Umno heading for extinction

In 1961 the communist government of East Germany constructed a barrier that completely cut off West Berlin from East Berlin to stop citizens from the Communist Bloc fleeing to the West. The 103 miles wall bristling with lethal weapons was a huge construction feat that showcased the engineering capability of the Soviet Union but it was also a monument to the failure of Communism.

Apparently the “workers’ paradise” could only be built in a workers’ prison. If anything the Berlin wall was an ominous signal that Communism was doomed. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, this farsighted prophesy proved to be true. The Communist ideology has been abandoned all over the world except in a few select countries and even China is Communist only in the sense that it doesn’t hold elections.

Closer to home we can clearly see the signs of a doomed Umno grasping for survival in a political environment which has completely changed since the heady years of post-independence. When a party starts manufacturing sex scandals against the opposition and when even innocent minors are targeted it is only a matter of time before the party is flushed down the drain into the moral cesspool of its own creation by a disgusted electorate.

Umno seems to exist in a time warp, clinging to ways and means that are outdated and no longer works. Meanwhile the population has become more educated, more matured, more connected through social media and more exposed to the world community. They are more demanding of good governance, less tolerant to abuses and loathed to be talked down to by a paternalistic govt which tries to portray that it knows best.

Stuck in the Past

There are many examples to show Umno’s ossified mentality but a few will suffice. Most glaring is the persistent use of race and religion to divide and rule which Umno has elevated to a fine art. There is practically no issue which Umno cannot turn into a racial or religious issue in an attempt to pit ethnic communities against each other. The recent Himpunan rally was yet another odious attempt to pit Muslims against Christians and raise ethnic tension.

Peddling old fears of Hudud laws and May 13 were Umno and BN staples and they have never grown out of it despite the changed socio-economic and political environment. MCA continues to flog the dead horse of Islamic state while the Umno endorsed Perkasa loses no opportunity to issue naked threats to other races over imaginary provocations. Backhanded comments like “We do not want another May 13 to happen again” are subtle threats beloved of Umno leaders like Mahathir.

Disinformation, deceit and vile propaganda using the tightly leashed state controlled media is another of Umno’s outdated tricks. This is despite the fact that the state no longer monopolizes the flow of information and the penetration of the online world has punched holes in Umno’s ability to manipulate the truth to its liking. The Umno owned Utusan Malaysia continues to spew racial diatribe, rabble rouse the Malays and fabricate lies to an audience who no longer listens.

Of course the use of gutter politics instead of fair democratic competition is the hallmark of Umno. Fabricated sex scandals is the weapon of choice by a corrupt regime and their use have transcended opposition leaders like Anwar Ibrahim to citizen irritants like customs officer Ahmad Sarbaini who was found death in the custody of MACC under suspicious circumstances. But when Lim Guan Eng’s teenage son was scandalized with a fake molest case, Umno’s gutter politics has sunk to new lows.

Death Throes of a Dying Regime

The regime’s ossified mentality and obsolete methods can be seen in its outlandish actions that stumps and stupefies civil society. A peaceful rally for free and fair elections was declared illegal and forcibly oppressed with all the apparatus of state while a tension raising anti-apostasy rally over imaginary conversion of Muslims was endorsed. A group of socialists were rounded up and incarcerated without trial under fanciful accusations of promoting Communism and waging war against the King. A professor of Constitutional law was harassed by the authorities and suspended for giving a legal opinion that the regime finds disagreeable. Let’s not forget the most audacious insult to our intelligence, Sodomy II after the disreputable circus of Sodomy I.

Civil society is frustrated and infuriated with being treated like idiots. The antics and shenanigans of BN leaders, the unending corruption, the abuse of the civil service, the police oppression and the constant use of race and religion to divide and rule have caused the public to lose faith in public institutions and confidence in our leaders. A matured Malaysian civil society is agitating for better governance but the reality disconnect between the BN government and the society only grows wider.

Umno is trapped in its old ways, rooted to its old culture of feudalistic patronage, unable to reform or rejuvenate itself. The bedrock of Umno’s power was the unequal treatment of races and still is although modern Malaysia demands a cohesive and harmonious society to move forward instead of a progress sapping cauldron of ethnic and religious tension. In fact the whole system of racial politics that Umno is part and parcel of is itself an anachronism that no longer fits Malaysia.

Umno is a historical artefact, a dinosaur from the age of Malay nationalism. It is like an animal which cannot adapt to a changing climate and so must go extinct. In a world where people are intimately networked and even street sweepers carry cellphones, this hideously outmoded party cannot survive against the tides of civil society aspiring to greater heights.

Malaysia Chronicle