MGG Pillai Commentary View

<< Previous || Next >>

Could Pak Lah and UMNO continue to reject the other Malay view?

ONE YEAR IN OFFICE, and the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, flounders but continues to take on more tasks than he could do justice, insists all do as he says, not as he does. When his leadership beckons, he palms it off with platitudes and demands for which no one, not even his immediate staff, care for. The deadwood UMNO-led National Front (BN) cabinet of warlords and incompetents withers from within, made worse by the four shibboleths that controls it, as in politics and the civil service: Malay fanaticism, Islamic extremism, corruption and incompetence. As his hold loosens, he is held to ransom by a motley collection of UMNO warlords, growing anger from within his political heartland, his missteps in foreign policy, notably how handles talks with Singapore, his own short attention span, his refusal to address problems. He came to office weak, but every attempt to right that went awry, and he is weaker than ever.

Now he has a more difficult problem on his hands. Parliament is up in arms over yet another rise in toll rates on the North South Expressway. The National Front (BN) MPs demanded to know why when traffic has risen eight times, and the concession is more profitable than it had planned for. The works minister, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, was at a loss for words at the unexpected ferociousness when he was questioned by BN – UMNO – MPs, and angered them the more when he shifted blame for it to the cabinet which approved the charges to absolve him and his ministry, that the government cannot go on subsidising toll payers but would not release to the House the concession agreements, totally one-sided to benefit the concessionaires, which allows them to be recompensed if the toll rate increases are not met on time. But he forgot one important point: that he cannot blame others for what happens in his watch.

Parliament cannot question the concession agreement; indeed it has not seen it. Dato' Seri Samy treats it as an unecessary irritation and irrelevance and comes before it as an arrogant teacher would regard a class of unruly idiots. It worked when the prime minister of the day thought so too, and backed him. But who came after him wants to be a man for all seasons, but knows not how. His own hold of UMNO and the BN government is suspect. UMNO endorsed him only conditionally. He could have moved smartly ahead with a pruned cabinet of workhorses; instead he lets matters slide, the cabinet no more than his rubber stamp, and buffeted by party warlords in the centre and in the states. In typical Malay fashion, the attacks are concentrated on his weakest link. Which is why Dato' Seri Samy fights for his political life. Pak Lah should have dropped him when he took office, but dared not. The BN parties choose their own representatives to the cabinet, he says. But when the BN parties agree to so many other unchangeables being changed, does that now hold?

What it reveals is a dysfunctional BN government, frozen in terror of what may happen, in near rigor mortis when the former UMNO deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, after his release from prison, quickly takes over as a politician who knows what he does, raises issues and possible solutions with a verve not seen even during the Mahathir years. What he says is mundane, run of the mill, nothing new but he says it loudly and clearly. Instead of taking him on, UMNO leaders take fright and mumble incoherently. When he plays his political games, like his call on Pak Lah during Hari Raya, UMNO is in shell shock. The deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, rushes to mend his fences against what he sees as a redoubled Pak Lah effort to destroy him. But Pak Sheikh has no desire to rejoin the UMNO from he was ignominiously expelled or be a part of the insane political mudfights its leaders are engaged in.

All this highlights is UMNO's schizophrenic and chosen path to self-destruct. And looks to attack those it believes it can. It chose Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin's website, www.malaysia-today.net. Several articles and discussions question the fundamental bases of Malaysia, the role of Islam, and other politically contentious issues that by law are declared seditious. One questioned the right of Muslims preachers to attack other religions in their Friday prayers. But instead of attacking him and his website openly, it uses newspapers and religious leaders to do the mudslinging. Dato' Seri Najib kicked the ball first to insist to insist none should openly debate if Muslims could slander the followers of other religions, and promised to investigate the site, "Malaysia Today". The Federal Territory mufti, Dato' Mohamed Yusof Hussain, invites Raja Petra over to show how he deviates from Islam and he could help him return to the fold. But instead of inviting him, he used the mid-morning Malay tabloid, Harian Metro, in the New Straits Times stable to reply. But his intent was incendiary, not resolution. But Raja Petra has now come with a serious of questions on his website that he wants Dr Yusof to answer in Harian Metro before he would meet him.

But what Raja Petra complains of is true. Non-Malays living in the vicinity of mosques in Kuala Lumpur hear this call to arms against the non-Muslims through high-pitches megaphones often enough to be dismissed as untrue. I suspect Dr Yusof is annoyed a Muslim has spilled the beans; if a non-Muslim had done so, he could be ignored. Perhaps Dr Yusof should also tell us if Christmas carols mentioning Jesus should be banned at a Christmas party organised by the government. Was there a ban? Of course there was. Father OC Lim, who questioned it, is too senior in the Roman Catholic Church, and not a high Muslim cleric, to shoot his mouth off. The minister had to step in to defuse it, and insist it was only a suggestion. But that only proves what Raja Petra said. This fracas is another example of Islamic extremism.

The political reaction is even more bizarre. "We will investigate who is responsible for this website, and action will be taken as we cannot allow such websites to sow seeds of hatred among the people of different races and religions." So says Dato' Seri Najib. The import of what he says is more frightening: the people cannot, but the muftis and Islamic religious can sow religious hatred. He misses the point why sensitives issues should not be discussed. It was taken at a time when Malaysia had had its race riots, and some form of legal inhibition was needed to prevent the races from going at each other's throats. A generation later, it is kept in place to threaten any discussion of political issues that threatens to break this federation apart. The best thing that has happened to the Malaysian body politic is the ideological infighting within the Malay community that allows this debate. The government cannot ban it. It looks the other way instead of asking why Sabahans and Sarawakians regard themselves as second-class citizens in Malaysia and if they should not consider secession for their own future. It should instead inquire into this anger in the two Borneo states.

These laws were passed at a time when the Malay elite moved to political stardom by attacking and politically marginalising the non-Malays. When that Malay elite is split down the middle, it cannot any more. When the government threatens perdition and worse, if this persists, it loses the battle. As now. When the other Malay faction is led by credible people prepared to stand their ground, the ruling Malay elite gives up the ghost and looks for other battles to fight and lose. This is what has happened in this tawdry campaign against those who has a different point of view. It fails because there are Malays who will stand up and look the government in the eye. The non-Malays are but shadows in this battle, their roles insignificant and ignored. The Malay elite in power cannot now hide behind non-Malay cabinet ministers to hide their shortcomings. So Dato' Seri Samy is held to account by UMNO MPs to get at their leaders. Pak Lah can buy time only if he drops the man from his cabinet. But the Malay elite on the other side, having tasted blood, then would bay for more blood. It is not pleasant for Pak Lah, but he is the author of his own misfortune.

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