UMNO- self-induced rigor mortis

I have written so many essays critical of UMNO in the past. Friends asked me why am I still in UMNO? How can I write many nasty things about UMNO and seemed to get away with it-why haven't I been hauled up by the UMNO disciplinary committee or something and not ticked off? Isn't there anything good that UMNO has done?

Let's clear one thing first. This is the source of many of UMNO's problems. Some people assigned to themselves the right to determine who should or shouldn't be in UMNO. They then judge others in terms of their thinking and criteria. Pak Lah or any others can't measure up to Mahathir in many aspects. But they are not necessarily inferior to Mahathir. They are different. They must be judged on objective terms, not the subjective standards of one Mahathir.

Najib doesn't seem to do things anything right according to Mahathir. The old man is so stressed up and suffers physical debilitations.

The problem worsens to become person-centric. One person determines and defines UMNO. Inevitably, the right to be in or out of UMNO depends on loyalty to individuals and not on the political ideals, ideas, shared vision and so forth.

The problems become multiplied many fold, when UMNO 'farms' out the responsibility of sieving and determining leadership material to hired hands outside the party. These are the intellectual hacks and overrated audio visual and print media practitioners who arrogate to themselves the ultimate discretion of how should UMNO behave.

Hence there are people who think UMNO is the personal kingdom of some people and that the issues of these individuals exist to inherit the kingdom of UMNO.

What has UMNO become then? It becomes an organization feudal in nature where its leadership depends on being from the right loins. The leadership in UMNO is therefore no different from the method of ascribing extraordinary abilities by being conceived from a buloh betong, materializing from a cow's vomit or suddenly beamed from across the terrestrial highs to bukit si guntang Mahameru.

From thereon, the majority of UMNO suckers pledged eternal loyalty to the blue blood.

This is the earliest symptoms of the inability of UN+MNO to manage success. For over the years, UMNO attracts a multitude of thoughts, aggressive and independent minded individuals, a vibrant ward of supporters, personalized political inclinations as success unavoidably do, that its continuity and longevity, depends ultimately on the ability to manage all that diversity.

This, the current crop of leadership spawned unfortunately during the Mahathir years failed to do. UMNO has generally failed to spawn 'elastic' leadership that is capable of adapting. Instead it has led to the emergence of a leadership hell-bent on preserving freakish control and one opposed to internal transformation.

I can only answer by asking why shouldn't I be in UMNO? UMNO isn't the property of the present crop of UMNO leaders. Some of them are there because of some unexpected happenstance. They have the right 'bins'. You are bin somebody, therefore you are leadership material. This is a fundamental defect of UMNO's leadership. Which I will continue to offer criticisms.

Secondly, I believe I have done nothing wrong to be the guest of the disciplinary committee. Finally, there are of course many good things that UMNO has facilitated, whenever there was good leadership.

There are of course the people whose replies are directed ad hominem. My personal problems used as weapon to demolish my arguments. My service as a one term UMNO ADUN taken as an indication that I have not performed well. To the first approach, it only serves to entrench my conviction that the majority of UMNO members and supporters do not have the stuff to win over people with reasoned arguments. I employ the term stuff as a mild description. To the second, I myself can't defend my track record. You asked my detractors they will give you the answers you desire to serve the purpose by which you set out in the first place- i.e. to look for 'facts' that can vilify me.

In the not so distant future I hope to be able to tell you my side of the story. I believe it will show that it is not I who will be found wanting- but we will discover that I am put in an environment where UMNO can't manage success.

This then is the biggest problem with UMNO now. It just doesn't know how to manage success. It can't because it doesn't have the right leadership with the right values, the right institutions to manage the overall success that UMNO has generated for the country.

It is still a party held back by old tools of the trade unable to deal with new realities. The development brought possible by UMNO- general rise in educational level, rising expectations, infusion of new values, new experiences, all are never appreciated to the full by UMNO. As a result, it's a party that has refused to adapt. DS Najib as the current UMNO president is now desperately trying to force UMNO to adapt.

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MIC: Big Chiefs and little Indians

Sometime ago, a leading member of the Chinese business community declared that the Chinese do not actually need Chinese politicians and Ministers to represent them. That statement sapped the smugness off the MCA. In one sense its true- Chinese businesspersons can always talk direct to Malay leaders. They have ingenious ways to convince their Malaysian Malay brethren.

That's an interesting topic to expand. We will do that perhaps later. In the meantime, maybe the Malaysian Indians should emulate their spirited Chinese brother. Indians don't require representation by the MIC really. They can do so through Nor Mohamad Yakob, Naina Merican, Azeez Rahim, Zambry Kadir et al. no?

They too can also talk direct to Malay leaders. Tony Fernandes knows how, Ananda Krishna knows how. So do Ravi Menon, Arumugam, Gnalingam. Even the one time driver keneth Eswaran knows how too. They ALL know how to. Forget MIC and forget Palani.

The Indians should have more reason to dismiss the near extinct MIC. MIC does not fight for the untouchables, for the Sentul people, for the Sungai way Indians. They should now demand to know what actually happen to the RM 100 million suit against Samy Vellu and the 7 seven trustees. How much money was actually lost? And how will the Indian community be compensated for the loss? Pandykutti!

High Court Judge Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim granted MIED's application for leave to withdraw its suit over alleged mismanagement which it claimed caused the education arm of the MIC to incur losses. The suit was withdrawn today after former MIC Youth chief A Vigneswaran, who initiated it, was appointed to sit on the MIED board as observer for one year from May 12.

Will the Indians now accept that their interest in the field of education has all this time been depending on the resolve of one Vigneswaran? And now that he has wilted, their hopes are also dashed?

Don't you want to graduate from being a seller of pirated CDs to owning Airlines, from advertising salesman to owning ports, airports, controlling the media? Vigneswaran agrees to withdraw because he is now appointed a board member as a mute observer. An observer is not allowed to talk you know, unless invited by the board chairman to speak.

I think public spirited Malaysian Indians must now check up the story behind Vigneswaran's capitulation and they should also check out who is behind Deloitte Corporate Solutions Sdn Bhd which has been appointed as the management consultants/management accountants for MIED.

MIED is now charged to adhere to full disclosure of major transactions and matters relating to MIED at board meetings. Come again? You mean all this time it hasn't and that must be one of the reasons why our friend VIgneswaran brought the suit in the first place. How is Vignes's personal constitution? Is he of unimpeachable character?

Vigi's withdrawal must have brought relief to Samy Vellu, his successor, G Palanivel, M Mahalingam, Dr T Marimuthu, Dr SK Ampikaipakam, Dr Karnail Singh Nijhar, K Kumaran and G Vadiveloo and audit firm Kumpulan Naga.

Counsel, Gurupatham told reporters that his client withdrew the suit in the best interests of the Indian community so that MIED would be run in a transparent manner. What about the RM 100 million?

The other counsel for MIED, Vasanthi said the judge was pleased that settlement had been reached for the benefit of MIED, and granted the application to withdraw the suit with no legal costs.

In the suit, MIED claimed the defendants had breached fiduciary and statutory duties, and failed to discharge their responsibilities as trustees and auditors, which caused the institute to suffer huge losses. How big was the loss to the Indian community?

Is Samy Vellu going to return all monies or profits made from MIED, either by himself or through family members and close friends? MIED also wanted a court order to make Samy Vellu compensate all the financial losses incurred by the institute in the time he had administered MIED as its chairman as well as special and general damages over the alleged losses, which it claimed totaled RM100 million.

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Saying it differently

Say it differently.

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Talking Malay on false premises

Let us demolish one pet belief of UMNO people and those who think they speak for UMNO. It's time for the real Malay to speak for the Malay. Where have the real Malays gone?

How can we force ourselves to suffer fools by allowing ourselves to consume the hate spewing writings of some bloggers whose Malay-ness are questionable? Why isn't the peddler of rancid curry speaking on behalf and for Kimma members? He looks more kitol-ish that the person he castigates as Kitol. Why isn't the gold nugget seller doing the same? We thank you but no thanks.

Jadi jadi lah kita orang Melayu kena tipu.

I find myself in strange territory listening to people like Reezal Merican, or Azeez speak for the Malays. I would have thought, Malays are better off if these people speak on behalf of KIMMA. I think Malays have got enough talented people to speak for ourselves.

Then we have those who pretend they speak for UMNO but are themselves not UMNO members. Can they have the same thinking dynamics of an UMNO member? And I am not even differentiating between good and bad thinking- just undifferentiated UMNO thinking. Why is this important? It's important because then, what we say can be leavened with realistic assessment. Then we can appreciate the UMNO spirit.

Without the UMNO spirit, what you write is mechanical.

The real UMNO man wouldn't speak of an imagined clash of Christians and Muslims or spun the story about Christians taking over this country. I think Malays are already suffering from an overdose of ghost stories and will NOT want to add to their consumption ,manufactured tales about DAP becoming PM or Christians taking over this country.

Does a Malay cease to be a Malay if he is not UMNO member? Being UMNO is not an absolute requirement to fight for a Malay cause. Even being Malay is not an absolute guarantee that Malay interests are taken care of. Both require the right Malay with the right values and the UMNO Malay with the right values.

Consider the record before us. From the day we got independence, most of our MBs are Malays. The top bosses in the Police and the army are Malays. The KSUs and TKSUs are almost invariably Malays. The top government officers are Malays. All the District officers are. All penghulus are Malays. All the Kings? All are Malays.

Now, one would be justified into assuming that given the fact that almost all the important office bearers are Malays and the governmental institutions we have are peopled by Malays, the lot of the Malays would be greatly improved or would have been vastly improved. Wouldn't it?

Well, in terms of control of the economy, Malay economic interest is just about 20%. That's 20% of the overall wealth being shared by 65% of the population. We would further imagine that Malays would own more land in this country. We would also imagine that Malays owned better housing. Their education would be of higher standard. With Malays in power, there would have been more rich Malays than rich non Malays. Yet in the top 20 richest in Malaysia, you would find probably one fellow. In the top 40, you start getting more Malays but you also get more non Malays.

So what conclusion can you deduce from these observations? The only valid and justifiable conclusion, is having Malays up there does not readily translate into Malay prominence in any of the fields we mentioned. It follows from here, that positioning Malays in strategic offices is not necessarily beneficial and advantageous to Malays.

The other conclusion is those Malays in power have not helped other Malays. So if UMNO insists that UMNO is Malay and Malay in UMNO, then by extension, Malays in power do not help the rest of Malays will also mean, UMNO in power does not help the rest of the Malays.

UMNO people must be realistic on this. One doesn't stop becoming Malay if one dismisses UMNO. People are already doing that if you still don't realize it. 1.5 million UMNO members protested by not voting in UMNO candidates. That should be interpreted as a rejection of not merely the candidates but perhaps more so of the policies and vision that UMNO projects. 1.5 million members didn't share in the vision of UMNO. 3.7 million Malay (including the 1.5 million) voters didn't subscribe to the UMNO ideals pedaled by UMNO leaders.

Yet the leadership is hyping themselves, aided by a pliant audio visual and print media into believing all is well. Ignorance is really bliss.

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Will the GST be another nail in the coffin?

A long time ago, I have written about the government's plan to implement GST. I am not going to bother looking at what I wrote. Maybe what I write then did not make sense at all.

But to me, the plan to implement the GST will be another nail in the coffin for the BN government. In almost all cases where the GST was introduced, it has raised a lot of discontent. Governments have fallen because of the GST and finance ministers have resigned.

Remember this: governments have fallen. Finance ministers have quit.

I hope, the government's tax package is not an attempt to trick workers into thinking that they will be better off after the proposed tax cuts. I also hope it will not trick people on government benefits that they will be better off after the so-called "compensation", despite the introduction of a goods and services tax (GST).

Consider this. Our tax base is perhaps only 15%, i.e. only about 15 percent of the population pays tax. The balance have nor or were not paying taxes- kampong people, self-employed, ordinary folks outside the tax bracket. Now, all are caught in the tax trawler net and pay consumption tax. Never mind says the government; we will compensate the ordinary people.

Ok. So we ask, what then is the size of the compensation and its value? Will it be larger than the revenue the government collects after implementing GST? Then the government ends up spending more after all.

What is the purpose of the GST? The GST, levied at a rate of x %, will replace the government's wholesale sales tax and other indirect taxes. How much will the abolition of these taxes cost and how much will the GST raise?

I don't have the figures but I am sure the reasoning by the government is that the GST will increase the amount of tax collected. Meaning the GST will increase government revenue by X amount. Revenue will likely to increase over time because of the expansion of the service sector.

Here is an interesting question. Somebody will make money as a result of introducing and implementing the GST. Ask this question- who will collect the revenue? It will be collected by some companies already proposing or about to propose further privatization of government services.

Who is actually paying the excess revenue that government collects after GST? If we study carefully, we can know who is NOT going to pay: big business- the tax burden on Malaysian business will be reduced by more than the GST revenue collected. How so? Because business which export a lot will be treated to a substantial decrease in costs because they will be eligible to have GST they pay on business inputs refunded.

So if business doesn't pay, who pays? If businesses won't be paying the extra GST revenue, then it means that workers and people on government benefits will subsidize business.

Cilaka punya government! We subsidize these people? Because, really the GST is not a tax on business as input tax credits ensure that businesses effectively do not pay GST on their inputs.

GST paid by business on raw materials, tools, electricity and rent is refunded. Business is exempt from paying the GST.

The only GST payer is the consumer at the end, who pays a X% GST on the total price of the product.

Now you know why representatives of big business are waxing lyrical about the tax package.

What is the chief government selling point? It's the so-called compensation. We will compensate the people, the advisers tell the PM. And the PM repeats what his officers and advisers say. The income tax cuts, welfare rebates, compensation to government beneficiaries and self-funded retirees that is costing money will all be funded out of the projected revenue surpluses over the next few years.

But what if tax revenue is not as optimistic as planned? Will the government cancel or reduce the income tax cuts and the compensation package?

Where will the government find money to pay the compensation? Where did this surplus come from? Suddenly I was thinking about the removal of subsidies which the government is carrying out.

Removal of subsidies will cause severe hardship to the people who will duly translate that into political backlash for the government. That is why I said, this GST is a potential nail in the coffin for the government.

The money for compensation come from attacks on the social wage — the sacking of tens of workers, massive cuts to hospitals, schools, libraries, child-care, public transport and public housing, and the denial of government benefits to young people and redundant workers.

When the government suddenly finds that a lack it has less of revenue, it will be announcing that more government services have to be cut back or abolished.

See whether the government has the balls to do that.

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The Ariff and Aspan Blog

Today, I am pleased to announce the launching of a new blog site. It's called The Ariff and Aspan Blog. Readers can access it here.

This website is a collaborative effort between En Aspan Alias and I, Ariff Sabri. Aspan manages his own blog at Aspan Alias.

I write through my own blog sakmongkol.blogspot.com.

We hope to engage Malaysians and offer them debates and opinions on the state of politics in Malaysia. We welcome participation from our readers and promise we will not have difficulty in respecting a well-reasoned counter argument. We urge commentators not to resort to personal attacks and vilifications. We tolerate no name callings and will not entertain them.

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Malays and cerita cerita hantu

There has been a sudden surge in Malay preference for ghost films recently. Perhaps the implications for this preference are more serious than just the indication of productivity of the artistic creativity that produced them.

Let's see the political implications.

When DS Najib addressed the UMNO hoi poloi, the UMNO lumpen-proletariat, the UMNO murba, I was sure he wanted his message to reach a wider audience. In particular the Malay masses who have deserted UMNO in the 2008 elections. Even more so, the 1.5 million UMNO members who did not vote for UMNO candidates for various reasons.

Najib's call for unity is not made to a vacuous audience, this he must know. I hope he doesn't underestimate the discerning capabilities of the rural folks and UMNO members.

UMNO members can no longer be divided into old and new UMNO. By old I mean those UMNO members who desire a return to the old UMNO. The UMNO that was founded on the principles of saving the Malay honor and wished honorable things for the Malays. By the new UMNO I mean the UMNO people who were seduced by the seemingly robustness of Dr Mahathir. Mahathir's UMNO is the UMNO that sees itself as the dispenser of life's sustenance. Mahathir's UMNO is the UMNO that sees itself as the indispensable life giver to UMNO and Malays. In the process UMNO members and Malays in general lost their dynamism. UMNO has become the father figure to dependent children.

So what kind of audience is Najib targeting? I am afraid, the audience that Najib is addressing is the pliant sections of the Malay community who are susceptible to horror stories that the future PM will be non-Malay and that Christians are taking over this country.

That brings me to a characterization of the Malays referred to frequently by the Oracle of Syed Putra. It's the section of the Malay community that's unfortunately the larger portion that is easily seduced by ghost stories, tales of the occult and of a world inhabited by creatures of the night and mythical beings. Although I understand many UMNO leaders are on intimate terms with certain creatures of the night.

Malays who are addicted to cerita2 hantu. For that reason, the periodical 'Mestika' achieved an envious circulation of more than 400,000. That's more than some of the Malay newspapers and the mainstream newspapers.

So Najib is perhaps appealing to the mestika reading public- those who are addicted to cerita cerita hantu and believed in them.

That reading public moreover represents the belief system of the Malays. This portion of the Malay people is easily taken in by far-fetched takes of Christians taking over this country, tales of non-Malays taking over the premiership.

If these are the Malays DS Najib are targeting at, then Malays have not really climbed up the ladder of social consciousness from the state in which they were in when Tun Razak wanted to free them from.

Consider the philosophical and political underpinnings when Tun Razak formed Felda. The transplant of whole sections of the Malay people forming the pioneers in Felda schemes were to be that section of Malays Tun Razak wanted to free from inhibitory thinking. The inhibitory thinking that was characterized mainly by beliefs in supernatural stories, fairy tales etc. Razak wanted to deliver Malays from the debilitating mindset that was trapped by cerita cerita hantu.

So as what the Oracle observed, if present day Malays are still stuck in cerita cerita hantu, then they have not achieved the deliverance that was intended by Tun Razak. The people chiefly responsible for that paralysis are the UMNO leaders themselves.

Think about this.

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