Umno’s woes are not due to its alliance with DAP

 

From Clement Stanley

The author Stephen King should consider writing a new piece of horror fiction and call it “DAP in Malaysia”.

It could be the best horror story ever told, going by what was said by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin Yassin, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, Kedah menteri besar Sanusi Nor and even the NGO, Gerakan Pembela Ummah.

Now even a few Umno leaders have added their voices to the fray, calling on DAP to rethink its Malaysian Malaysia slogan and its place in the party’s constitution.

When it comes to King’s works, the public has a choice of reading his books, watching the films or neither. No one will insist or demand you do.

The same applies to some leaders in Umno. If you don’t like working with DAP for whatever reason, you do have the choice of resigning from the party.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and members of the supreme council have already decided that Umno’s loss of Malay support isn’t entirely down to DAP.

Umno has to do some serious soul searching. The defining question to ask is this: has Umno lost the support of the Malay community?

Has it ever dawned on the party’s leaders that it has grown apart from its grassroots and supporters slowly but surely over the past decade or two, even when Umno was not working with DAP?

How well did Umno perform in the previous two general elections, when it was not allied with DAP?

Umno leaders must accept that the party has lost much ground to PAS over the years. Just look at the statistics and not at DAP, and it will be plain to see. Umno leaders who can’t stand the heat best get out of the kitchen.

As for Mahathir, Hadi and Muhyiddin, they have nothing else to sell to their Malay audiences except to scare them by constantly demonising DAP, using race and religion and words such as “haram”.

Perhaps they would make ideal script writers for King’s next novel.

Our country is much maligned, divided by the politics of extremism, hate, suspicion and mistrust created by politicians who play on the unfounded fears of the public.

These constant political and divisive battles, which have been going on for far too long, have made it seem as if our nation is divided between Muslims and non-Muslims.

This is so very sad and definitely far from the truth. It does not help that Gerakan Pembela Ummah has added fuel to the fire by saying that state governments in Negeri Sembilan and Selangor should be formed by Malays only. Why? Is it a crime to have non-Malays and DAP as part of a state government?

This country could be spiralling out of control. Only fair minded and rational political leaders can bring back some form of stability and social justice to the system.

Sarawak and Sabah have such leaders in their midst. Just give them a larger voice by increasing their representation in parliament. - FMT

Clement Stanley is an FMT reader.

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