Umno’s antics could further damage BN

If it does not do some soul-searching and mend the error of its ways, then the coalition as a whole is doomed

COMMENT

Umno in its haste to claim victory in the recently concluded 13th General Elections (GE13), has lost all sense of direction and this is going to damage the party’s image more than ever.

In the wake of reformasi, the jailing of Anwar Ibrahim and the wild response by Umno grassroots in many cities forced the party to do some seriously reflection, with Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his team leading the way.’

Despite being the Deputy Prime Minister during those turbulent times in the party’s history, Abdullah had one thing in mind, get back the support of the grassroots and bring the Malays back into the fold.

In that exercise he listened to diverse views, including that of outsiders and this in the end helped Umno regain its glory in the 2004 elections, which the BN won massively.

Alas this feat by Umno is historic since the party will never regain such popularity as we saw in the 2008 and the 2013 elections in where Umno was relatively nonexistent!

It was never present in GE13, where the Barisan National took the helm of the entire campaign and in which even Najib Tun Razak, the leader of the Umno was presented not as the party chief but as the BN chief.

Umno candidates were massacred in the BN, never showing their true colours – that is of Umno itself, and claiming to represent one organisation under the 1Malaysia banner.

Thus, Umno’s strategy in GE13 was more towards its invisible cloak that projected it as BN and not as Umno.

The question is: Would the results of the GE13 have been the same if Umno was pushed forward as it was before the reformasi era and during that one glimpse in 2004?

Umno seems to have also forgotten that the victory for the government in GE13 was that of BN’s, not that of Umno’s.

Umno was lucky to have won that many seats

Henceforth, is it unwise for Umno to talk and play tough when it knows that it will have its nose rubbed in by the judges and magistrates who have a new found freedom which they did not have when Umno was at its prime?

The arrest of activists and political leaders will surely not calm the wave of protests against the GE13 results, since this is the not the way to handle the thorny situation created by the just concluded but disputed elections.

Umno must accept the fact that it was lucky to have won that many seats but that does not mean it has the power to toy with the country’s democracy and threaten the opposition with arrests.

Minus the seats of the MCA and that of MIC together, without the seats the other component parties in the BN  Umno will never be able to rule the country.

Thus, it is time for the largest party in the country to be content with the fact that it is still ruling Malaysia and to tone down on its rhetoric and work to consolidate the nation’s base.

Can the Umno deliver on the promises made by the BN to create a united and prosperous people of Malaysia?

Knowing that it will never be able to win GE13 if it were to confront PR alone without the other BN component parties, Umno must now offer the olive branch to the people of Malaysia for the future of the country.

It will certainly fail if it continues to be vindictive and harasses its opponents while it treats its partners in the BN coalition as lesser entities.

This has started to worry many people who gave their support to the BN in GE13. Umno risks losing this legitimacy of support despite being the biggest party in the country.

If Umno fails to unite the rakyat under the 1Malaysia slogan, it will impact the future of BN itself as this would mean less support for it as people get fed up of Umno’s mishandling and miscuing the situation after the GE13!