A law so sensitive it can PERMANENTLY split Malaysia: But where is Najib, is he in charge?

With all the scandals, corruption, wrong doings, racial and religious controversies that have cropped up in Malaysia the past few years, it is justifiable to wonder whether there is anyone in the government who is really in charge of things in the country.

For that matter, is Prime Minister Najib Razak really in control? Or is he just a puppet? If so, who is the puppet-master or masters? If Najib is in charge, why is he not doing anything to make Malaysia a better country, a more robust economy.

Malaysia is not only not moving forward, it is dragged down by enormous scandals involving its top leaders such as the Scorpenes-Altantuya corruption-murder case implicating Najib himself, the RM250 million NFC debacle, the RM12 billion PKFZ debacle and so forth. The scandals, never-ending wrong doings, even a web portal dedicated to exposing Sarawak chief minister Taib Mahmud's misdeeds, are just too much.

So, is there any order? Can there be any order in the face of such chaos. The answer is a clear 'NO'. Nothing is in order, because the events keep changing but the agenda remains the same; UMNO and its ‘Malay Supremacy’. In UMNO the aim justifies every means and there is no time for anything else.

It is as UMNO has claimed - it has been given a huge mandate by the majority to do whatever it wishes, so it is going to do whatever it wants. Of course, it will omit the fact that the Opposition won 51% of the total votes and just harp on the fact that it won 88 parliamentary seats - the most won by a single party. Isn't the blindsided-ness to be expected?

Racist to the core

To most Malaysians, despite having many non-Malay funders, UMNO is racist to the core with its ‘Malay Supremacy ‘doctrine. It has been too obvious that the authorities would never take action against any UMNO Malay no matter how hate-filled and inciting his or her racists words may be, no matter how vicious, intimidating or offensive the comments may be to the non-Malays. Whenever any of these 'ultra'-Malays voice out his or her stance, they will immediately be seconded by someone else from the same breed in UMNO.

The ‘keris- kissing’ event made infamous by former Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein is the landmark emancipation of the racist nature of UMNO and from then on, the sentiment has been promoted and nurtured without any sign of slowing down. UMNO now has NGOs like PERKASA and Pekida, martial arts group like Pertubuhan Silat Lincah headed by Omar Din, bloggers like Papagomo, Mymassa, Talk With Hand dan Aloqlaloq, main stream media like Utusan Malaysia and TV3, tycoons like Syed Mokhtar and Daim Zainuddin, academicians like Sahol Hamid and Sidek Baba, tertiary institutions like UiTM and UPSI, artists like KRU and Salih Yaacob, legal eagles like Mohd Noor and Gani Patail, clerics like Fathul Bari and Mashitah Ibrahim, authorities like the police and the Election Commission to help it all the way.

Whenever UMNO's racist rants and actions reach an interim saturation point in the nation, UMNO would then switch to religion and religious bigotry, specifically Islam to strengthen its grip on the people, especially the Malays. By being more Islamist than PAS, UMNO wants every Malay Muslim in the country and those in PAS to be united under UMNO.

This will ensure UMNO is always in power and in control of everything in the country, with PAS rendered useless to the Malays while PKR made to seem like an outright traitor to the Malays.

Zahid?

And in the Umno circles, many say Home Minister Zahid Hamidi has been given the task to make sure UMNO can exploit Islam to its fullest and that despite UMNO’s call to not use religion for politics, it actually uses it to its maximum advantage! Yes, Zahid, and not religious minister Jamil Baharom, who is deemed to be too 'green' still in the high-stakes game of political skullduggery, hypocrisy and duplicity.

But why is this task given to Zahid or Zahid is free to do whatever he wishes? Of course not. Zahid is not that powerful. Zahid was picked simply because he was together with Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim in Islamic youth movement ABIM when they were young. Anwar would of course be flabbergasted with what he hears coming out from Zahid's mouth these days. But with this short involvement in ABIM, and without any formal Islamic credentials, Zahid can talk about Islam and still be 'correct in some sense'.

In other words, Zahid can lay claim to being knowledgeable in Islam, although he may simply be shooting his mouth off. This is actually a safety-clause; Zahid can err but he would not be penalized and would be forgiven for his ignorance because he is not a bona-fide Ustaz or Islamic scholar. Unlike PAS spiritual adviser Nik Aziz, who cannot afford to make a simple mistake or even a slip of the tongue, Zahid can 'frolic' around with the goats and donkeys, bungling and blundering his way through and still get away with it.

Najib hides to play safe

Najib on the other hand is not functioning as a leader should to lead a nation. He is  just ‘acting’ as one while in reality he is just an opportunist, or so it seems to his critics. Najib likes to wait and see, delay in making any decision, hesitate in making the first move and then jump in only when the window of opportunity is safely wide open, grab and steal the limelight and be the ‘hero’ who saves the hour - just like in the Hindustani movies!

In the controversial conversion law recently proposed by UMNO, things can go in any direction; smoothly as planned or hay-wire and then backfire! This bill was concocted in haste; UMNO, through Zahid, wanted to show that once given the mandate, it will act swiftly in the interest of the Malays who have voted for UMNO.

Zahid as the Home Minister has said that the new bill is not just to serve Islam but has the interests of every religious group taken into consideration. May be there are some merits for everybody in the new bill but with the way UMNO is going about it, whatever the merits will be overshadowed by the anxieties created.

Beyond repair: Apartheid Malaysia?

But a bill so loaded with such sensitive issues affecting every living Malaysian, including those who are atheists, could crack and divide the multi-faceted Malaysian society beyond repair. If UMNO is not careful, this bill could trigger a permanently divided, if not an apartheid, nation.

Now, do you know why the bill was quietly brought on the moment Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor had safely fled to Tanzania on a working visit? The couple, notorious for their free-spending and splurging lifestyles, are now in shopping mecca London while the nation wrestles with a landmark law that will change every citizen's life in some imperceptible way or other.

Make no mistake, Najib is watching from a distance. Not that he is worried about the future of the nation but he doesn't want to miss the opportunity to play 'hero' and time his return to squeeze maximum benefit for himself for the upcoming UMNO party election.

Whether with good intentions or a devious agenda, he will ensure that he takes on the moderator's role. Not for him the true leadership role of screening through and if necessary, stopping the bill from being brought out because it may be too divisive. No, it is more a case of 'Hey, divisive? Then let's go for it. No better way to keep us in power here at UMNO!'

And that is how the cookie is now crumbling in Malaysia.

Malaysia Chronicle