Fifty years after independence, the problems facing Malaysia has changed. But the country is governed as if they were not. The recent rally in Batu Pahat, Johore, to honour UMNO's president, Dato Onn bin Jaffar, was not as successful as the party had hoped. They could not draw crowds today that gathered 60 years ago to hear the UMNO founder. The irony of this was that after he left UMNO on principle in 1951 till his death in 1963 he was a non-person to the party. His son, Hussein Onn, became prime minister, and his grandson, Dato' Hussein Onn, is in the present cabinent. But nothing for the man in his liftime, or for 40 years after his death. Dato' Onn was a dato' because he was menteri besar of Johore, and was not given any Federal awards, which adorn many an irrelevelant figure in modern Malaysia, to add to those from from the various states. The UMNO leaders shed crocodile tears over Dato' Onn in organising the meeting in Batu Pahat. It is organising it for a narrow reason: the Malays do not support UMNO the political party as they did the nationalist organisatin Dato' Onn founded. UMNO today was founded in 1987, because the then President, Tun Mahathir Mohamed, did not want Tengku Razaleigh to challenge him in the future. There is of course a difference between a political party and a nationalist organisation, but UMNO today does not accept that.

DAT0' SIR ONN JAFFAR, Menteri Besar of Johore, UMNO's founding president, father of the prime minister, Tun Hussein Onn, grandfather of Dato' Hishamuddin Hussein, is also known for having got the Malay women of Malaysia to protest against the British plan to neutralise the Malay rulers. The British did not know what hit them. The National Archives is full of reports, written usually in amazement by British officials on the scene, of how the normally placid women protested against plans to remove the powers of the Sultans. The British officers did not know what to do, dare not allow a 'lathi charge' as they would have against the men. The normally apolitcal women were organised by Ibu Zain, who was given a Tan Sri in the 1980s because her daughter, who worked as a journalist for a while on the New Straits Times after she left the education service on a point of principle, would not accept any medal or title if none was given to her mother.

His enemies in UMNO wants to bar him permanently from joining the party. A resolution was introduced at last year's UMNO general assembly to do just that, but it was withdrawn when it was realised that three presidents of UMNO would not be allowed back. Two of them, Tengku Abdul Rahman and Tun Hussein Onn, both prime ministers, did not join UMNO the political party that Tun Mahathir set up; they were presidents on UMNO the nationalist movement. The prime minister of the day dictated what the average Malaysian will believe, but this would not happen now. ECM Libra and Mr Khairy is caught in this. Harakahdaily.com and Mr Husam will defend the ECM Libra action against them. That will at least clarify the law of defamation in Malaysia. If this case goes to court, at least the issues would be clarified.

This has grown worse over the years. The late Tun Hussein Onn, when prime minister, insisted that one political secretary was appointed to stay in, and look after, his constituency. The man was allowed to be in Kuala Lumpur only on Thursdays, when he had to report to the man about the constituency. He did such a good job that Tun Hussein was reputed to know his constituency well. And when he did, his political secretary succeed him, became a cabinet minister and retired to Kuala Lumpur. But he keeps his roots to the ground even now. But that is of the past. Few National Front politicians, not just ministers, do that now. The rare exception to this is the MIC leader, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, who goes to his constituency ever week when in the country, and gives his constituency goodies whethere it is needed or not.

His 22 years a prime minister should be remembers for putting Malaysia on the map economically, but he will do down in history as the man who arrested Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The rumour that Dato' Seri Anwar would be brought back into UMNO frightened him. But it appears it was not Pak Lah's suggestion but his son-in-law's. UMNO General Assembly last year decided on a resolution, brought by Tun Mahathir's men, that would have anyone who left UMNO, for whatever reason, would be a traitor and could not ever rejoin. It was meant for Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, but three of the six presidents – Dato' Sir Onn bin Jaffar, Tengku Abdul Rahman, Tun Hussein Onn – had resigned from UMNO in their lifetime, with the Tengku and Tun Hussein actively working against it and died outside it.

That alone is not enough. The days when he could catapault into the prime minister's chair is long past. Tun Hussein Onn got into high office because he was married to the elder sister of Tun Razak's wife. He entered the cabinet after 1969, and had become prime minister in 1976. The foreign minister was catapaulted into the cabinet, from his banking career, because UMNO leaders felt they had treated his father, Syed Jaffair Albar, "the Lion of UMNO", badly. Any one who feels he has a prior claim to the top will have to ward off UMNO leaders who have been in the party longer. In fact, UMNO has leaders who joined the party before Mr Khairy was born.

UMNO is therefore in a quandry. Tun Mahathir, after he retired as UMNO pesident, is still active in party politics. Although prime minister for 22 years, he is known in Malaysia and elsewhere not for the development Malaysia has made but as the man who sacked Dato' Seri Anwar. He must not let his rule go to waste because of it. He tried to bring a resolution at the UMNO General Assembly, through his friends, that would bar any who had left or expelled from UMNO to return. But it was hastily pulled out when it was found that the first four UMNO presidents were not members of UMNO Baru, as UMNO is formally known, when they died. UMNO today is a political party. The UMNO of old is a national movement that brought this country independence. UMNO today is trying to coast into office benefitting from UMNO the mass movement. The first four UMNO presidents - Dato' Sir Onn Jaffar (grandfather of the UMNO youth leader, Dato' Hishamuddin Hussein), Tengku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein (father of the Dato' Seri Najib) and Tun Hussein Onn (son of Dato' Onn and father of Dato' Seri Hishamuddin) - were not members of the present UMNO. Tengku Abdul Rahman and Tun Hussein died during Tun Mahathir's prime ministership without ever becoming members of UMNO Baru; in fact, they fought hard, unsuccessfully, against it.

THE GRAVE HAS BEEN DUG at the National Mosque, and those who went to the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur were told it is for the former deputy prime minister, Tun Ghafar Baba, now in Pantai hospital where is undergoing medical treatment. He is weak. He has been out of ICU for about ten days, and looks poorly. He may not survive his stay in hospital, as Tun Razak did not in a London hospital, but the officials have decided he would not return from hospital alive. But the grave. ghoulishly, had to be dug three times because the length of the grave each time not correct. The National Mosque has graves for six who laboured for Malaysian independence. The former deputy prime minister, Tun Ismail bin Abdul Rahman, was first, followed by the two prime ministers, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein and Tun Hussein Onn. The man who should be there and the first prime minister, Tengku Abdul Rahman, a member of the Kedah royal family, decided before this death that he would be buried at the royal family masouleum there. Another man, Dato' Sir Onn bin Jaffar, is not counted by the officials, and died a lonely death because he was in the opposition. His son, Tun Hussein Onn became prime minister, and his grandson, Dato' Hiihamudin, sits in the present cabinet. But Dato' Sir Onn, who was related to the Johore royal family, is buried at the royal masouleum in Johore Bahru.

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