Extremists ruining Umno, driving away bright Malays, says Tun Dr Ismail’s son

Tawfik Ismail says extremists and neo-fascists in Umno is the reason why the party now alienate non-Muslims and East Malaysians, who used to be some of the party’s staunchest supporters. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Seth Akmal, December 5, 2015.Umno has forgotten its liberal and moderate roots that made it successful, and is being ruined by neo-fascists and extremists brought in by the current leadership, said a former party lawmaker.

This is why Umno has failed to attract the best and brightest young Malay minds, many of whom are joining PKR and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), according to Tawfik Ismail, the eldest son of Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, who was deputy prime minister in the early 1970s.

It is also why Umno is alienating non-Muslims and East Malaysians, who used to be some of the party’s staunchest supporters, Tawfik, 64, told The Malaysian Insider in an interview.

Tawfik’s observation comes days before the Umno general assembly, where during Datuk Seri Najib Razak's presidency, party leaders have tilted towards vilifying “liberalism” and stoking fears towards alleged anti-Muslim behaviour by non-Muslims.

Both Najib and his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin have been staunch opponents of liberalism.

Animosity towards liberal ideals, such as openness and inclusivity, by Umno leaders is essentially a betrayal of the party forefathers’ ambitions for Umno, said Tawfik.

Umno has always been led by liberals and moderates, he said, but this changed with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Umno’s fifth president, whom Tawfik blamed for steering the party towards religious conservatism and political fascism.

“What’s wrong with being liberal and moderate? It can’t be a sin because Umno has always been led by liberals and moderates. Only Mahathir was a fascist,” he said.

“Are you going to condemn our fathers and say they are 'jahiliah' (ignorant and barbaric)? That they were all wrong? I think you are creating more radicalism by encouraging extremist thoughts,” Tawfik said.

Tawfik was referring to Najib’s father and second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein.

Razak was deputy prime minister under Malaysia's founding father Tunku Abdul Rahman.  In a 1960 interview with Malay nationalist paper Utusan Malaysia, Tunku said one of the aims of the then Alliance coalition was to create a liberal society.

Tawfik joined Umno in 1981, through the Larkin branch in the Johor Baru division.

At the time there was much optimism and hope that Dr Mahathir and former Umno deputy Tun Musa Hitam, would bring positive change to the country.

“I joined because there were expectations within my family and my father's comrades that I should carry the Tun Dr Ismail name and ideals into the future.”

His last post was as Sungai Benut division vice-chief, at the same time that he served as MP of the area from 1986 to 1990.

When the division and constituency was broken into Pontian and Simpang Renggam, he was moved to the Pontian Umno division. Up till three years ago he was head of the division’s Sanglang Branch.

Below are excerpts from the interview.

The Malaysian Insider: Do you think the Umno of your father's time would have tolerated the leaders of Umno today? With all the corruption scandals, the racist fear-mongering?

Tawfik Ismail: Corruption and fear-mongering are serious problems that badly dent the image of Umno, but even more worrying is the hold of Muslim extremists and neo-fascists that surround the leaders and influence policy detrimental to the multi-racial, multi-cultural character of our nation.

If Umno Baru professes to be the successor to the original Umno, then it has a duty to protect the constitution against subversion by these extremists and neo-fascists, and fight for the strengthening of the institutions set up under the Constitution.

Departments such as Jakim (Malaysian Islamic Development Department), with the huge budget allocated to it, could be renamed and redeployed to tackle urban poverty and the ghetto problems that affect Malays and other races, which foster racism and crime.

Corruption can be tackled by giving back independence to the judiciary and the enforcement agencies.

Najib needs to checkmate some of the rightwing people who are influencing his policies on religion. I made an attack on Jakim and that’s a department under the PM.

Being a Western-educated person, I think he is uncomfortable with the fact that people’s personal lives are being violated. His own personal life has been up for display so I don’t think he likes it. I’m pretty sure he would not want to wish it on anyone else.

TMI: Yet under Najib, the religious enforcement authorities have been emboldened.

Tawfik: They’ve been emboldened because of benign neglect of their activities. I don’t think there’s active encouragement like Najib saying 'I want you guys to go out and catch khalwat (indecent proximity) cases and I will give you a KPI of 10 cases a week'.

I think these are just religious officers who want to test the limits of their own power. And because they use religion a lot of people are scared to criticise or stand up to them.

TMI: Do you think it is a matter of tolerance or is Najib instead, just using them to further his own agenda? So that he can say that under me I pursued a more aggressive Islamisation agenda?

In his speeches Najib does tend to play the religion card, and likes to make speeches railing against liberalism, the shiah.

Tawfik: Those are politically correct statements or they cater to the conservatives. But I think the average Malay does not care about what someone else does in their bedroom. Let him be that’s between him and God. Who are we to say that what the guy is doing is right or wrong? It’s that kind of attitude among the Malays which I think the leaders are overlooking.

But if they give credit to Malay culture and values I don’t think they need to use the religious card too much. What are you going to do – condemn my father and his contemporaries to a state of jahiliah?

My father, his father, Tunku... are you saying they were all wrong? Cannot be.

I think you create much more radicalism by encouraging extremist thoughts. By having these restrictions and rules that allow certain people to act holier than thou and that they are empowered to enforce what they see as Islamic law. God didn’t tell them to do it, JAIS (Selangor Islamic Religious Department) and Jawi (Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department) told them to do it.

TMI: What's your view on Umno's racism? The Merdeka Center has actually done surveys suggesting that using racist rhetoric only leads to a 1% rise in support among Malays but actually leads to a huge loss of support among non-Malays. There's also a survey saying that even 67% of Malays want parties that can represent all communities.

Notwithstanding racism's harm to society, why do you think Umno still uses racism if the research shows it doesn't really help get more support?

Tawfik: My father was quoted as saying "The Malays want to be dominant but not dominate" which recognises that the Malay culture and attitudes are compatible with other cultures, as is evident in the language and in some of the wedding customs, but the Malays internationally cannot progress without help and support from others. That is a fact.

The Malays have a remarkable sense of fair play and will absorb and adapt new ideas and ways of achieving goals. Umno was supposed to channel these for the good of all, including non-Malays. However, when Malay leaders after (third prime minister) Tun Hussein Onn in Umno felt threatened, they set up parallel organisations to voice their concerns such as Perkasa recently, (and Pajar in the days after Umno Baru was founded, to weaken the stronghold that Johor had over Umno).

These are aberrations in the sense that Umno members are also members of these parallel organisations and through these organisations they voice out their racial statements.

I would say the existence and silent support for these parallel organisations will eat up Umno from the inside, as legitimately elected officials may be bullied and pressured into someone else's agenda. The party administration as well as the Supreme Council must recognise the danger and act accordingly.

- TMI