In the aftermath of May 5th (part 11)

They recently did a poll in Pakistan and 11% voted in favour of a democracy, 22% in favour of military rule, and 53% in favour of the Khalifah system. The Khalifah system would basically mean a Monarch as the head of religion plus head of the nation. “What has Pakistan got to do with Malaysia or the Malays?” you may ask. Well, many Malay ulama’ (religious scholars) received their education in India/Pakistan (Nik Aziz Nik Mat included).

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Umno relying more on rural Malay support, says writer

(The Malaysian Insider, 14 May 2013) - The results of the recent general election show that Umno is as strong as ever despite Barisan Nasional losing the popular vote, according to a Straits Times report today.

Writing in the Singapore daily, James Chin, a senior visiting research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Iseas), argued that many Malaysians are misreading the situation and think that Umno is weak.

He said Umno today is as strong as it was in 1971, adding that it is BN that is dying, not Umno.

“The Malay heartland, all in rural areas, backed Umno and that is why it increased its number of parliamentary seats and why there is an Umno-alone government in Kuala Lumpur today,” he wrote.

In his article, he gave a rundown of the evolution of Umno from its formation in 1946 under various leaders including Datuk Onn Jaafar, Tun Abdul Razak and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and how the party has changed over the years.

Chin wrote that the flaw in Dr Mahathir’s Malay state building was the scourge of money politics. “With so much money flowing out of the government into selected Umno elite, the competition became so intense that the only way to get support was to ‘buy’ support.”

He said money politics in Umno was tolerated because it did not contradict Malay or Islamic dominance of the system. As long as the money did not threaten Umno or Ketuanan Melayu, it was seen as a necessary evil for the functioning of Umno.

Chin also wrote that despite losing the two-thirds parliamentary majority in the 2008 general election, Umno failed to tackle the corruption issue or move to the middle ground. It cared only about control over Malay minds and control of the federal government.

He argued that reforms undertaken after 2009 were mainly cosmetic and in the economic arena; real political reforms did not take place and that is why the urban polity rejected Umno this year.

“For example, on the issue of Ketuanan Melayu, rather than deal with it, the party simply ‘subcontracted’ the work to Perkasa, a Malay right-wing organisation established after 2008.”

He said the urban public did not buy the argument that Umno had reformed when Perkasa’s president and deputy president became BN candidates this year. It became clear that Umno would not change its political leanings.

Chin said it has become increasingly clear in the past two decades that Umno is now BN and BN is Umno. Umno accounts for just less than half of Cabinet ministers. In Parliament, the overwhelming bloc within BN is always Umno. In 2008, Umno won 79 seats out of BN’s 140. This year, Umno won 88 out of BN’s 133 seats. In percentage terms, this translates to 56 per cent and 66 per cent respectively.

“Today after 56 years of independence, Umno still controls the rural Malay mind. Yes, it is true Umno has lost control over large sections of the Malay community in urban areas. Under Malaysia’s electoral system, it is the rural seats that decide the federal government, not urban seats. Urban seats account for less than a quarter of Malaysia’s 222 parliamentary seats while about 150 seats are Malay/Bumiputera-majority seats,” he wrote.

Chin argued that Umno is unlikely to reform in time for the 14th GE, and does not need to. “As long as the first-past-the-post system continues to allot disproportionate weight to rural voters, all Umno has to do is to keep the fire of Ketuanan Melayu and Ketuanan Islam burning brightly in rural Malaysia,” he said.

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Najib to have an audience with Agong tomorrow for approval on new cabinet line-up 

(Bernama, 14 May 2013) - Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is scheduled to have an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah at Istana Negara here at noon tomorrow to get approval for his new Cabinet line-up.

According to the statement issued by the Prime Minister's Department today, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had agreed that ceremony to present letters of appointment, as well as for the appointed ministers and deputy ministers to take the Oath of Office, Loyalty and Secrecy be held at the palace at 9.30am on Thursday.

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Well, there you have it. Khalid Ibrahim has been sworn in as the Menteri Besar of Selangor for a second term and Azmin Ali, who called Khalid a lame duck (mainly because Khalid tunduk or kowtow too much to DAP and PAS), has openly supported Khalid (not that he has any choice in the matter).

What Azmin is not happy about, according to him, is that Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail did not check with him first before replying to His Highness the Sultan’s letter when he (Azmin) is the Director of Elections for Selangor. After all, the candidates contesting the general election are within his (Azmin’s) authority so he should have the final say as to who amongst the winners go where.

Khalid was very coy about his list of EXCO Members, though. He would not reveal whom he is going to propose as EXCO Members, only saying that his list is ready. The issue is, Khalid first needs to get the Sultan’s approval before he makes his announcement. Most likely His Highness will approve the list, unlike in Kelantan where the Sultan wanted some names removed, Husam Musa amongst them.

The question is, the Sultan is merely a Constitutional Monarch, so does the Menteri Besar need to get the Sultan’s approval? Can’t the Menteri Besar announce it first and, as a formality, just inform the Sultan as to what has already been decided? And if the Sultan is not happy or does not approve the EXCO list, can the Menteri Besar go ahead anyway even if this meets the Sultan’s displeasure?

A lawyer such as Malik Imtiaz Sarwar or Tommy Thomas would probably argue that it is within the Menteri Besar’s power and authority to appoint the EXCO Members of his choice and the Sultan does not have the power and authority to interfere in the running of the government. Furthermore, the Sultan must swear in the Menteri Besar that has been decided by the party with the most number of seats in the State Assembly and His Highness cannot reject this candidate.

On point of law plus according to the Constitution this would most likely be very true. The Ruler must take the advise of the Menteri Besar (or the Agong the advise of the Prime Minister). Remember what the First Agong, His Majesty Tuanku Abdul Rahman said: the Prime Minister (Tunku Abdul Rahman) can remove me but I can’t remove the Prime Minister.

Hence that sums up the ‘relationship’ between the Rulers and the Chief Executives. However, we are not just talking about the law or the Constitution here. We are talking about Malay tradition/culture and Islam as well. And that is what many non-Malays do not seem to understand about the Malay psyche. The law/Constitution takes second place to adat dan agama (tradition and religion).

And we have to understand that the Menteris Besar (in those states that have Monarchs) are Malays/Muslims first and politicians second. Hence they just cannot sidestep adat and agama even if doing so would be sidestepping the law and the Constitution instead. After all, the Monarchs are what the Malays would call Raja-Raja Melayu (Rulers of the Malays) and Ketua Agama (Head of Religion).

Bernama reported, “Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is scheduled to have an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah at Istana Negara here at noon tomorrow to get approval for his new Cabinet line-up.”

So, it seems the Prime Minister, too, needs the ‘approval’ of His Majesty the Agong before announcing the Cabinet line-up. So, again, the Prime Minister has to be Malay/Muslim first and politician second. And he needs the ‘nod’ of His Majesty the Agong before doing something or else he would not do it.

Malaysian politics is a very complicated animal. Malay politics is an even stranger animal. Malay politics does not follow ‘rules’. It follows sentiments, emotions, adat and agama. And this is what one needs to understand to be able to win the battle of the hearts and minds of the Malays.

They recently did a poll in Pakistan and 11% voted in favour of a democracy, 22% in favour of military rule, and 53% in favour of the Khalifah system. The Khalifah system would basically mean a Monarch as the head of religion plus head of the nation.

“What has Pakistan got to do with Malaysia or the Malays?” you may ask. Well, many Malay ulama’ (religious scholars) received their education in India/Pakistan (Nik Aziz Nik Mat included). Hence they are indoctrinated or influenced by the Indian Continent’s brand of Islam. People like Hadi Awang, of course, received his education from Medina and Cairo. Nevertheless, they still subscribe to the Khalifah system and aspire to one day see Malaysia become a Caliphate (although they agree that would not be something you can see now but must be a plan for the future). 

If you were to poll, say, 10,000 Malays, you will find that 60% regard themselves as Muslims first, 30% as Malays first, and just 10% will say they are Malaysians first. So how do you handle these types of people? 

The fallacy is those ultra-Muslims are mainly people from the rural areas or from the Malay heartland. In other words, these are kampong Malays who are less educated than the urban Malays.

That is where you are wrong. There are more ultra-Muslims amongst the professionals living in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Damanasara, Bangsar, etc., than you thought. This may surprise you but most of my Malay friends living in the ‘up-market’ residential areas in the big towns and cities have ‘disowned’ me because of my ‘liberal’ views. They cannot accept the fact that I propagate the rights of apostates and gays.

So, Malays living in multi-million ringgit homes in gated communities and driving BMWs are not as ‘modern’ as you may think. In fact, they are even more intolerant of liberalism compared to the Malays in the rural areas. And the more affluent the Malays become, the more religious they become as well, and the more intolerant they are of liberalism. And most of them vote for PAS, not for Umno.

Does that surprise you? Well, how then do you explain why PAS can win in a place like Shah Alam, a city that is predominantly ‘wealthy’ Malay, while Umno can win in a ‘backward’ place like Gua Musang? And I will bet you RM10,000, if Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah contests in Shah Alam against Khalid Samad, PAS will still win.

Hah! You thought you understood the Malays, did you? The ‘upper crust’ Malays are not as anti-corruption as you thought. They are more pro-Islam.