Umno’s politics of self-delusion

Even the Malays are now fed up and revolted by Umno's lies, deceit and hypocrisy.

COMMENT

We recognised what Umno has been telling us in the recent past – hypocrisy, and we are revolted by it. Umno espoused character and the moral high ground and invoked the name of Allah in their search for causes to justify their existence.

They talked about focus and the need for discipline if they were to win the fight against their “enemies” – failing to understand that they themslves are not disciplined when people are not looking.

And what does Umno do when people are not looking? Steal, plunder and pillage our country’s wealth. The Umno general assembly might as well have been a lesson in hypocrisy and the politics of self-delusion.

The delusional hubris that accompanied the past 12 general election victories seems to have afflicted Umno’s ability to face reality.

Just reflect on the last four years. The result of the 12th general election was supposed to give Umno a huge wake up call. The opposition gained 82 seats in parliament, wiping out BN’s two-thirds majority.

Umno won 35.5% of the popular votes. PAS and PKR won 34.8%. A whisker separated them. The urban Malays are no longer with Umno. Perak, Penang, Kedah and Selangor fell to the opposition.

Without Sabah and Sarawak, BN would not have even obtained a simple majority to form the government.

If anything is to be learned from the 12th general election, it is this: Umno cannot campaign the way it has been doing in the past. They cannot put fear into the minds of the electorates and use the mainstream media to demonise the opposition.

The opposition parties won, not on race-based issues, but on a range of issues that cut across ethnic lines. And yet what do you have in the recent Umno general assembly? It is as if the lessons learnt in the 12th general election no longer have validity. All forgotten in the heat of the general assembly where Umno stalwarts became hypocrites – all of them!

But when Umno talks to Umno it is sincere. Umno talks about their Malay agenda, about their Ketuanan Melayu and about all that it will take to ensure that they are the rulers of this Malay land and about what Umno will do for themselves once they are in government again.

When Umno talks to the Malays, then the hypocrisy begins. Umno tells the Malays that Article 153 of the constitution would allow it to introduce affirmative action policies that would benefits only the Malays.

The May 13 racial riots, bumiputera status, Ketuanan Melayu and Malay supremacy followed suit, all giving Umno license to improve the Malays economic lot. Umno promised much to the Malays but delivered little. Their hypocrisy to the Malays went undetected until much later.

Malays are fed up of Umno’s hypocrisy

And then Umno had to talk to their BN partners. Here Umno shared what they must. Each had looting rights to designated ministries. MIC had JKR and MCA had the transport ministry. Other areas where they could plunder and pillage were carved out of their sharing of power in government.

Duplicity and deceit crept in as BN leaders started to carve our their vested interest at the expense of the people. 1Malaysia was the rallying cry of BN while in the backroom, deals were negotiated that saw massive financial scandals such as PKFZ and the IPPs contracts.

There were too many failed utilities and construction projects. There were failures to meet projected completion schedule and massive cost overruns, and in a lot of cases, a complete failure to proceed with the project proper after it started. All these were covered up in the “national interest” and by the cunning use of the ISA and the OSA.

And as Umno’s rule needed to be propped up by Sabah and Sarawak, the tentacles of corruption and greed also spread there with the enthusiastic participation of the state government already mired in corruption and self interest – up another notch because they called in their markers after their assist to Umno in the 2008 general election.

And then Umno had to talk to the people. And here necessity became the mother of invention. The people were promised all manner of conveniences – from paved roads to fixing longkangs that would alleviate floods. From swimming pools for army camps in Port Dickson to a raft of subsidies that would make even Pakatan Rakyat choke on their own promises. And when all else failed, they gave out grants, allowances, provisions and cash.

When talking with the faithful in Umno they were sincere. With the Malays, with their coalition partners in BN and with the people of Malaysia there was nothing left but hypocrisy. Umno had to cover up their true self with lies, deceits, promises they do not intend to keep.

Umno’s excuse is that they are one thing to themselves, another to the Malays and yet another to the non-Malays. All this hypocrisy has given Pakatan Rakyat a sledgehammer with which to go Umno bashing.

I hope the Malays can tell the difference between which Umno is with them and which Umno is not. But even the Malays now know that Umno is taking them to a place they do not want to go. For the Malays have had enough of hypocrisy and so have all Malaysians!

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