Najib's four types of Umno leaders restated

 

“Yeah. A lot of Umno leaders, prominent leaders, last time, Datuk Harun Idris, the chief minister of Selangor, the most powerful at the time, he had to serve. Mokhtar Hashim, he had to serve. Everybody has to serve before you get the pardon, simple as that. There are no two ways about it.”

- Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan

As reported in the press, former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak warned of four types of BN leaders that people should be aware of.

The first type was a “frog” or defector; the second was those “hiding in a cave” or absent; the third was composed of those supporting Bersatu, and the fourth was those loyal to the party.

“We must assess how useful they are (to the party) when the time comes,” Najib said about the first three types.

Malay unity has been the rallying cry of the establishment for years and the great lie that built a kleptocracy. These days, the fates of various factions of Umno are entwined with traitors from Bersatu, making any kind of electoral strategy iffy.

While Umno has an accomplished record of corruption and government malfeasance, it also has a track record of winning elections, and in those days, when the idea of BN meant something, it had a track record of winning the popular vote.

In other words, a majority of Malaysians voted for BN.

Now, of course, we could speak of the corruption trials of various political operatives, including those from the opposition, but the former prime minister, who is playing the optics game better than any of his political adversaries, including those from his own party, seems to forget that corruption is a desiderata for Umno.

In reality, there are four types of Umno leaders that people should be wary of:

1. Those that were convicted of corruption and did their time.

2. Those convicted of corruption and going through the process of appeal.

3. Those who are undergoing corruption trials or under investigation for corruption.

4. Those that had their corruption charges dropped for mysterious reasons.

Let us not forget that when we talk of corruption, we are not only talking about the corruption of the political elites but also of institutions which are considered sacred cows to the “bangsa and agama” (race and religion) crowd.

‘Nobody in Umno batted an eyelid’

To understand how corruption and the enabling of corruption is part of the Umno culture, we do not have to touch the 1MDB totem. All we have to do is go back to 2017 when a veteran Umno leader admitted to having played a role in a North Korean spy front.

When Umno talks about the struggle, we have to remember that a high-ranking veteran Umno member did business with North Korea and claimed ignorance of international sanctions against that country, and nobody in Umno batted an eyelid.

What we witnessed is a possible criminal enterprise linked with possible foreign intelligence services. This, of course, does not even take into consideration the possible links between North Korean intelligence services which do business here and possible collusion with China operatives plying their trade in this country.

And this is just one example of how dangerous Umno’s sanctioning of corrupt behaviour is to the country but, more importantly, how the culture of enabling corruption has created a generation of leaders who put profit over the country.

Systemic Umno corruption is just that: a complicated web of personalities, familial kinship and political alliances all wrapped around the upper echelons of a bureaucracy divided into various petty fiefdoms.

Not to mention it created a bureaucracy, including the state security apparatus, which is beholden to Umno political operatives. The “our boy” scandal and the revelations of former inspector-general of police Abdul Hamid Bador merely exposed the festering wound of the Umno body politik.

Former inspector-general of police Abdul Hamid Bador

I mean, people thought it was business as usual in 2018 when the Australian police froze the account of a high-level state security officer on suspicion of money laundering or the proceeds of a crime.

Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director (at the time) Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd denied wrongdoing but claimed that it would be too expensive for court action to retrieve the money.

Umno political operatives benefiting from a system of corruption is nothing new, of course. In 2013, former Kota Raja Umno chief Amzah Umar denied any wrongdoing when it came to the land grab scandal in Shah Alam, offering this justification for what were essentially corrupt practices:

“We give a seven percent discount for bumiputera buyers and 12 percent for Umno members if I am not mistaken.”

And (the cherry on this moist corrupt cake): “What scandal? It is all in the plan. You can check with Majlis Bandar Shah Alam, the state government or the district officer, everything is in order.”

What we are talking about here is a mentality that seeps right down from top to bottom.

To understand this mentality, all we have to do is listen to a Bersatu operative talk about Umno and funding for election purposes: “It’s true (this Umno mentality) as the majority of party members are formerly from Umno, so they don’t only physically join Bersatu but bring their attitudes with them.”

When I think of corruption, I think of a kid like Teoh Beng Hock, who was murdered while political operatives from Umno went on with their plunder and had the audacity to scream that they are the defenders of race and religion.

I think about the numerous deaths in custody and keep seeing the parents of these murdered young people holding up their pictures and asking for investigations.

So you see, when we talk about Umno’s corruption, we are really talking about a history of corruption.

This is a historical movie that would never be made. - Mkini

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S THAYAPARAN is a commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.