'Malay-ism' will stay even if Umno dies

I think many Umno people miss an important point. Just as we (Umno) say that Islam is not the exclusive province of PAS or any other party posturing on its religion, image and perception, people can also say that Malay-ism is not the exclusive property of Umno. Just because Umno has fought on the basis of Malay nationalism and interests for so long, it is by no means its exclusive domain.

It does not own the fight. Malay interests and Malay causes will not evaporate if today, Umno disappears.

This is Umno’s biggest problem: It thinks Malay causes and fight are theirs by divine right.

This kind of thinking breeds self-conceit and arrogance which probably translate into the everyday behaviour of its members.

For example, look at the smugness that comes along with labelling Malays as liberal Malays, just because we disagree with your methods.

Hello kawan, lu ingat lu seorang sahaja Melayu ke? You ingat, your methods sahaja yang betul ke? If others are liberal Malays, what are you -- Malay's Malay? The purest of the pure?

Some of those championing this purest of the pure nationalism are not even Umno members.

What is more damaging is that this kind of thinking destroys the awareness that the allegiance to its (Umno) causes must be earned and worked at.

It's the height of haughtiness and arrogance to have this idea that if Umno dies, then the Malay is finished. We'd better get this into our heads quickly.

Similarly, isn’t it also arrogance of the first degree to say that Islam is finished if PAS goes under?

Both Islam and Malay are bigger than the political vehicles that carry them. Once we become aware of this point, we commit ourselves to the reality that allegiance to our cause must be earned over and over again.

We should now realise that the original bright red fire that propelled us initially are turning into amber flashes. We are running on reserves.

The permanency of this political reality in Malaysian politics will always have to come to terms with the Malay question. It removes at once any conceited idea by anyone, including Umno, that it can forego having to accommodate Malay politics.

Taken for granted

In the case of Umno, it has been taken for granted. No one comes into power without embracing this reality -- not Umno, not PAS, and not any other non-Malay political parties.

I am an Umno man. If possible I want all Malays to support Umno.

Malay support for Umno has always been a qualified support. I know it has to be earned, not expected to be had as of right.

It was, is and will never be unquestioning support and a “as-of-right property”.

In the past, from 1946 to the time of Tun (Abdul) Razak, Malay support for Umno was founded and grounded on a general and deserved belief that Umno was the best political vehicle to secure the community's objectives.

But I say it's delusional to state that it's only Umno which fights for Malay interests.

It still does, but there appears to be something fundamentally wrong with the methods it uses for securing the community's loyalty to its causes.

The slogan “Melayu this and Melayu that” has not been effective lately, signifying the need to re-engineer the foundation. Unless you can convince me otherwise, then I say Umno cannot even stand up to say it represents the Malays.

We delude ourselves further by claiming that because Umno has 78 parliamentary seats, therefore we have more Malay support. Dispute this then.

In the 2008 election, Umno candidates got 2.38 million votes. Mind you, not all of that came from Malay voters.

Take away 380,000 non-Malay votes, and you are left with two million Malay voters who elected Umno candidates.

In that year, there were 5.7 million Malay voters. This means 3.7 million Malay voters didn't vote for Umno candidates.

If more Malay voters, including Umno members, didn't vote for Umno candidates, how can Umno say it represents the Malays?

The 78 parliamentary seats won by Umno, therefore, didn't reflect the true extent of Malay support for Umno. Which simply means that Umno people have to work harder to regain the trust and allegiance of Malay voters.

You have done it the old way and style -- raising the spectre of Malay marginalisation and all that. You raised this in spite of having Article 153 of the Federal Constitution (safeguarding the special position of the Malays) and despite being numerically larger than any other races combined. How is that defensible?

That old way hasn't worked.

Why have more Malays voted for non-Umno parties? Personal disaffection, animosities, vengefulness cannot fully explain the loss of confidence.

After Umno and the government lost badly in the 2008 general election, Umno leaders went to a retreat and produced a laundry list of all the shortcomings they could think of.

What happened to these? They have not been acted upon. I see no rain even though there was much thunder about it.

Maybe I have not made myself clear on this issue. Who fights for the Malay question in Malaysian politics is a non-contentious issue.

Liberated minds

Every political party will embrace, define and manage it. The way they do it will earn them trust and support of the Malays.

Since 1946, Umno has built a mousetrap that has proven to be very good. It has continued to be the federal government for Malaysia. The party controls a number of state legislative assemblies. It's still the party to beat.

It would be foolhardy to discount the party as a has-been.

The fundamental causes upon which it built its struggle and eminence are very much ingrained in the majority of Umno supporters. I hope they still are.

Except that Umno (now) needs to realise that the way to harness support is no longer through the traditional method. This includes the appeal to the latent primal fears of the Malays being swamped by other Malaysian ethnic groups.

Wasn't Umno formed to serve as a bulwark to protect itself from being marginalised by immigrant races? That fear has always been manipulated.

Since then, Malays have made progress in many areas. We gained self-government and independence in 1957.

We developed the economy and brought much development to this country. The accomplishments were obtained not through the efforts of Malays only but also by all Malaysian races who now call Malaysia their home.

With economic development comes liberated minds. The experience that came along with economic achievements, political awareness and national confidence resulted in new understanding, new expectations and ever-emerging values.

What is probably happening now is that many Umno fighters have not come to terms with these political realities.

comments of Mohd Ariff who was the former Pulau Manis state assemblyman from Pekan, Pahang. This first appeared on his sakmongkol AK47 site.