Malaysian politics - who dares win?

"I am concerned for the security of our great nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within." - Douglas MacArthur

I am no great fan of MacArthur but a noteworthy sentiment should not be ignored. In my last piece I was sympathetic to the call for the military powers-that-be to reaffirm their commitment to an impartial peaceful transition of federal power.

I have written of how the Armed Forces has been dragged over the decades into the Umno political quagmire (not to mention numerous articles on Umno malfeasances), so don't mind the Pakatan Rakyat, specifically DAP apparatchiks, who froth and distort any criticism leveled at their precious alternative coalition.

You would be surprised at how many retired armed forces personnel support the aims of the alternative front and are themselves concerned with the current state of disrepute of the security apparatus of this country.

Anecdotally speaking, PAS would seem to have the most support from retired service members (this no doubt because of the racial make-up of the armed forces and the fact that the piety offered by PAS is an antidote for the corruption some have witnessed in the military, or so they tell me), whereas PKR and DAP draw a quiet but determined group.

Brigadier General (rtd) Mohd Arshad Raji (left) who blogs under the perceptive headline'Mind No Evil' is one such patriot and retired army officer who cast a cold unsentimental eye on the politics of Malaysia and offers an insider perspective on the military, its history and future. Understand now, that I make no claims of the brigadier-general being an opposition supporter and merely use his ideas as a frame to articulate my own.

In 'Malay disunity - a cause of Malaysian disunity', the general writes of the turbulence in the Malay polity as far as the emergence of opposing views in his community. But of the military and racial politics he writes:

"And throughout my years in the Army, I have been working alongside my non-Malay compatriots, and again our racial and religious differences and my Malay status does not make me any different from them.

"I had even served under a non-Malay superior officer, and my loyalty towards him as my superior is no less than any other Malay superior officer that I had served with. I only know that he is to be respected and obeyed, and regardless of my Malay status, my loyalty towards my non-Malay superior is not to be questioned."

I have no idea if these days such "loyalty" regardless of race is practiced in our armed forces these days; perhaps loyalty is merely reduced to apple polishing? As I have written in numerous pieces, the monopolisation of one ethnic group of the armed forces has resulted in a skewered view of the role of non-Malays as far as their patriotism is concerned.

'Re-engineering' of the military 

Indeed, in a piece entitled 'Lack of non-bumi participation in the army', the brigadier-general reasons that religious and racial polarisation in the political landscape which seeped into the schooling system contributed to the racial imbalance in the military, specifically the army.

Whilst this is true, I am of the opinion that the deliberate ‘re-engineering' of the military to favour of one ethnic group over the other is the main reason for this imbalance.

Add to this the indoctrination programmes like the Biro Tatanegara (BTN) and lecturers like Ridhuan Tee Abdullah (right), the associate professor at the National Defence University, who contaminate the military with ideas of racial/religious supremacy and allegiance to political parties and not institutions, and what we have is an imbalanced security apparatus which thinks that they are extensions of political parties involved in a life and death struggle for the fate of a particular ethnic group.

This sad state of affairs is exactly if not the same issues that face the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), which I wrote about in the aftermath of the Bersih 2.0 demonstrations.

I had written yesterday of the intersection of Umno power and military complicity (with regards to financial scandals) but what I would like to convey is that I do not believe (or hope, unlike Penang Opposition Leader Azhar Ibrahim) of a military coup d'etat. Umno's indoctrination process has been far too effective in neutering delusions of military rule amongst the current crop in the military establishment. This is a good thing.

However the mutually beneficial relationship between Umno and the Armed Forces does present a set of problems that should raise concerns.

I alluded to this relationship in my 'Armed Forces in Umno quagmire' piece but the "mutually beneficial" relationship in this context is the willful erosion of institution and political party lines practised by the current government. High ranking officers it would seem don't have no qualms about presenting government aid/obligation as Umno/BN aid/obligations.

As reported in Bernama in 2004, former Air Force chief General Abdullah Ahmad said that officers and men of the RMAF should not bite the hands that feeds them. Quote - "We can analyse the situation ourselves. Are we that unreasonable and are we that ungrateful to oppose the government that provides us livelihood?" he said.

This and the fact that Umno has never been shy of using or attempting to use the armed forces for situations which are beyond the scope of military operations. A good example of this was the Umno threat of using the military in the Bersih 2.0 demonstrations.

I will quote General Arshad Raji, as whathe wrote (in Bersih and the role of the army) were the silent angry thoughts of many retired armed forces personnel:

"I believe orders (hopefully not from Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein) are out for the military to be prepared for deployment; should serious and uncontrollable rioting breaks out during the rally.

"I am firmly against the use of the military, and they ought to be steadfast in remaining neutral. The police have enough resources, and after all it is their primary responsibility to ‘battle' a public order situation.

"The military today is not geared nor equipped for public order. In the days gone by, we even had a camera to be used for public order in the ‘equipment table' in all infantry units. Today, that item is out, and along with it, the gas mask, the stretcher and the banner. Even the Public Order Manual is today a museum piece."

GE depicted as a 'war'

The worst part of the Umno threat to use the military is that they used it at a time when right-wing pressure groups were spewing the most vitriolic of venom against a section of the Malaysian public wanting free and fair elections. This gave the impression (which Umno seemed to have no trouble with) that these right-wing hate-mongers, the police and the military were all on the same page.

In an atmosphere such as this, is it any wonder that the perception of the armed forces and the police by the admission of their top brass is at an all-time low?

But it gets more interesting. The emergence of para security groups conflates national security issues with Umno political concerns. As articulated by General Arshad in'Rela - PM Najib's final line of defence?':

"And what really scares me was when PM Najib said that "when the chips are down, Rela will be with this government to defend the country". What‘chips' is he referring to, and what is the threat that the government is trying to defend ... external or internal security threat or a political threat from the opposition?"

(Mind No Evil has been dormant for some time, but the general assures me that he will be writing again once the date for the general elections is announced).

The problem with Umno is that by defining the upcoming general elections as a ‘war', the obvious question is who are the soldiers who will fight and die for Umno? However because Umno has never made a distinction between institutions and political parties, the role and credibility of the security apparatus in this country will always be in question.

Now you may argue that what Umno really means is a metaphorical war, then why the constants references to May 13? Why the forgone conclusion that the opposition will riot if they lose the elections? Why do we have politicians acting like the armed forces is Umno's to control?

If there is a fear of military intervention however unwarranted, it is up to the federal government to reassure the population that the military is subservient to its civilian master. However in this case, this won't be very reassuring.

As I said, I don't fear a military coup d'etat but I am partial to the theory (and in no way am I accusing any political parties of anything) that various power groups through proxy agent provocateurs would manufacture ‘trouble' which would necessitate police and then maybe a military crackdown.

The level of violence over the years the opposition has had to face which has normally been met with indifference by the state's security apparatus or even as the cow-head fiasco shows - sanctioned by it - no doubt has many questioning, the police, the military and other institutions of law/security.

Some would consider these two pieces alarmist or perhaps even seditious, but the cold hard fact is that these ‘fears' are founded on decades of abuse which has gone unchecked by the Umno powers-that-be and I would argue that Umno has nurtured this impression.

And why is asking this question an exercise in futility? The reason is simple.

What possible answer (taking into account, the long Umno watch) could the top brass of the military or police give you, which would reassure you of their impartiality? And this perhaps is a most damning answer. In a functional democracy, everyone should know the answer to this question. In fact, this question should not be even asked.

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (rtd) in Royal Malaysian Navy.