Can Malays live without Umno-crutch?

The Malays know that a day will come when they will lose political power if they allow themselves to be divided in their loyalty to Umno.

COMMENT

Malays must first understand the responsibility that political power asks of them.

It is not a matter of sharing political power with the non-Malays because political power will always stay with the Malays.

It is the responsible use of this power to determine how it is used to benefit not only the Malays but also the people of this nation.

It needs only for the Malays to understand that political power must be used to do good not evil.

If there is anything constant about Umno from the time it came into government it is this – Umno has never wavered from its promise that Ketuanan Melayu will prevail, that Islam shall be the religion of this nation and that the Sultans will reign in the state they are Sultans of.

Umno does not apologise for these principles that they live by it.

The Malays know that a day will come when they will lose political power if they allow themselves to be divided in their loyalty to Umno.

That day is about to come.

Umno has told its coalition partners in Barisan Nasional that a day will come when they too may lose the government if they allow themselves to be complacent in their duty of care to their own electorates.

That day is about to come.

Umno has always laid great stock on its ability to fall back on its rural votes because it understands that a day will also come when the rural votes will decide Umno’s success or failure at the polls.

That day too is about to come.

‘There must be change’
So what will save Umno, save the Malays, save Islam, save the Sultans and save its coalition partners from electoral defeat?

We all agree that there must be change but where we agree to disagree is what these changes should be.

The Malays have been second best in everything that is of any significance in our nation.

The Malays are not the most successful businessmen.

The Malays are not the most successful contractors and not the biggest suppliers of anything that is needed by the nation or its people.

The Malays are without the ability to participate meaningfully in any manufacturing concern without the direct or indirect assistance of the non-Malays and of Umno.

What the Malays now have is because of Umno.

The biggest bank, the biggest insurance company, a petroleum firm that competes at a global level, Felda – all are with the Malays because Umno has the political will to make it so.

For now Umno does not pretend to be anything else but a Malay political organisation that has the interest of the Malays at heart.

It carries this Malay DNA with no apologies.

It leads the Barisan Nasional coalition whose partners understand, accept and subscribe to the principles that is Umno.

So, don’t  think about changing Umno. Malays must change themselves and Umno will change with them!

CT Ali is a reformist who believes in Pakatan Rakyat’s ideologies. He is a FMT columnist.