Why Umno is afraid of Pakatan Harapan

When "Jho Low", a petulant Chinese boy disowned by the whole of the Chinese community in Malaysia, is allegedly hidden from open sight, something is wrong. The boy is a clear baggage. A walking neon light of corruption and malfeasance.

When Gani Patail and Zeti Akhtar Aziz, and even Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission head Abu Kassim Mohamed were relieved of their investigative responsibilities in 2015, another inconsistency surfaced. None of them has been allowed to speak.

From “Nothing to Hide”, all of a sudden the script of the Barisan Nasional has morphed into “Let's Hide Everything”. Even the final findings of the Auditor-General’s Report were immediately classified. Why? Vested interest has obviously been the main reason.

Indeed, when MO1, widely acknowledged by his own minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan as the prime minister of Malaysia in a BBC interview, such acknowledgement, it goes without saying, suggests the start of a possible mutiny in Umno. Enough is enough, the party has fingered him out. Still, nothing happened.

To date, only four persons have taken turns to defending Najib, and that too, sporadically. Salleh Said Keruak from Sabah, who is a spent force. Ahmad Zahid Hamid, who has barely made a squeak on 1MDB. Nazri Abdul Aziz, who knows his days in Umno are numbered, having once called Dr Mahathir Mohamad a racist. And, Mohammad Puad Zakarshi, who is a non-entity trying to be relevant by challenging Mahathir to debate.

When four out of a total 50 members in the Umno supreme council are defending the president of the party, with the wife of MO1 completely silent on the luxury items bought with the money siphoned from 1MDB, one knows that Umno has turned against MO1 and the wife.

To be sure, if they haven't turned completely, they are still under the delusion that with 86 seats in Parliament from Umno, the party will still be a major force. It was. But it isn't now.

Be it Umno, or Umno Baru, or Parti Peribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), all Malays want their race, religion and royalty to be defended.

Bersatu is standing firm on defending all three - by working closely with Pakatan Harapan. How? Race, religion and royalty can only be defended when there is no kleptocracy.

Bersatu is gaining in strength

To be sure, Bersatu is gaining in strength, precisely because it is no longer dominated by the previous style of Umno, where everything it says is kosher. Bersatu is listening, through constructive engagements with the rest of Pakatan Harapan coalition partners, to save Malaysia anchored on reforms, justice, inclusiveness, progressiveness and moderation.

Harapan is in this together to combine its government and opposition experience to reinvent Malaysian governance - from kleptocracy back to constitutional monarchy and democracy. The reconciliation of Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim brings together two templates:

One is the return of the financial savvy of Mahathir, where budgets will be balanced and surpluses generated, to defray the cost of living. Both Anwar and Mahathir are pro-suspension of GST, so that the spending of the consumers do not have to become a burden.

Another is the return of Islam Madani, where Islam will be civil and civic, as proposed by Anwar in early 1990s, and where Islam will have constructive dialogues with Confucianism and other great religions, an effort known in United Nations as The Alliance of Civilizations.

But the truth of the matter is, Bersatu is a force to reckon with. Muhyiddin Yassin (photo) was not speaking in jest when he said there will be a Malay tsunami. How? Well, when Felda settlers work closely with the Bersatu party, it goes without saying that Umno's 54 Felda constituencies are wobbling badly. Bersatu will attack all of them to defend the interest of Felda and its settlers sustainably and return to the heydays of Felda before Najib Abdul Razak. Yes, as expected, Najib is dishing election goodies, like just yesterday, but Felda settlers are a lot wiser.

They will and must take the goodies, as it is their money anyway, but they know now that they have to vote for a responsible government that will genuinely take care of their interest holistically in a sustainable way rather than the current Umno, which pushed them to continuous feudal dependencies. They too, for once, started saying enough is enough. The angst among Felda settlers has reached new levels, to the extent that they wanted to throw their TVs out of their windows when Najib Abdul Razak was making the six election goodies announcements yesterday.

Indeed, when these 54 parliamentary constituencies have begun to rock and shake from the ground up, the Malay heartland, comprising 119 rural constituencies, would be trembling too. Together, they have a reinforcement effect.

And to form a solid government, Harapan merely has to win 125 seats.

In fact, Harapan can go lower. It is enough to win 112 seats to form a government. The latter would permit the likes of Mahathir, Muhyiddin, Mukhriz Mahathir (photo) and Dr Wan Azizah Wan Aziz to approach the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for his royal ascent to form the next government, with the support of the majority in Sabah and Sarawak.

At any given time, the moment Pakatan Harapan clinches either a majority of 112 seats, or, better yet, 125 seats, the civil service, the police and army and Special Branch will be serving their ex-bosses too.

Mahathir, Muhyiddin, Mukhriz, Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng are all known quantity. They deliver. The civil service, Special Branch and the judiciary know they are fair and competent.

To be sure, Najib and Umno have tried to deny that they have lost the support of Felda. But if that's the case, why is MACC carting away documents from the Felda office? Why was Isa Samad removed and relocated to SPAD?

And, if Najib claims that nothing incriminating has been found on 1MDB, why are the authorities in Singapore sending various henchmen to jail, with the US Department of Justice seeking to seize and forfeit more 1MDB money and assets laundered through the US?

MP Liew Ching Tong is right. The ambience of Malaysian politics has drastically changed in Harapan since the reconciliation of Mahathir and Anwar.

In, and through, Mahathir's reconciliation with Anwar, Najib has become a liability in Umno. It was Mahathir and Anwar who had raised Umno to their heights in 1990s, before each of them left Umno to be closer to the voters, rather than to the vested interests in Umno. This is the major difference. Mahathir and Umno can get the votes directly from the ground. Time to drain the swamp!

Not surprisingly, Najib's political operatives, who circumambulate and ring fence him, had to suggest the creation of the Royal Commission of Inquiries to dig up the facts of the foreign exchange market (forex) losses nearly a quarter of a century ago.

This is the pathetic nature of the government now. Its inability to look forward is so poor that it has to look so way back. Meanwhile, Malaysians have moved and looked ahead.

In the 14th general election, they want a new government that can enhance their living standards, and not be told that the economy is growing at 5.1 percent when the inflation is actually twice that number each year. Enough is not enough. A chance must come, from the bottom up and top down, to create a new Malaysia through democratic means.

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RAIS HUSSIN is a supreme council member of Parti Peribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM). He also heads the Policy and Strategy Bureau of PPBM. - Mkini