MGG Pillai Commentary View

<< Previous || Next >>

What you see is not what is

THE UMNO YOUTH DEPUTY LEADER, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, said in Sabah the former deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, is irrelevant to the politics there. That was the only news in the English language newspapers in West Malaysia, in effect all the newspapers which double as the National Front's publicity organs. But it had the opposite reaction. That he himself is irrelevant in Sabah is of course not mentioned. When the opposition is irrelevant, and someone high in National Front says it, the coded message, which most Malaysians know, is that it is not. Dato' Seri Anwar had a successful tour there. He gathered large crowds, and what he had to say was reported there, particularly in the Daily Express. The National Front owns all the newspapers there too, and opposition candidates in the past are known to be locked up or restrained from filing nomination papers so that the National Front candidate can be returned unopposed. But politics in Sabah is also changing.

The National Front goverment in Sabah headed by Dato' Musa Aman of UMNO is, to the Sabahan, a colonial government, and Kuala Lumpur a colonial capital. No explanation it is not by West Malaysian National Front politicians will change that. So Mr Khairy, as a colonial representative, is irrelevant, and his denials are for the benefit of West Malaysians, not Sabahans. What UMNO leaders from West Malaysia say in Sabah is often published in West Malaysian newspapers but not in Sabah. West Malaysians as a rule read of opposition doings only when UMNO leaders rebut or refute. In the Pengkalen Pasir byelection, in Kelantan, in December 2005, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim drew large crowds, but it was dismissed, and unreported, although a National Front, usually UMNO, rebuttal by UMNO often was. The National Front looks over its shoulders to see what the opposition – usually PAS and Dato' Seri Anwar – is thinking or doing, before it makes its move. When it does not, as in the passing of Islamic bills in Parliament or allowing the religious affairs department to bury a non-Muslim as a Muslim, all hell breaks loose.

What annoys the National Front in Sabah is that several of its leaders want to join the Parti Keadilan Sabah, whose president is Dato' Seri Anwar's wife, Datin Seri Wan Aziz binti Dato' Wan Ismail. The Sabah unit operate on its own, and is seen as a Sabah party not a West Malaysian clone. It is credible in the state. Dato' Seri Anwar's presence in Sabah has given the party a fillip, and this worries the National Front. As it worried the Malaysian Chinese Association that more than 1,000 of its members had joined PKR in Penang last week. Its leaders issued a statement that they were of no consequence, they were not members, they were bankrupts. But MCA leaders were in Penang up to the night before to persuade them not to leave! It was also the largest gathering of Chinese that PKR had attracted, short of its dinners. To often the blow, the New Straits Times reported that the DAP, almost all Chinese members, would not join an opposition coalition!!

Dato' Seri Anwar, who left for the United States on the night of 14 January 2006, has decided he would be in the Opposiion. He would have rejoined UMNO but his re-entry is an issue. At the last UMNO general assembly, a resolution, hastily withdrawn, would have barred any who left the party rejoining as he would be a traitor if he left. It was meant to affect only Dato' Seri Anwar, but three of UMNO's six presidents, two of whom prime ministers, would be affected by the resolution. On the practical side, many in power in UMNO do not want him in to climb to the top on their shoulders, and then be cut off from the mainstream. He did that once, and lightning, as they say, do not strike twice in the same place. UMNO cannot live with him, nor live without him! But he has thrown in his lot with the opposition, though not which party. But he flies the flag for PKR for the moment, although he does not – indeed, cannot – hold office yet.

He was an UMNO apparatchik when in office, and many in the party and elsewhere, remember him as that. He would therefore have a rough ride back. He is definitely not welcome in UMNO. He was talked of as a potential president of PAS, but that is talk for the moment. He speaks to them, to their leaders, he was invited to DAP's retreat recently, he keeps his options open. That worries many in the National Front and the opposition. But he is a politician with a following of his own. When he moves, many of his personal followers will move with him. That includes those who are with the other parties, including the National Front. He is 58, of the same generation as Pak Lah, eight years older and a distant relative. The two are from Penang, and a political rivalry naturally exists. When Pak Lah was foreign minister, one of his political moves in Penang was to keep Dato' Seri Anwar out. That has not changed, although Mr Khairy was squiring Anwar's daughter when he met, and later married, Pak Lah's.

He can be a dangerous opponent. If he has firmed with the opposition, as he appears to have, it spells danger for UMNO. But it addresses the threat amateurishly. It speads the news, by deed and words, that the opposition is split. It shows the opposition to be incapable of uniting. The irony is that the opposition is prepared to unite at a time when UMNO is not. The inflighting within UMNO between the Pak Lah faction and his deputy's is a sign that UMNO is not united. At least that is how Malaysians view it. It is no use therefore saying the opposition is disunited. Or the National Front, especially UMNO, united superficially during the occasional byelections, is when it is not. Politics in Malaysia has gone beyond that. It cannot say Malaysia is Islamic because the non-Muslims in the National Front back the move. But they are at odds with their communities for that. Besides the National Front and its lead party still accept what the founding fathers believed in, but not why. They have rewritten history in the process, but the youngsters of today, usually sons and daughters, or grandsons and granddaugters, of those who saw independence through, believe in what UMNO does not believe in. So force is not an option. And what they think is not what the National Front and UMNO does.

[This was my column in the latest issue of Harakah, the official organ of the opposition party, PAS, this week.]

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