The forthcoming Umno elections is a yawn, beyond seeing what leadership will emerge from the rubble of the Najib debacle.
It’s a ho-hum cast – the former DPM who loomed large, in a perverse biological fashion, in the shadow of Najib Razak, but who is now meekly reduced in stature; an elder statesman who wants to keep the party as a racial enclave; and a young one who thinks he can ride on the crest of a wave of change.
The event is so boring, I’m hoping the ROS will spice things up and rule that the extension granted for party elections was illegal. That should have the cat among the pigeons.
Bring things to a boil with the ruling, posing a legal axe hanging over the standing of Umno in GE14.
Or have the fugitive persecuted political martyr Jamal Md Yunos (photo below) voted in as Umno Youth head. That would be fun.
It was said he is on the ballot because he has not been found guilty of the charges he faced. Hello, that may be so, but he convicted himself by going on the run.
Political Pollyannas have been piously preaching about the need for Umno to swiftly get into shape and become a viable opposition.
O pleeeease…
If Ahmad Zahid Hamidi were to win, it would take a lot of airing, air-freshening to clear the house of Umno of the stench embedded during the Najib years.
If Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah were to win, Umno would be sharing the Malay vote with Pakatan Harapan and PAS. The party will be starting from scratch in East Malaysia. See any bright future on the horizon?
If Khairy Jamaluddin were to win, he would have difficulty not sounding like he was auditioning for Harapan.
The interest would be in his avowed ending of the rule of the warlords. Already the warlord of Padang Rengas has flown his banner and declared he isn’t abdicating any time soon.
As for BN, former allies have been shunning them like the plague, social pariahs.
Let’s see who’s left?
MIC is sticking with Umno. That’s a laugh.
MCA and Gerakan, in or out of BN, how will they position, define themselves? A phoenix rising from ashes?
The viable opposition – the people
Weighing a lot in the people’s regard of Umno post-GE14 is the visceral abhorrence of its decadent rule, resentment that built strength and steam over years. One can’t turn down the thermostat on that immediately.
And there is a viable opposition … the people.
They voted BN out. They have discovered their strength.
They have recovered the power to influence their government.
The fuss over allegations of corruption in the allocation of Ramadan trading lots, prompted a suggestion that it was the first blotch in the report card of the new government.
It’s only a blotch if the new government doesn’t do anything about it.
More significantly and positively, it shows that people are now aware of their rights. It’s no longer a resigned acceptance that that is the way things are. You pay or you don’t play.
There are now multiple avenues to air grievances, throw a light on shady deals and dirty hands.
If the present government does not deliver, or starts resembling the previous in devious or repressive ways, I am confident Malaysians will be churning out WhatsApp in a frenzy of fury.
The mental landscape of the nation has changed, but there are still pockets of old beliefs and responses.
Take the example of media representatives proposing that the government end control of media by political parties.
Why bother? Let the marketplace decide.
In fact, the marketplace has made a decision in recent years – the Umno-controlled media have had plunging circulation, have had to trim staff. Not to mention the damages paid out for bad reporting.
If their writers are not freed to be journalists, but must remain propagandists for a skewed view, extinction beckons.
Last Sunday The Star published a two-page interview with Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
Hey, don’t take it for granted. That required major re-tooling of journalistic DNA in The Star.
THOR KAH HOONG is a veteran journalist. - Mkini
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