Has UMNO come to the end of its tether that it has to use the JI (Jemaah Islamiah) terrorists and the communists to alarm voters? It was reported that “Police Special Branch investigations have concluded that JI terrorists and former communists are infiltrating opposition parties and trying to be fielded as candidates in the coming general election”.
If there is any substance to this allegation why involve only the Opposition and not UMNO or BN (Barisan Nasional)? Opportunists or extremists in a society will not “choose feathers” when it comes to politics.
Insults their intelligence
Why not the police take in for questioning the so-called “suspects” involved in infiltrating the Opposition if there is any truth in those allegations? Does the Special Branch really know who “modern communists” are? Or are they still bogged down with the image of the defunct CPM (Communist Party of Malaya) and the notion of alias Chin Peng and his crew of yesteryear?
Isn’t it the duty of the police to take pre-emptive measures to rope the suspects in if the allegations were true? In the first place, why wait and allow these “make-believe” individuals penetrate the Opposition or for that matter UMNO and BN?
UMNO – leading the sitting government – has to be responsible for this unfounded allegation as they have not denied the allegations made by the Special Branch. UMNO pretty well knows that the Opposition of today is no more in the light-weight category and they do not need “undesirable elements” to challenge the heavy-weight in Malaysian politics.
Would not the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) come to know of this paranoia if there is substance in the allegation made by the Malaysian Special Branch? The CIA do doubt has far more superior mechanisms to discover any elements that do not favour US interests in this region..
The people thus cannot be satiated with empty rhetoric that insults their intelligence. If Prime Minister Najib Razak and his cousin, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, fail to quell the public suspicion that this is yet another of their crazy and plain stupid conspiracies, like the Datuk T and the Sodomy II plus the Bersih 2.0 and 3.0 crackdowns, they can be sure already-fed-up voters will write them off permanently.
Another political gimmick
The people need substantial evidence to be convinced of the issue or else the whole allegation will become another political gimmick as happened in the past when even some UMNO leaders were implicated the same. Some UMNO stalwarts in the late 70’s were alleged to be communist sympathisers for political advantageous of the disgruntled aspirants and also to deplore their political rivals within the party.
If the police cannot haul up those alleged to have infiltrated the Opposition then there must be some hidden motives for them to come up with such allegations. And the more will the police be accused of becoming UMNO’s stooge. For certain, not all police officers would want to be labelled with this kind of image.
In point of fact, if there is any grain of truth to this allegation the question now is why must the JI infiltrate PAS and not UMNO? After all, both are parties representing the majority Malays and Malays are Muslims. The JI could if they wish infiltrate UMNO as well. Is there any intelligence report on this thus far for the people’s consumption?
“Communists” are engaged diplomatically
These days the “communists” are engaged diplomatically. For instance, it was reported that UMNO Youth has a direct formal relationship with the CYCL (Communist Youth League of China or formerly known as The Socialist Youth League of China).
UMNO Youth has established a permanent secretariat to strengthen bilateral relationships with CYLC to facilitate continuous bilateral programmes to promote a stronger bond between Barisan Youth and the Communist Youth League of China.
CYCL is a youth movement of the People's Republic of China for youth between the ages of 14 and 28, run by Communist Party of China. Will this move bring potential danger of “communist influence” on Barisan youth?
Just recently, He Guoqiang, a high-ranking government official in the People's Republic of China and a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, came to the country on a working visit and met UMNO leaders. Purportedly, the move was political – to gratify the Malaysian Chinese and tone down the Lynas issue in Kuantan.
Will this too bring communist threats to Malaysia?
Malaysia has diplomatic relations with China and this does not mean that communism will arrogate the laissez fair lifestyle of the people in this country. UMNO does not seem to realise that “old” communism is facing the fate of the dodo bird.
The communists of today are not terrorists fighting from inside the jungle. They have morphed into progressive people and become more capitalist than Malaysians. Modern China is testimony to this fact.
PAS’ brand of Islam
PAS’ brand of Islamic politics is more of a compassionate home-grown version. Fifty-five years of Independence has made PAS mature and it offers a political platform that suits the multi-racial society in the country. Today, the non-Muslims have no qualms over supporting PAS.
Many have voted in PAS lawmakers in the past to represent them and many more will do the same in the next general election. This is what UMNO fears most as the party’s monopoly over Malays votes has been tattered and ripped apart.
PAS is perceived as a more moderate party than UMNO. The societies hear no rant and rave on racism from PAS but a language of social justice for all the people. They hear no threats from PAS to the country, let alone the influence of JI in its movement.
PAS leaders do not warble uncouth lexis to spite the non-Muslims and the non-Malays. PAS has not been proven to be a party that sponsors violence. They believe in democracy and indubitably demand for fair and free elections. UMNO on the other hand is not keen to have free and fair elections for fear of losing power and this evidently shows that UMNO is not for true democracy.
Implicating that JI elements are finding their way into PAS must be a figment of UMNO’s imagination. UMNO is aware that PAS will soon become the biggest party in the country to represent the Malays and Muslims. This is a nerve-wracking scenario for UMNO leaders and they have to resort to government institutions to try dissuading the Malays from supporting PAS.
DAP’s popularity
The use of communism to debase DAP is an imprudent tactic by UMNO to make the Malays stay away from the party. DAP is today well-accepted by the Malays and this qualms UMNO more. UMNO cannot shatter the image of disciplined and efficient DAP lawmakers who tolerate no-nonsense when it comes to politics and governance, that the former – out of sheer fear for DAP’s popularity – has to opt for tenuous specifics to smear the party.
Communism is long dead and gone in Malaysia. Even China and Vietnam are gradually forsaking this legacy. Today it is socialist-capitalism that has made China become an economic giant. Communism has failed the world’s economy just like what is happening in a despotic state like North Korea.
Malaysia can never beat China economically but she heavily depends on the latter for her economic growth. China talks about social justice and not rigid communism anymore. China does not tolerate gibberish politics and the country is run with a centralised government. This has worked relatively right for China which has a huge population.
For UMNO to use the term “communist” to degrade DAP is a disgrace to the educated Malays. DAP is not a communist party. Neither does the party tolerate racial extremism which is homologous with UMNO. It is a multi-racial racial party that is hauling more Malays supporters into its net these days.
UMNO has spun enough that PAS and DAP are extreme, fanatic, anti-Malay and working with anti-national elements to destabilise the country. But their modus operandi in politics has failed miserably. The support for PAS and DAP is swelling by the day – auguring well for the country where a two-party system exists.
Did communist ideology infiltrate UMNO?
Did communist ideology infiltrate UMNO at one time? UMNO’s ploy to bring down their political nemeses is nothing new. They did the same with Mahathir Mohamad when the latter was ascending the ladder of UMNO politics in the 70’s. There were groups that were not too happy to see Mahathir’s quick rise within UMNO.
Mahathir explicitly narrated this in his Memoirs “A Doctor in the House” (2011):
“Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad and Abdullah Majid were Deputy Ministers in Tun Hussein’s administration. Abdullah Ahmad had been Tun Razak’s political secretary and was a family friend. He was also one of my strongest supporters. As if that that was not enough, three days before I was to be sworn in as Prime Minister, my political secretary, Siddiq Ghouse, was arrested for alleged espionage activities. The then Home Minister Tun Ghazali Shafie said that Siddiq was a spy for the Soviet KGB.“ (P03)
“So there I was, the non-pedigreed Deputy Prime Minister whose political secretary was a “spy” and whose friends were ‘communist sympathisers’. Any further rise in the party seemed unlikely.” (P03)
“… I faced political threats that were rooted in events within UMNO in which I was directly involved. Unhappy with Tun Razak’s decision to engineer Tun Hussein’s return to the party, several UMNO leaders had accused Tun Razak of being influenced by alleged communists such as Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad and Tan Sri A, Samad Ismail.” (P323)
“The moment Tun Hussein took over as Prime Minister, the then Home Minister Tun Ghazali Shafie decided to arrest Samad, Abdullah Majid and Abdullah Ahmad, accusing them of being communists out to influence the leaders of UMNO.…People have asked me why I thought he may have done this. Some believe that it was to get back at Tun Hussein and myself as successful ‘upstarts’ who had leapfrogged over others, including many loyal and long-serving veterans in the UMNO hierarchy.” (P323)
“I myself would have been arrested had I not been Deputy Prime Minister. The effect of those arrests was chilling, and they cast suspicion on Tun Hussein and me for harbouring communists.” (P323)
“Tun Ghazali did not stop at trying to associate me with alleged communists. Just days before I became Prime Minister, Tun Hussein came to my office …. to tell me that my political secretary, Siddiq Ghouse, was going to be arrested for being a spy for the Soviet Union’s KGB….” (P324)
“Siddiq was detained for almost two years. Having an alleged KGB spy work in my office could have been against me.” (P324)
Mahathir seems to have cleared the air
Politicians are capable of twisting facts just to favour them. However, Mahathir seems to have cleared the air on this matter, as he has indirectly blamed some UMNO hopefuls who have the tendency to use unfounded allegations against their political nemeses.
Indeed, Mahathir was the victim of “sabotage” within UMNO itself at one time when his enemies used the “communist scheme” to see his downfall. This is clear evidence of UMNO’s muddy traits in politics?
If powers divine
Behold our human actions – as they do –
I doubt not then but innocence shall make
False accusation blush.
~ Shakespeare
Malaysia Chronicle
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