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UMNO and corruption

UMNO's 55th GENERAL ASSEMBLY last week told us what we at the time did not know: its leaders, from the President down, are innocent, honest, upright, men with a ingrained aversion to corruption and other venalities of life that when talk is in the air of corruption, bribery, vote-buying, money politics – call it what you will – they are shocked it happens in UMNO. It could happen elsewhere, but not here. They aver piously and without a hint of embarrassment they know nothing of it, that delegates voted them for their service to the party, race and nation. They know nothing of the accusations of money politics and corruption for they do not, in truth, even know what it is. How could they when all they have in mind is the public good, and suffer, with insufficient recompense, in the service of UMNO, race and nation? If not their undiluted commitment to these altruistic belief, they would have been billionaires, not the multimillionaires they now are.

But could UMNO afford such upright leaders, when they do not understand the venal world around them, and shocked beyond belief when faced with the evidence? Some leaders could not understand why, in spite of loyal service of decades and undoubted popularity among the delegates and members, they were defeated, and cry foul. These failed leaders have found, to their utter shock, that they have been defeated by the forces of evil known in UMNO as money politics. In God's honour, they aver, they did not bribe or shorten the odds as their opponents, especially those who won, did.

Curiously, only the defeated claimed corruption led to their downfall. Four – former vice-president, Tan Sri Muhammad Taib; former supreme councillors, Dato' Seri Rais Yatim, Dato' Seri Adnan Yaakub, and Dato' Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadhir – insisted it was prevalent, and if unchecked cause UMNO's destruction, so deeply it inveigled into its culture. They see it in every pore of UMNO's political life. But it is a revelation to them of a different order: They, and the others who won and lost, were not circumspect about its prevalence. Not one, in the supreme council, cautioned the prevalence of corruption when they sat pretty and should have at least cautioned against it. But the UMNO supreme council is elected on a lie – that the elections were fair, that its members are elected for their stellar commitment to service to party, race and country – and anyone who challenges it is guilty of unspeakable crimes. In such times, discretion no doubt is the better part of valour.

This make-belief of innocence and incorruptibility is a cover for the corruption that is not too far beneath the skin. The newly-annointed president, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and the deputy president, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, inveighed corruption or, in UMNO-speak, money politics. With this comes the confident insistence that those who backed them in the new supreme council are pure as the driven snow; and those who eschewed the results were not. This convoluted logic now insists delegates do not know what corruption is, they are lambs led to slaughter, so it must be clearly defined. All have jumped on the bandwagon to re-invent the wheel.

But this fig leaf or corruption is to draw the debate away from the real issues. It is hurting the leaders who cannot refute the allegations for fear of drawing attention upon them. The deafening silence is astounding. Pak Lah said he has spies to ferret corruption amongst candidates and delegates. They could not find a single case of corruption. The UMNO disciplinary committee cannot therefore act. But if the spies had on the eve of party elections visited every hotel where delegates stayed, they would have discovered the control rooms of the candidates where delegates (and others) had only to visit for RM1,000 and more. It is strange that these spies did not know of this. Unless, of course, they are as Gandhian in their personal habits as the elected leaders that they thought candidates only doled ang pows to those who want them, as it is at Hari Rayas, Chinese New Years and Deepavalis. How could they assume such good deeds as corruption?

The election result is not to Pak Lah's liking. The one obvious winner is his deputy president, whose men dominate the supreme council. Pak Lah could possibly overcome this by appointing the ten supreme councillors in his gift. But it may not be enough. The new supreme council is a veritable agglomeration of factions, the likes of which it has not seen. Most of these are aligned to Dato' Seri Najib. There is no guarantee, in this uncertainty, if the ten he appoints would stay loyal to Pak Lah. This is the crisis in UMNO. It is complicated by other factors, especially two men uninvolved in this political confrontation: Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim. One takes a patrician view of the shenanigans beneath him, the other arouses much sympathy and respect despite having been expelled from UMNO and told to forget – which he has before it did – he is banned for ever.

So, it is two factions fighting for control: that of Pak Lah and Dato' Seri Najib. Who wins this cannot sleep in peace until they form links with other factions, but so long as Tengku Razaleigh and Dato' Seri Anwar stay above the battle, UMNO will continue to be an active volcano. The official statements of propriety and probity should be seen in this light. The two factions are seeking the support of the delegates and members by discounting the other. This confrontation is in secret and quiet. If it is fought in the glare of publicity – in Malaysia, that is not difficult when the mainstream press, radio and television would highlight the faults of Dato' Seri Najib if it did, and the under-rated political and internet websites would discuss it in full – it could well destroy UMNO.

That neither wants. So, this campaign against corruption is a sidehow. How true is it? That it exists is beyond doubt. Rumours of individual candidates spending RM20 million are rife. The Pahang mentri besar, Dato' Seri Adnan Yaakub, talks of RM2,000 a vote; the information minister, Dato' Seri Abdul Kadhir Sheikh Fadhir, swears in the name of Allah he never has bribed, never would, but that others did and do; the former UMNO vice-president and Selangor mentri besar, Tan Sri Muhammed Taib, swears it is prevalent; the heritage and arts minister, Dato' Seri Rais Yatim, insists money politics is corruption, and the anti-corruption agency must step in.

You can dismiss them as sore losers, but what they say has more than a bushel of grains of truth. If Pak Lah meant what he said, he could have upped the ante and offer, say, RM10,000 and more to the bribed delegates to testify before the UMNO disciplinary committee. He should use his corrupters to snare the other corrupters. In the moral climate UMNO is awash in, both are acceptable. And he would find many takers. He is not the innocent he is postured to be. He knows the rules. He used power to the hilt during the general elections and his rise to the UMNO presidency. He should now. But would he?

[I wrote this for Malaysia Today (www.malaysia-today.net) today, 30 September 2004]

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com