NINA in UMNO. No Income, No Assets but RICH

In UMNO there are many Malays who have become rich without working for it, without any business acumen and without any brains! 

In UMNO there are many Malays who have been given lucrative business opportunities without any financial risks for them. These are fail-safe cash cows with an iron clad money back guarantee - the government buys it back from you at a premium – not IF you fail but WHEN you fail! But here is where UMNO has failed these Malays.

Tajuddin Ramli, Amin Shah, Halim Saad…

These are the top of the heap of failed Malay ‘businessmen’ who epitomize those who benefited from selective government patronage and became part of the culture of greed now infused into many Malay consciousness. These individuals have been given every assistance, every fail- safe option to succeed. And yet they fail.

And then there are those like Mahathir’s son whose ‘businesses’ have been kept afloat by billions of ringgits belonging to the people and this son of Mahathir considers himself a businessman of considerable abilities - the new rich Malays! Malays who are multi millionaires riding on the back of UMNO and the people’s money. But at least this son makes a show of running a business empire- a diverse conglomerate that covers a range of activities – mostly legal! But come on lah….what business empire? Given the breaks he has had, even a monkey can live in clover without ever running out of bananas for the rest of his life! 

Then we have Malays like the late Zakaria Deros, Muhammad Taib, Isa Samad, Shahidan Kassim and of course the infamous Khir Toyo.These are the scums of the earth. They do not even have the intelligence or decency to hide the wealth that they have stolen from the people who have voted to put them in power. The hastiness in which Khir Toyo had proceeded to display his stolen wealth after losing office fills most of us with stomach wrenching disgust. But these are the people that UMNO chooses to be leaders within UMNO.

But what is most damaging to the Malays are the many thousands of Malays who have been taught that money can be got by abusing the trust placed in them by other Malays. A Ketua Cawangan gets a contract to build a primary school in his “kawasan”. Without any knowledge of business he is given a business opportunity way beyond his capacity to manage. All he knows is that he has to get someone… just about anyone…. who will take the contract off his hands and give him a handsome commission. He makes the 20% to 50% commission off the contract price. It does not concern him if the contract is successfully completed or not – what matters is how much he will make as commission from that contract – after all he has already spent the advance given to him by JKR to start the contract. To him this is a good way of doing business ...the UMNO way! 

And so UMNO teaches a Malay to do business without having any knowledge of the business that he does, without any working capital, without risks and certainly without any brains to be able to better himself by this business opportunity given to him by UMNO. 

While all this is going on the wheeling and dealing is most intense in the corridors of power. In Putrajaya and in the Government Ministries. Not only by the Minister himself but also by all his staff – anybody and everybody with access to the Minister will make their money. In Agriculture, Defense, Education, Trade, Energy, Water and Communication and the mother of all Ministries, The Ministry of Finance. And do not forget the Government Agencies and anywhere else a ringgit can be made. Hell there are money to be made even in Rela and the Anti-drugs Agency!

All this orgy of making money makes these Malays cash rich. Wine, women and song…big cars, nice clothes are easy enough habits to acquire but it does not teach them how to keep the money or how to use the money to make more money. And their ability to make money remains as long as their Minister stays a Minister – so make hay while the sun shines! 

And so what does it do to these Malays? They become parasites. 

Parasite: “Somebody who lives off the generosity of others and does nothing in return” 

What they earn is not enough to keep them in the lifestyle that they want to live up to and so they take from us. While we have to live on the wages we earn UMNO eagerly opens up many sources of illegal income for those that pledge allegiance to the party. These Malays are regarded by most Malays as the worst of the blight that UMNO has caused to the Malay race. The presence of these Malays makes real all that UMNO leaders have been saying about the Malays. That the Malays need to be spoon fed, that the Malays are unable to compete on a level playing field with the other races, that the Malays will always need Ketuanan Melayu or they will be no more Malays left in their own country! 

This is certainly true of the Malays in UMNO but not of the Malays outside UMNO! I shudder to think of what the future will hold for these people. Where will they go and how will they survive when UMNO is out of government? We see the future for these people in the likes of Ibrahim Ali and Mahathir. They know nothing but politics. Without politics they do not have a life…….even when they are past 80. But there are no more places for them within UMNO. And so we see them do what they do now and they become a pain to us in a place where the sun does not shine! Just think of the negative impact it will have on the country when this scenario is repeated thousand of times at various levels after the next general elections when UMNO is ousted! The way things are for UMNO they know it would be a mistake to send a message to the other races that UMNO only looks after their own – but what choice do they have? 

What we need to understand is that UMNO has a fragmented political reality with real power residing outside cabinet. The extent to which this power is exercised will depend on the Prime Minister of the day. Our history will show us that Tunku, Hussein Onn and Abdullah Badawi left office because of circumstances beyond their control. Circumstance created by those outside government but within UMNO. A weak PM like Najib will surrender power to this faction, or for the lack of a better word, to these warlords as and when dictated to do so. 

Because UMNO has been identified with the Malays, UMNO’s problem is the Malay problem. UMNO’s crisis is a Malay crisis. And UMNO’s solution to their problem will also be a Malay solution. UMNO wants to lead but its ability to lead will depend on whether their intention to change is sincere. Whether it can be backed by positive change in the face of opposition from the powerful forces within UMNO that wants to maintain its present status quo. Can UMNO change?

I think not. UMNO is deceit. UMNO is greed. UMNO is not our future! As the Chinese says :“The harsh winter is gone and spring is around the corner”….I think that spring is indeed around the corner for all of us. We await the 13th general Election with much impatience!!