Exodus 2012: Why Umno needs to create an image of strength and to destroy Anwar

Malaysians ushered in 2012 amidst news of student-bashing by the police, who are clearly are aligned to Prime Minister Najib Razak and his UMNO party; Cabinet minister Shahrizat Jalil's stubborn refusal to quit despite an increasing pile of incriminating evidence against her family's corruption; plus the defection of a former pro-opposition blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who has been accused of taking money to smear Najib's arch rival - Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim - ahead of the latter's January 9 Sodomy II verdict, which is being monitored by international bodies and first world governments.

How quickly the wheels turn in Malaysian politics but sad to say, it is the same dreary sort of gutter politicking that many pundits believe will hammer the final nail into Najib's political coffin. The ruling BN coalition, which hounded RPK for years, has now come forward to proclaim him a hero, while Anwar's Pakatan Rakyat coalition has distanced itself from this rather odd personality, who grew to fame by bashing down the establishment and revealing some of the most sensational of cases including Najib and first lady Rosmah Mansor's involvement in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder.

Turncoats become the norm in Najib's Malaysia

There are some who say that if not for RPK, some one else would have been fed with the juicy tidbits to reveal - in other words, it was not RPK himself but his timing and being in the right place to gain himself a mini cult status of sorts. However, no matter how popular, RPK was known only in cyberspace and appreciated mostly by the Chinese rather than the Malays, who preferred their own blogs and websites.

By nature a cynical race, the Malaysian Chinese are unlikely to follow RPK anymore. Instead, the tendency is to chuckle and if there is a private thought, it would be that RPK is a former Umno guy, he will surely succumb to temptation - it's just the number of zeroes on the cheque, that's typical of their kind!

True or not, fair or not, the fact is turncoats are the norm in Malaysian politics. It has become even more visible during the Najib administration, with the PM leading the way with his infamous luring of three Pakatan lawmakers to trigger the Perak crisis or Perak coup d'etat in 2009.

RPK is not the first to make an about-turn. Any politician in Malaysia can be bought, if the price is right. And this certainly looks like the case with this once-popular blogger. Can we now speculate where Najib was spending his overly long holidays? Probably quietly buying over support into his camp!

UMNO-BN needs to give an appearance of strength

The fact is UMNO-BN is on its last legs and having strong personalities in their camp does help their effort. So desperate is UMNO is that when two local and rather popular comedians decide to join the party, the news was blared all over the country by the mainstream media!

It is as if UMNO needs endorsement to assure its members it is still a relevant party, otherwise an exodus can be expected ahead of and immediately after the 13th General Election slated for later this year.

Already, insiders estimate at least 30% of MCA members will being joining PKR, DAP or even the Islamist PAS - the number fleeing UMNO can thus be expected to be even higher.

Perhaps now, Malaysians can understand why the tremendous smear campaign against Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and his PKR party. Not to mention the incessant merger proposals thrown out to PAS. Fed-up and frustrated UMNO members fleeing their elitist party are likely to make a new home in PKR and PAS, with the Chinese-based DAP also becoming an increasingly attractive option.

UMNO-BN thrives on a cult-mentality type of culture. The more you believe in their ideology, the stronger they appear to be. This is why, like some sort of dubious Multi-Level-Marketing outfit, they need cult icons to prop up an appearance of swaggering success. Having the likes of RPK joining the ranks of Ibrahim Ali and adding to the coterie of UMNO bloggers and cyber-troppers is like a booster shot for the party's top leadership.

Oblivious to disgust

Ironic and also telling that not once has the UMNO ruling elite considered that such gutter politicking might disgust and put off voters. Indeed, perhaps the most underestimated quality is 'disgust'. It was public disgust over a government cruelty that fuelled the revolution in Tahrir Square and the spark that lit the Arab Spring tinder box. Without doubt, disgust will also land Malaysians with a new federal government after 54 years of a corrupt and oppressive UMNO-BN regime. As they say, enough is enough.

Najib's refusal to adhere to universal good values will add to the vicious cycle that Malaysian politics has fallen into, especially as GE-13 draws near. Do not be surprised if political celebrities in Malaysia shift camps again and again in the coming months to position themselves to best serve their own interests.

Bearing the brunt of a loss in credibility will be the Malaysian economy and financial markets, with investors bound to be alarmed at the UMNO-BN's free-for-all power grab without regard to the laws of the land.

Simply too much manipulation

Then Pakatan Rakyat has become much more than just Anwar Ibrahim. Though, RPK’s remarks are aimed to cast doubt on Anwar's credentials and moral standing to be prime minister, RPK must also remember - he himself is not prime minister material. So who is he to talk!

The same goes for others in Najib’s Cabinet, who have jeered at Anwar, including the corruption-tainted Shahrizat herself, information minister Rais Yatim who was accused of raping his Indonesian maid, Mentri Besar Zambry Kadir who has no mandate of his own to rule Perak. It is not unfair to say that all of the UMNO elite have some skeleton or other in their closet.

Najib, himself accused of vanity and massive corruption to the tune of hundreds of millions, has said that politics was a game of perception. Perhaps this is why he refuses to face up to the reality that Malaysians are more concerned with bread-and-butter issues and instead takes UMNO through one shady conspiracy after another - from Sodomy II to the Datuk T sex tape and now the Datuk Fixit-NFC charges to purportedly allow Shahrizat an escape route for the RM250million cattle livestock debacle.

UMNO-BN will playing the game to the hilt as the Sodomy II verdict approaches. RPK’s comments were meant to help Najib and UMNO cushion the blow of a guilty verdict amongst the general public. But even before RPK spoke a word, all eyes were already on a guilty verdict. The only surprise is if Anwar were freed from the charges.

So it looks like Najib's latest expensive ruse - believed to have cost taxpayers scores of millions - to recruit RPK and the network of UMNO bloggers including Rocky Bru, the Malay Mail and even Malaysiakini, may in the end backfire. Too much 'sandiwara' - what say you!

Malaysia Chronicle