Umno must be reborn, again, for Malays to be truly free

As we celebrate 66 years of the independence of Malaya (or what’s now Peninsular Malaysia – must be careful about these things nowadays), interesting scenarios are unfolding, some unthinkable on that 31st day of August in 1957.

Umno, the moving force of our fight for independence and which was so dominant in the decades after, is now on life support or perhaps it’s already become what the Malays call “bangkai bernyawa” – a living corpse.

How the mighty have fallen. Many have called for the heads of the current leaders, although it’s a big question whether they would actually succeed.

I was an Umno member once. My parents, stalwarts of Umno in our kampung, registered me the moment I became eligible. Back then that seemed a natural part of life for a kampung Malay.

In the early 70s, I cheered upon hearing of Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s appointment as education minister. It felt like we finally had a true champion who would lift the Malays out of the abyss we saw ourselves in then.

Then he became prime minister. Thanks to him, we enjoyed the respect and admiration of the world’s developing countries. I travelled to places where being Malaysian earned praise for being from a country that was a “hero” of the third world. It was nice basking in the reflected glory.

Unfortunately, the point of one’s greatest triumph is often when the seed of one’s destruction is sown. For Mahathir there was always only one way, his way or the highway. It became all about power plays and a wounded ego that brooked no checks and balances.

We didn’t address the thorny issue of race, nor strengthen the guardrails of democracy such as an independent judiciary and an apolitical public service, nor focus on our responsibilities and the hard work that still lay ahead of us, rather than just on our rights and privileges.

Corruption, cronyism, unfettered powers of elected (and non-elected) officials and sheer profiteering from the nation’s wealth became the norm.

So much money ended up in the pockets of dishonest and opportunistic people, both Malays and non-Malays, instead of being spent to help the needy, Malays and non-Malays alike.

The Malay people would have been helped if we had a rigorous education system focused on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), morality, civic consciousness and excellence. But that became a highly politicised football.

Mahathir understood the importance of STEM, English and culture (remember the Look East policy?), but didn’t do enough to protect them against the small conniving minds in his party.

We rushed into industrialisation by setting up huge companies to make steel and cars, but reaped no benefit because none of those managed to stand on their own, much less thrive. We squandered so much in trying to join the “developed nations” club, one that Mahathir both loathed and yet ironically longed to join.

His successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, while a decent and inoffensive man, didn’t do much to change direction. He understood the importance of agriculture over unfettered industrialisation, but lacked the will and vigour to push his strategies to fruition, if you’ll pardon the expression.

Then came Najib Razak. Things looked promising in the beginning but we ended up as a laughing stock of the world, including much of the third world that we aspired to lead, with thievery on a scale hardly seen anywhere else.

Najib has ended up in prison, but he was succeeded by equally inept, if perhaps more honest, prime ministers, with a nation now even more divided than before.

Just days ago, yet another of those Umno jokers set up yet another political NGO to yet again “save the Malay race”. Such comical endeavours, coming after decades of dumbing down the Malays and scaring the wits out of them using race and religion, are merely distractions from the failure of those leaders to create a strong, independent and economically self-sustaining community of Malays, even as their erstwhile “champions” did themselves very well.

Ironically, even as we accumulated more wealth from the public coffers, while giving ourselves more power to compel others to do our bidding, the greater the fears and insecurities sprung from deep within our psyche.

I haven’t heard a single Malay politician dare say that the goal of affirmative action is to no longer need further affirmative action, or avoid trying to claim the crutch of affirmative action as a right that is ours forever.

I see many Malays who are the equal of others in every aspect but yet harbour doubts, insecurity and display a lack of confidence about playing on a level playing field, even though they’re perfectly well equipped to do so.

Many know deep inside that their privileged positions such as top jobs in GLCs and government-owned businesses and agencies, highly-paid sinecures as token board directors and chairs, leadership in the bureaucracy and politics have not been won through fair and rigorous competition.

This realisation deepens their insecurity and creates a defensiveness and aggressiveness in wanting to protect the status quo. Witness the current push to keep the 3R topics – matters regarding Race, Religion and Royalty – out of public debate, as these matters may raise uncomfortable questions about their own privileges.

Umno “died” once when in 1988 the High Court declared it illegal. Mahathir soon resurrected the party as “Umno (BARU)”, or New Umno, basically the same creature – parasites, cancer, warts and all – under a slightly different mask.

Perhaps Umno needs to really die for a truly new Umno Baru Baru to rise, one with the vision and idealism of the original Umno, but none of the baggage of insecurity, corruption and sense of entitlement.

If Umno’s members are not prepared to do that, if their positions and power (or whatever that’s left of them) are more important than the rakyat whom they are supposed to serve, then let them be buried at the next general election, for truly having brought such a fate upon themselves.

So here we are, celebrating Merdeka in that the British aren’t around to tell us what to do (and they seem clueless about what to do with their own country), but still shackled by our own feudal insecurity and fears.

It’s time for a new independence. Selamat Hari Merdeka. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.