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To see UMNO dodder, you should have been at this wedding

DATO' SERI ANWAR IBRAHIM IS irrelevant in Malaysian politics. So believes the Malaysian government, the National Front (BN), UMNO, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. They have not wavered in this belief his conviction and incarcertation for what smacks of political vendetta than criminal intent. He is finished, they repeat ad nauseum, like sembayang hajat, the collective Muslim prayer for a desigened purpose. Yet when his eldest daughter, Nurul Izzah, was married to a Shell engineer, Raja Ahmad Shahrir Iskandar bin Raja Salim, over the weekend at his home in Kuala Lumpur, UMNO stalwarts, several who once believed Dato' Seri Anwar should remain in prison, were on hand to celebrate it. One cabinet minister was there, several sultans, the King of Thailand, the President of the Philippines sent presents and representatives. Dr Mahathir's redoubtable and irrepressible octogenarian sister-in-law, Datin Zaleha Ali, in her wheel chair, was there too. What must anger Dr Mahathir is that several prominent Malaysians asked to attend, and did.

The courts had requested the Attorney-General, Dato' Seri Abdul Ghani Patail, on Friday to make arrangements for Dato' Seri Anwar to be present that evening and on the other two days of the wedding ceremonies. He agreed, so no order was made, and telephoned the Home Ministry's secretary-general, Tan Sri Aseh Che Mat, then in Dubai. The prisons department agreed but the police only if no more than 250 relatives were allowed. Five truckloads of prisons officers arrived with Dato' Seri Anwar at 4.30 pm for the 'akad nikah'. Four of five times more people were outside for a glimpse of the man. The simple ceremony over, he remained for another two hours before he returned to his cell at Sungei Buloh prison. But he did not return: The police would not allow him without a court order.

This churlishness is proof yet BN and UMNO politicians in charge, shocked by the crowds on the first day, pulled the plug to defy even the courts. It did not go down well amongst the guests. UMNO sources tell me the leaders did not want him to meet the foreign gues and ambassadors. But it revealed only the BN's, particularly UMNO's, terror of the man's continued popularity and support even in UMNO. The wedding, in many ways, rejuvenated the family and his supporters. And a more political success than UMNO's 57th anniversary gathering at the Stadium Merdeka, raised more questions about UMNO's direction than Dato' Seri Anwar's. As one UMNO stalwart told me: "Those of us at the wedding told Dato' Ser Anwar, if not in words then by our presence, what his enemies did to him would sink them all."

At the UMNO bash, the Prime Minister talked, disjointedly and seemingly out of focus, on his favourite topic: the ungratefulness of the Malay. Many in UMNO caused disunity when they could not get what they want from UMNO or the government. "They are dissatisfied. They forget that the struggle is not over and that we have to face breater challenges in the future," he told reporters. Selfishness is out for the UMNO member, they join UMNO so they could strengthen the party, religion and country, but not the selfishness that pervades through his cabinet, indeed himself. Did the cabinet and he have any thought for religion, for instance, when it authorised a casino licence for his super-crony, one Tan Sri Vincent Tan, who we are told is an important Malaysian business man?. His speech showed he does not know he has lost his grip. The greatest favour to himself, if not the nation, is to retire now. He now reveals, without realising it, to Malaysia and the world his ship of state is rudderless, taking in water, and officers ready to plunge into the icy cold waters as it heads for an iceberg.

The contrast was revealing. In one, the wedding was an occasion for the faithful to renew their struggle, in the name of the Opposition and the father of the bride; in the other, unity had to be fused and welded by threats and fear which none, in any case, feared. Dato' Seri Anwar did not have to speak, or indeed be present, to show all was well. Dr Mahathir had to wield the big stick and threaten. The Prime Minister-six-months-hence was all but ignored. The good doctor hopes in vain that a duex et machina would bring forth someone else. And this at an UMNO gathering to praise the heavens for UMNO, where he told all UMNO members they should not be selfish or ungrateful for what UMNO provides!

The wedding attracted more UMNO members of standing than Dr Mahathir is comfortable with. The titans of industry were, in person and spirit. The two top heads of Petronas was there, as were several who would be embarrassed to be singled out. It is possibile that Dato' Seri Anwar, in a deft political touch, sent out invitations to his former friends in UMNO, putting them in a dilemma. Only one decided that friendship was as important as a place in the cabinet. In one sense, those at the wedding showed that political opponents could still be friends. Dato' Seri Anwar saw this wedding as much a political statement as the first wedding of his children. And he pulled it off. At the UMNO bash, the leaders could not distinguish friend from foe within the same party. The 40,000 crowd had to be seduced, with money, hotel and travel, to attend, in the usual rent-a-crowd fashion. In contrast, the four-hour open house, the third day, had to be extended by several hours as visitors, many from UMNO, streamed in in groups.

It reveals an inevitable dilemma. The BN and UMNO is in retreat, their leaders know not how to stop the rot. The opposition is re-energised with the near mystical influence of Dato' Seri Anwar. One prominent PAS leader told all who would listen at the wedding that Dato' Seri Anwar's jailing helped PAS to power in Trengganu. And would help PAS to power, or dramatic gains, in Kedah, Perlis, Pahang, Selangor. The BN and UMNO, on the other hand, insists the law must take its course, and no compromises are possible. So long as the BN holds to that view, it is the Opposition that would benefit. A hundred yards of the road was blocked and gaily caparisoned and decorated. The neigbours opened their doors to provide space for the tables.

When Malaysia was declared an Islamic state by fiat, not by constitutional amendement, it act focussed politics on the Malay parties: UMNO and PAS. It revealed one electoral quirk which now frightens UMNO: in a straight fight, whoever wins is a Malay. Should PAS win a majority of Malay seats and UMNO does not do as well, the non-Malay political parties, now more of an irrelevance than ever, would switch loyalties to the Malay party in power. With the non-Malay parties in BN moribund, this could well forth pressure groups within the non-Malays which could hold the balance of power in elections to come. And UMNO has the addred difficulty of strengthening the non-Malay parties without alienating the Malay agenda. Even BN non-Malay political party leaders now see the realities of less support than ever. It sobers PAS and its leaders to accept it cannot attain power, except in the traditional Malay states, without non-Malay and non-Islamic support.

All this has little to do with the wedding of a young firebrand on the hustings and her Cambridge-educated engineer. They met when she arrived in London as a firebrand to energise Malaysian students in the United Kingdom. As she recounted, at the wedding reception, their eyes met, their hearts opened, and 18 months later are united in holy wedlock. It also set the prop for her father to show he is still one to be reckoned with, wheel-chair stricken he may be. And with a panache that detracted not from the gaiety at the wedding. I am uncertain which he is prouder of! It is well nigh impossibe to merge a political statement with a wedding, but his stock as father of the bride and political leader could not be higher.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my