Seven deadly sins of Umno

Sloth, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony and pride plague us all but seems difficult for Umno to eradicate or change.

COMMENT

All of us have within us varying measures of laziness, greed and wrath. Sloth – a reluctance to work or make an effort – is a perceived bane of the bumiputeras.

Too lazy to do anything for themselves, they require Umno’s spoon-feeding, discounts to put a roof over their heads, education privileges for their children and Ketuanan Melayu conferred upon them so they do not have to work as hard as ‘others’ to earn a living.

Greed, so they say, personifies the Chinese community. They are not bothered about where the money comes from…be it from prostitution, gangsterism, cheating or gambling… as long as it finds its way into their pockets.

Wrath is now owned by the Indian community. After years of neglect and being marginalised, the community has taken up ‘arms’ and is on the ‘warpath’ to claim what they perceive their share of the nation’s wealth for their betterment.

The Dayaks and Kadazans too are filled with wrath and rightly angered over how they have been treated as the ‘anak tiri’ (step-child) in this coalition known as Malaysia.

No effort to change

Umno is burdened not only with the afflictions we all have – laziness, greed and wrath but also lust, gluttony, envy and misplaced pride – all the seven deadly sins God bestowed on us.

Within Umno there is sloth – shown by its reluctance to work towards change within the party in meeting the people’s aspirations.

No effort has been made by Umno leaders to be the change that Malays and Malaysians demand of them – even as the people they govern are already changing.

Umno is abound with greed. Their personal, public and political life is ruled by materialistic needs and gains.

Wrath is unleashed by them on those who are against them with the connivance of all the agents at their disposal.

Lust is rite of passage they consider their own, despite Islamic teachings – an affliction visited more by Umno first tier leaders.

Gluttony is exhibited by the girth of leaders and followers indulging in the ‘good things in life’ that money can buy.

Envy is the catalyst that drives Umno leaders to outdo each other in their personal pursuit of materialistic gains and political power.

Pride…misplaced pride actually, sees Umno portraying themselves as the champion of the Malays and the savior of all Malaysians – a perception already discarded by Malaysians if the results of the last two elections are to be regarded as a reality barometer.

Umno sees itself as the protector and champion of Malay supremacy – a sentiment relevant and necessary decades ago but no longer. Today, respect for individual rights is the universal norm of any responsible government!

Pakatan Rakyat too is afflicted by these burdens but where they differ from Umno is that they are not in denial.

They understand the people’s aspiration and they know what they have to do…the devil is in the details…they are streets ahead of Umno when it comes to being the change catalyst that we all want.

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