Threats of bloodshed, racism and bigotry the hallmarks of Dr M's Umno

Prime Minister Najib Razak opened the 2011 Umno General Assembly for the party's main wing on Thursday, with more than 5,000 delegates packing the hall at the Putra World Trade Centre.

Like his nemesis, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, Najib is expected to focus on the 13th general election and getting his party ready for snap polls that he is widely expected to call in early 2012.

If the meetings of the Umno Youth, Puteri and Wanita are any gauge, Malaysians can expect more of the same opposition bashing, with vulgarity and boorish racist comments the order of the day.

Despite hiring a bunch of expensive foreign public relations consultants, Najib has failed to convince as a leader both nationally and globally. In fact, as far as the international community is concerned, his administration has become a laughing stock ever since the July 9 Bersih rally for free and fair elections.

The Bersih crackdown was quickly followed by a string of other corruption-related scandals involving his alleged extra-marital love life, his wife and family. His judgement was so weak that even the foreign media firms that he hired to burnish his credentials got into trouble for bad ethics in promoting him and Sarawak chief minister Taib Mahmud.

Bombast and bluster

Politically, Najib is unable to introduce reforms. That Malaysia is where it is now is due largely to the fact that his party Umno - especially during the Mahathir era - had intentionally amended and created new laws to benefit and protect themselves at the expense of the masses.

The Umno General Assemblies, over the years, have done little to fulfill the party's original ideals. Umno emphasizes as its foundation the struggle to uphold the aspirations of Malay nationalism and the dignity of race, religion and country. The party also aspires to protect the Malay culture as the national culture and to uphold, defend and expand Islam.

Indeed the Umno of today is more racist than before and this may be very evident in the 2011 General Assembly.And this is why dissent has grown sharply resulting in the Pakatan Rakyat led by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim snaring 5 of the country's 13 states in the 2008 election.

Apart from rallying members, and using racism to create a false sense of communal unity of purpose, there are few policies changes that Najib can offer. On the way out himself, with his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin widely expected to take over next year, Malaysians can expect Najib's trademark bombast and bluster.

Drama befitting of Machiavelli

Indeed, the Umno General Assembly has had its share of drama. And the birth of racism in Umno can be traced to the manner of its conception.

On June 25, 1987, an appeal was filed by 12 of the Umno delegates to have the assembly and the election of April 1987 declared null. One of the delegates, Hussain bin Manap, withdrew unexpectedly in August from filing the appeal, but the remaining litigants have since become famous as the "UMNO 11." Although former Finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Musa Hitam were not among the plaintiffs, it was widely believed that they were funding the appeal, especially Razaleigh who had challenged Mahathir for the presidency and lost after a most 'dirty' vote-count.

After a series of interlocutory hearings over the discovery of documents that took more than seven months, the matter finally came before Justice Harun Hashim in the Kuala Lumpur High Court on February 4, 1988. The judge ruled that under the existing law he had no option but to find the party, Umno, to be an unlawful society due to the existence of several unregistered branches—an illegal act under the Societies Act of 1966. The question of the Assembly itself being illegal therefore became academic.

"'It is a very hard decision to declare Umno unlawful,' said Justice Datuk Harun Hashim in his February 4 judgement. 'But the law was made by our Parliament and certainly Umno was aware [of the Societies Act] because they were in the majority [in Parliament] at all times [when the law was made].' Under the 1966 Act, amended five times over the years, and most recently by Mahathir's government, each of the society's branches has to register separately with the Registrar...."

The Tunku and former UMNO president Hussein Onn then set up a new party called Umno Malaysia, which claimed to be the successor to the old Umno. Umno Malaysia was supported mainly by members of the Team B faction from Umno, but Mahathir was also invited to join the party leadership. However, the party collapsed after the Registrar of Societies refused to register it as a society without providing an explanation. Mahathir, who was then the prime minister of the day, was seen as being the dark hand that 'influenced' the ROS.

Mahathir showed no interest in reviving Umno, and instead he set in motion the machinery to form a new surrogate party, and in due course, registered a party formally called Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu (Baru) or Umno (New) a week after Umno Malaysia's registration was rejected. Eventually the suffix "(New)" was dropped, and Umno (Baru) became both the de facto and de jure successor of Umno (with the old Umno's assets handed over). Most of its leaders, however, were selected from Team A of the old Umno, with Team B ignored.

Bloodshed and violence always a heartbeat away

Yes, the Umno you see today was not the original Umno of pre-Independence days but a creation of Mahathir Mohamad's. This means the ideals of this Umno would be totally different than the original Umno, despite Mahathir professing that it was the same. The Umno that we see now is Mahathir’s Umno and it is this Umno that is excessively racist to the core.

In 2005, Youth Chief Hishammuddin Hussein brandished the keris (Malay sword) at the Umno assembly while condemning critics of Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia and the social contract. Both Article 153 and the social contract preserve special privileges for the Malays. Hisham's widely criticised act was meant to show that Umno would defend Malay supremacy, a concept that legal experts say have nothing to do with Article 153 or the so-called social contract.

Hisham is not alone. At the 2004 AGM, Umno deputy permanent chairman Badruddin Amiruldin waved a book on the May 13 riots while warning non-Malays not to stir a "hornets' nest" and cautioning, "Let no one from the other races ever question the rights of Malays on this land." His act infuriated the non-Malays, who it as a threat to shed Chinese blood in the event of dissent.

The 2006 Umno Annual General Assembly was noted for controversial statements made by several delegates, such as Hashim Suboh, who asked Hishammuddin when he would "use" the keris; Hishammuddin had again brandished the keris at the assembly that year.

Mahathir's UMNO

This is Umno - Mahathir's UMNO BARU and not the Umno founded by Tengku Abdul Rahman, Onn Jaafar and others who wanted to build a nation from the various races already present in the peninsula then. Malaya received independence from the British in 1957.

So, with some of Umno's history in mind, perhaps Malaysians should not be too surprised to hear of racial supremacy, religious supremacy, threats of bloodshed and violence, and when the going gets tough, vulgarity and the crudest language are used in a bid to browbeat others into silence while masking Umno's huge underlying insecurity. This is indeed Mahathir's Umno.

Malaysia Chronicle