Is Umno-Baru worth saving?

 

Umno will turn 75 next month, but you'd be hard-pressed to say anything good about its role in nation-building.

Once a symbol of Malay unity, the party, which previously dominated Malaysian politics for 63 years, has now descended into a metaphor for pointless political point-scoring and internal squabbles, and more importantly, left a nation with a mixed legacy.

We may have a larger quantity of more wealthy middle-class Malays, a relatively good health system, at least in the urban areas, infrastructure which has significantly improved our lives, set against a background of racial intolerance, religious discrimination and extremism - with little thought for nation-building or a multicultural rakyat in the 21st century.

Is Umno-Baru worth saving? For many, including Malays, Umno-Baru is a party that symbolises corruption and abuse of power.

So, what have we learnt from the last year? Or even the past 30 days? Former and current stalwarts of Umno-Baru, such as Muhyiddin Yassin, Dr Mahathir Mohamad - the PM for life, Azmin Ali - the spanner in the works, the convicted criminal Najib Abdul Razak, prime ministerial hopeful Anwar Ibrahim, Zahid Hamidi - desperate to escape his charges, are all vying for a top position and some relevance.

These men (where are the women?) may be from different parties - Bersatu, Pejuang, PKR, Umno-Baru, but they were all spawned by the original party, Umno, which morphed into Umno-Baru.

These men carry the same Umno DNA, were weaned on Umno teachings, their motto is "no money, no talk", took their first steps in Umno, were baptised in Umno, and they were consummated with Umno style politics.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin

These leaders have nothing new to give the Malaysian rakyat. They are too full of themselves to care about anyone else. In their efforts to promote Malay rights, they would happily cut off their noses to spite their faces.

This government (PN) has continued Umno-Baru's traditions, and is consumed with all things Malay and Muslim. It has stupidly missed an opportunity with Grab (Grab Holdings Inc,), the start-up founded by two Malaysians, which on April 15 was listed in America. In the end, Grab was lost to Singapore. Today, its valuation exceeds that of Malayan Banking Bhd, the country's largest listed company. We have already lost thousands of talented Malaysians to other nations.

Would you invest your millions in a country with little political stability, where the government of the day, be it BN or PN, is only interested in appeasing the Malay electorate? In 2020, Malaysia's economy contracted 5.6 percent and foreign direct investment fell 56 percent to US$3.4 billion.

A few days ago, Muhyiddin warned that Putrajaya had little money left in the kitty, and that in school, he was not good at counting. His unwise comments will not woo foreign investors and he will also damage our credit ratings.

In their heyday, these senior politicians did not help the country, but promoted their own prime ministerial credentials, and when the top man, meaning the prime minister, got wind of their aspirations, down they came. Mahathir had a problem with all his deputies. Muhyiddin is now too scared to have one, but instead, has four senior ministers ostensibly to keep the others in check.

Umno-Baru did not help advance the Malays into the 21st century. It made Muslims villified by others and it robbed the independence of the country's institutions.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang

By championing Ketuanan Melayu, the party gave the ordinary Malay a sense of unrivalled superiority, which inflated his ego and gave him a sense of entitlement. It was not what you know, but who you know. Those with good political connections were awarded government contracts and gave rise to the "seven generation curse".

It is said in some circles that when cronies are awarded contracts, the agreement will last for seven generations of the family, meaning the crony's family members are assured a job for life. As their companies are less than transparent, we will never know how taxpayers' money is spent.

Umno-Baru, eager to compete with PAS on its Islamic credentials, made Muslims fear dogs, pigs, the cross and start fights about ownership of some words, like "Allah".

Umno-Baru robbed institutions of their independence. Today, some police chiefs want to clean up their force, but ministers meddle in their affairs, just like ministers who meddle in the running of GLCs.

Don't forget PAS' role. It is like the mistress who courted the lover (Umno-Baru) but when another man came along (Bersatu/PN), decided to ditch her long-time lover for the new man. For years, PAS leader Abdul Hadi Awang, had clandestine meetings with the convicted criminal, Najib, when he was PM, to destabilise the then Pakatan Rakyat.

When Umno-Baru fell from grace and several senior leaders of the party were charged with corruption, Hadi jumped into bed with Muhyiddin, to form his PN administration. PAS should know by now that when a man marries his mistress, a vacuum is created.

It is time Umno-Baru is added to the scrap heap. It has failed in nation-building, wasted 63 years and created many insecure Malays. The party's fear of losing the Malay vote resulted in Malaysians being left behind on the world stage. - Mkini

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MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, Twitter.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.