MGG Pillai Commentary View

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Much ado about nothing, the BN way

THE SOPHISTRY WITH WHICH the National Front (BN) spins its web is astounding. It rewrites its rules and plans whenever it hits a snag or block, without consultation or debate. It stands for elections, on behalf of its members, holds court in state assemblies and parliament, in state and federal governments, in which party affiliations disappear. In practice, this is not so. UMNO dominates it, but UMNO, MCA, MIC and its members do not stand for election. They stand on the BN banner. But in the BN scheme of things, the BN is only useful at general elections. At all other times, it is the individual political parties which decide. The BN is ignored at all times. Its secretary-general is an UMNO politician whose sell by date is lost in the mists of time. It has no role but to rubber stamp whatever UMNO decides. UMNO, you will recall, is a political party which has the interests of the people. So it does not take decisions within the narrow Malay interest. So it orders the BN to announce the policies. While what UMNO wants, UMNO gets.

Individual parties do what they like. Whether they get away with it depends on whether UMNO is weak or not. UMNO is now week. UMNO is now weak. Its president, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, steps down on 31 October 2003, and intends to hold office until the last possible minute, on the stroke of midnight on that day. His successor, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is on notice that if he behaves as Prime Minister before his time, he could yet be a deputy prime minister who never made it. When Dr Mahathir should now be counting the days before his retirement, and let Pak Lah take over in all but name, he shows he has no such intention. He is now frightened of the prospect of UMNO losing its marbles when he leaves. A crazy group of his cronies believe he must be allowed to remain in office, mainly because they feel, quite rightly, the gravy train will stop when he leaves.

So when the BN should have lifted the suspension of the two MCA state assemblymen, it was the MCA Presidential Council which did. It caught BN and UMNO leaders off guard. The UMNO president said nothing. The deputy president, in Tokyo on an official visit as Malaysian deputy prime minister, is caught offguard. He told reporters the MCA should inform BN, and hoped it had discussed it with the Penang BN chief and state chief minister, Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon. He put a brave front: he had no objection "as the lifting of the suspension is for the good of all". What he said nothing, and one hopes he is not as weak as he displays.

The two BN state assemblymen, both from MCA with one who defected from Gerakan, were suspended seven months ago when they abstained on an Opposition DAP motion against the RM1.2 billion Penang Outer Ring Road (PORR) scheme, as usual an ill-thought out BN scheme to alleviate Penang's massive road transport problems, caused by an earlier ill-thought plan. The only beneficiaries in this waste of public funds is the BN politician, usually from UMNO, and some individual parties in BN. There is now another crazy attempt to build a second road link, this time underwater, to link the mainland with Penang.

Understandably, there is much public disquiet. The two state assemblymen abstained. What angered the BN was this was an orchestrated revolt by the MCA to force the BN to return the chief ministership of Penang it lost in 1969 back to it. The then MCA president, Dr Ling, thought he could. It backfired. He did not understand that there is more to political strength than the Prime Minister's support. He disturbed the hornet's nest. In the BN code of listening to the people, this is heresy and treachery. If Torquemada was a Malaysian, lived in the 20th century, and the BN disciplinary board chairman, he would have deviced a special form of torture for the pair. He is not. Pak Lah is. He suspended the pair from the party, removed privileges and perks BN elected representatives have with others do not, were confined to limbo and could not look after their constituents. When the interests of the BN and the people collide, BN elected officials are required to desert the people.

But with general elections approaching, this suspension could not last. Instead of discussing this with the BN and doing it the proper way, the MCA Presidential Council decided on a frolic of its own: it lifted the suspension, taking everyone by surprise. It is an open secret Pak Lah and the MCA President, Dato' Seri Ong Ka Ting have serious differences between them. Dato' Seri Ong believes he can force the pace because UMNO is weak, Pak Lah so weak that he cannot oppose his dictates for the damage that could cause BN. It is dangerous to assume that. Pak Lah is tested. He must act firmly. One view is that Dato' Seri Ong behaves so because he, like his predecessor, believes Dr Mahathir is with him. That could well be. But what use is that support on 01 November 2003?

In short, Dato' Seri Ong was wrong to force the ante. He should have gone through the motions of BN support for what he did. For what he did annoys the ground. He ensured the Ling factions held on to power by ignoring the Lim faction. He calls for unity when his actions belie his disinterest. He warned the MCA Youth leader, Dato' Ong Tee Keat, and gave him a last chance. Dato' Ong insists he stands by what he said. What is Dato' Seri Ong going to do? Suspend him? Expel him? Ignore him? It does not matter what he did, even if he choses to ignore the defiance, he is cornered. With Pak Lah angry, the MCA ground in turmoil, his highminded hopes for the community mere rhetoric, the ground moving away, his stewardship of the MCA flounders. In one stroke, he threw Pak Lah on the mat, showed the BN to be a toothless coalition, showed the MCA split is unresolved. He lays the quagmire for for Pak Lah to sink. Could he get away with this? Not, if Pak Lah makes it clear, in action and words, that those who undermine the BN would be out. Would he? Could he? Dare he? On that hangs the future of not just the BN but all its members.

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