Will Umno represent you and I?

The Malays want Umno to be more responsible and more accountable for what they do – whether for the Malays or for Malaysia.

COMMENT

Where once Umno leaders in the likes of Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn and Tun Dr Ismail exude grace and humility, today Umno’s leaders ooze rudeness and arrogance by the bucket full. Hubris born out of electoral success now sits emboldened in the house of Umno.

We see this manifested in ways that has become synonymous with the way things are done in Umno. Extremism of racial and religious sentiments that threaten the very fabric of Malaysian society, nefarious acts by Umno appointees in high public office that borders on criminality and that infernal bane of the rich and powerful that Umno can now claim as their own – being impolite and arrogant!

An arrogance born out of the belief that past accomplishment guarantees Umno’s future success. Somewhere in the past decade or two Umno has succumbed to the notion that the Malays will sustain Umno no matter what.

Arrogance even in the face of an election won without a popular mandate. The arrogance that always follows pride before a fall. A fall that may come as Umno leaders are sucked into that cycle of arrogant neglect for the primary source of Umno’s political power – the Malays!

Unfortunately hubris too will be the cause should the Malays fail to better their present circumstance after being given all the privileges accorded to them under the constitution.

Many have used that privilege as a crutch rather than a tool to work with to better their life. Many Malays now are dependent on government handouts and rent seeking business opportunities which they insist must not end if the Malays are to prosper.

And there are too many Malays arrogant in the belief that their numbers will ensure their dominance over others even if they pay no heed to the need for meritocracy in the things that they do – surely a fatal obsession when others are driven by exactly that need to excel at all that they do.

The Malays and Umno are the cause and effect of each other’s current malaise. The Malays without Umno could be vulnerable to the vagaries and reality of a dominant race without political power.

Umno without the Malays will cease to be the political powerhouse it now is. Together the Malays and Umno are heading towards a fall. Why has common sense not prevail to stop this from happening?

Life changes. Names, abode, physical appearances even our parents can be changed and if the spirit moves you, even your gender. Ditto for religion and race!

I am not born a Muslim. I am born into a family that practices the Islamic faith. The choice to be or not to be a Muslim is mine to make when I have the wisdom to make that choice.

If any relationship existed between God (for lack of a better word) and me, it is to be no one’s business but mine. Not my parents’ business, not my acquaintances or friends and certainly not my government business.

I do not hold myself beholden to anybody or to any state or religious authority for my religious beliefs or the lack of it.

I do not care to argue about whether Malaysia is a secular or an Islamic state because there are valid and reasonable arguments to be put for considerations for both sides of the divide.

In the world and the time that we now live in – a world where the individual, by common consensus, should have the wisdom and the right to make life choices – that choice should include religion.

The reality of having an Umno-led government that has dominated everything Malaysians do for the last five decades means what Malaysia is today is what Umno wants it to be. And nowhere is this truer than in the manner that religion and race are now being used for Umno’s political purpose.

Islam as a political ideology

In Malaysia, Islam rules. Islam as Umno wants it to be – Islam as a political ideology not a religion.

For Islam and those who administer it, there is one unwritten but perfectly understood rule – what Umno wants Islam to be, it shall be! And so Umno leaders professes to heed all the tenets Islam but in reality uses Islam for their own purpose in pitting the Muslims against the non-Muslim, especially the Christians.

And for the Malay race, the same applies. Umno has used the Malay race for its own purposes – that of holding on to political power without much thought for what it will do to the Malays.

Where one should be mindful of racial engineering to suit one’s political purposes, Umno has imported into Malaysia questionable stock of ‘Malays’ from Indonesia, Burma, Bangladesh and the Philippines to bolster the Malay numbers and widen Umno’s electoral base by the millions.

The social, cultural and economic impacts of this massive intake of questionable ‘Malays’ are still unraveling adversely. It has done no good to Malaysian society and it will do no good to anyone, least of all these ‘questionable Malays’.

Umno cannot have used religion and race as its political weapon of choice without Malay electoral support and that electoral support has been given for the 13th general election. Now the question is whether Malay electoral support will be forthcoming in the 14th general election.

I believe that will lie in the hands of Umno to make it happen. The Malays have not deserted Umno. Only now, the Malays want Umno to be more responsible and more accountable for what they do – whether for the Malays or for Malaysia.

Just an acknowledgement from Umno of that will stir the Malays to reconsider their loyalties to Umno.

A contrite Umno will do wonders. In the next few years there will have to be a coming together of Malay interest and Umno interests – and these interests must take into consideration the interests of other non-Malays if Malaysia, Umno, the Malays and other Malaysian are to prosper.

I for one as a Malay will look towards Umno for responsible political leadership – but only an Umno without the present lot of political parasites and bloodsuckers that have not only been the cause of Umno decline but also that of all Malaysian’s.

The Malays will not desert Umno but they will not allow Umno to be used for the benefit of a few.

Today the few in Umno still rule the roost and so the Malays are cautious.

The 12th and 13th general elections are Umno’s and the Malay’s rite of passage. The Malays have grown enormously in their intellect and in their understanding of their position and role in the future of our Malaysia.

It is now really up to Umno to see if they will be able to play catch up to the changing values and aspiration of the Malays and all Malaysians.

If they do not, there are alternatives for the Malays to consider. It is for Umno to decide what they will do.

CT Ali is a reformist who believes in Pakatan Rakyat’s ideologies. He is a FMT columnist.