MGG Pillai Commentary View

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The BN is firmly committed to nothing if it can help it

THE NATIONAL FRONT (BN) IS IN DIRE straits. Its main party, UMNO, is in shambles. Its long-time president, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, who is also Prime Minister, leaves the party worse than ever. But he cannot let Malaysians know of it. So spurious issues are raised to mask the quagmire UMNO is in. No one is prepared to address the causes of that quagmire, one man in a wheelchair in Sungei Buloh. So they find other issues as a smokescreen. What afflicts UMNO spread to the BN. Dr Mahathir has warned, in a front page banner headline in The New Straits Times today (09 July 2003), BN election candidates must first list their assets; if they did not, or to avoid it transferred their assets to "someone else", they would take action.

Those who conceal assets are cheats. How does he propose to deal with them? Dismiss them from the party? No. That is only for those who buy votes or cheat in party elections. Only if millions of ringgit are involved. And the man is not a prominent fellow. Report the fellow to the police? What good would that do? Would the police act? When Dr Mahathir finishes his term as UMNO president in four months, and his successor may not have the same concern for such cheating as Dr Mahathir in search of an issue? Does it matter?

The important thing is that the Old Man has spoken and no one would dare challenge or criticise him on what he says. He says, as the NST reports, "cheating could happen if a suggestion to make it compulsory for candidates to declare their assets was implemented. See how he says it with the firmness for which he is reputed: "It may happen, and if we find out later that the candidates has cheated us, then we will take action. This is such a burning issue in BN politics these days that reporters were only raring to ask what happens if the assets were transferred to family members. Why is this now an issue? Wealthy BN state assemblymen, with their "opulent" lifestyles "could jeopardise the coalition's chances in the general election.

How did this come about? Last week, the Pahang mentri besar, Dato' Seri Adnan Yaakob, to divert attention from the casino mess he is in, said "people did not like their 'wakil rakyat' showing off their wealth". If they did, he warned, they would not be candidates in the general election. What about those who, like the second finance minister, Dato' Seri Jamaluddin Jarjis, put at risk the BN's electoral chances in the state by allowing virtual casino licences to the super crony, Tan Sri Vincent Tan? They do not flaunt their wealth, so how do they come within this new restriction for candidates? To continue, the Prime Minister said the UMNO constitution need not be amended, "this is only an administrative matter". The UMNO secretary-general, Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob, any proposal like this must first be discussed by the party leaders. But if it is made, "it is a good thing".

What have we learnt so far? The BN is in fear of PAS and the Opposition in the next election where corruption is a main issue. The BN is already in dire straits, caused by a defiant former BN leader in Sungei Buloh. That defiance has energised the Malay, the BN's traditional support, to move away from UMNO and BN, demand questions neither would answer, and vote for PAS, BA, and other opposition parties. That is not good for BN and its parties. That must be put right. The simple way is not good enough. The complicated irrelevant way is the only way to go. So let us focus on corruption amongst the candidates. So a BN sideshow. To tell the Malay voters that UMNO is an Islamic party, has a better record than PAS, and since its candidates have to list their assets and PAS candidates do not, they are a better bet. If UMNO does it, should BN. Suddenly, in BN's view, its candidates are beyond reproach.

If all this does not make sense, it is not meant to. When a BN leader makes any suggestion, it must be accepted as a thunderbolt from Mount Olympus. Not to be questioned. If you do, then like Zeus, Dr Mahathir would throw a thunderbolt at you. How dare you suggest Dr Mahathir has amnesia or senility? Don't you know he only talks of what is achievable? He said Putra Jaya will be built. It is. The KL twin towers? It is. He abhors sodomy and corruption. He proved it by sending his own deputy prime minister to jail. So now he wants clean candidates. He will get it. If the candidates are not corrupt, they bathe daily, or at least I think they do. That should be clean enough. So, has BN ever fielded any one who is not clean? So why this talk now of such irrelevancies as demanding a list of assets and the like?

Especially, when all this is irrelevant to the larger issue. The UMNO succession is fraught with uncertainty. There is little love lost between the retiree and the successor. The handover must be with as much superficial amity as can be maintained. It is damaging to show that all is not well. So come out with statements of intent, with no intention to carry them out. For if this is made seriously, and Dr Mahathir means what he says, the BN would not have enough candidates to go around. That cannot happen. So what would happen is to make an example of or two candidates in constituencies they would certainly lose - in Rusila or the BN candidate in Bukit Bintang, for instance - and tell the world BN means business.

What does all this mean? That BN would have a slate of candidates who would put to shame all others? Or would these candidates present a clean face when they have reached to where they are, their bespoke suits covering the corruption they are bathed in? It is more. It is yet another attempt by the BN to overcome the fallout from how UMNO destroyed and humilitated its deputy president, one Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The BN is not prepared to resolve that.

Whatever else it does now is not enough. Indeed, it would not even help if the BN releases Dato' Seri Anwar from prison now. The time for that is past. UMNO and BN is in a different setback now: on Mondy, the question of bail for Dato' Seri Anwar is argued in the Federal Court. If he is granted bail or not, the losers are the BN and UMNO. If he is allowed bail, he could not, under any circumstance, be returned to prison. BN and UMNO leaders now realise it. So it resorts to such irrelevant programmes to show it is a party to vote for. Whether the voters would agree if the central problem is unresolved is another matter. Meanwhile, all BN candidates might as well start preparing their list of assets.

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