Umno leaders must stop this madness

Umno did not fight a war to gain independence. It just ran the final fourth lap.

COMMENT

Utusan Malaysia’s suggested description of PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu or Mat Sabu as an Islamic communist will add a new twist to Umno’s political lexicon – one can be godless and Muslim at the same time.

Only Utusan and Umno are capable of doing that and it does not matter how imbecilic and mundane it sounds.

Umno’s godsend issue now is the communism of Mat Sabu. But where is the political premium for Umno in debating this issue?

There is no mileage in Umno escalating the issue of Mat Sabu extolling communism.

If pursued further, in the end, Umno will be exposed for what it truly is – a racist non-inclusive Malay political party.

Umno leaders must stop this madness. Don’t sacrifice potential long-term gains for the allure of short-term gains.

The short-term gain is winning the argument against Mat Sabu. The long-term gain is to ensure Umno retains its image as a voice of moderation and reasonableness.

Isolating Mat Sabu

And how do we do this? The strategy is to isolate Mat Sabu.

What Mat Sabu said has nothing to do with communism. The godless creed remains Islam’s eternal enemy.

Umno foot soldiers will find it increasingly difficult to defend its fictional creation.

PAS leadership will stand behind Mat Sabu, insisting that what he meant was historical injustice done to one Mat Indera.

Umno can simply demolish this allegation of historical injustice. The Umno-led Johor government had in fact honoured Mat Indera by listing him as one of the influential Johoreans who had contributed to the state.

The Johor government has done substantially more to the memory of Mat Indera than Mat Sabu’s rhetorical stunt in his speech.

And the issue should have stopped at just that. Nail Mat Sabu for his stupid stunt.

But we will let Umno drown in its stupidity if it chooses to escalate Mat Sabu’s communism to a racial issue.

It will be an exercise in futility and counterproductive to the reinvention of Umno’s image as a party of moderation and reasonableness.

Umno did not fight a war

What this furore has done is to heighten awareness of who Mat Indera was and what he did.

The danger however is this – the reassessment of Mat Indera’s position in the history of Malaya.

This will force people to also reassess Umno’s own legitimacy in determining history and their historical appreciation of politics in the country as well as the role that Umno played.

Umno didn’t take up arms to secure independence. Other people laid down their lives for independence.

What Umno did was run the final fourth lap, whereas the previous three freedom fighters were executed by others.

What the hawkish and right-wing elements in Umno have done is to claim absolute credit. Umno’s credit doesn’t rest on running the last lap.

Its credit rests on its image as the voice of moderation and reasonableness, both of which have enabled Umno to become the unifying force for all races in Malaysia.

This excerpt is from the writer’s blog sakmongkolak47. The writer is a FMT columnist.