNO had envisaged to emerge.
in the next few months, the long awaited party elections will take place. all levels of UMNO, from branch levels to the supreme council will undergo party elections. that will be time to change or consolidate party positions. i hope party members will take the opportunity to do something in order to save UMNO. it was hilarious to observe various political yobos coming out with a laundry list detailing the litanies causing injury to UMNO. although comical, it is worth recounting.
among the causes that was disastrous to UMNO was the broom award episode. in malay beliefs, giving a broom to someone is an act of desecration and very ill foreboding. the episode in point was a decision by the then menteri besar of selangor to award a broom to a very incompetent and inept civil servant. this was 'sial' according to party wise men. in china such an official would probably be lined up and shot. or in Malaysia, he would probably be C4-ored. perhaps our party wise men thought it would be better and less of a political liability to have that poor civil servant shot. the decision to demolish a hindu temple was also viewed as another reason hurting UMNO.
it does not take the mind of a rocket scientist to rebut these arguments. pray tell, why is it that in states where no such incident took place, UMNO lost? or why is it, in states where no temple demolition had taken place or even when there is no substantial number of Malaysian Indians, UMNO still lost the state government. the biggest fool is the UMNO Information Chief who relished in offering these banal reasons.

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