I felt compelled to write this….
I guess Malaysia needs to stop, look back, readjust itself, then only can it move forward.
And thus, this is what I am writing about. Malaysia, in general. Throughout its independence, Malaysia has only known one party. Actually two, pre 1969, it was Parti Perikatan, now known as Barisan Nasional. The leader of this alliance, is UMNO. Like Barisan Nasional, the UMNO today is not like the UMNO when it was formed back in 1946. Which brings us back to history.
For most, we would assume that Tunku Abdul Rahman, being the first Prime Minister of the then Malaya, was the founder of UMNO. It is a wrong assumption, as the founder of UMNO is the Datuk Onn Jaafar. UMNO back then was known as United Malay National Organisation. Datuk Onn had a grander vision, to see the Malay in UMNO to transform into Malaya, ie, UMNO is not a Malay based political party, but more of a Malayan regardless of race. That spell the demise of his political career, and it is a good indication to other aspiring politicians. Datuk Onn went on to establish Independence of Malay Party and Parti Negara and strolled into political oblivion.
Tunku too, made the same mistake. He is the obvious choice at the time of independence. I think Rehman Rashid summarised it best, Tunku was a bona fide blue-blooded Prince, scion of the Kedah Royal family (that took care of the sultanates). He enjoyed horse racing (The Chinese could relate to that.) He was from the north of the peninsula, historically the arrival-point of the Indian communitiy, and he was fond of the Indians, in a distant paternal way. (Which was all they could really ask.) And he was an Anglophile. You get my drift. The only one who had reservation of Tunku was his own. The Malays. Even then, Tunku too was an advocate for a Malayan Malaya, or after 1963, a Malaysian Malaysia. And that lead to 13th May 1969…..
And Tunku’s forced removal by his Deputy, Tun Abdul Razak. Perhaps that is why, Tun Mahathir always have this thing against his deputy. 
Tun Abdul Razak approach was different. He is a “Rakyat” or people’s man thorough and thorough. He understand that the economic situation of the Malays needs to be addressed before Malaysia can adopt a truly Malaysian Malaysia. Hence the creation of many engines to help the Malays better itself. MARA, Felda, PETRONAS and many others became the engines for the betterment of Malays (and that also means Bumiputeras). Tun Razak passed away in 1976, unable to see the fruits of his labour.
Tun Hussein is who I consider as a caretaker. We know who he choose as his deputy, and when asked, he did say that he hope that he made the right decision. Interestingly enough, it was mentioned that later he regretted that decision…. Tun Hussein passed away in 1990, and he never answered the question on why he choose Tun Mahathir as his deputy.
And so, in June 1981, Mahathir became the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Under him, Malaysia went to a rapid industrialisation process, and even Tun Mahathir became more famous than Malaysia. I remember taking a cab from Euston Station to my halls in Camden, and the driver asked where I was from. I answered Malaysia. His answer was short and sweet.
“That Mahathir fellow? He got balls”
I concur with him. When it comes to world issues, Tun Mahathir is up there with the rest of the big guns. Issues on Israel and Palestine, IMF, US foreign policy, you name it, and Tun Mahathir has something to say about it. Most of the time, he is right. Sad to say, it is different in the domestic front.
The thing is, no one fight more for Malay rights than Tun Mahathir himself. The irony of it, he too is for a Malaysian Malaysia. Under him, he helped to build a group of millionaires. It can’t be more Malaysian than them. Ananda Krishnan, Vincent Tan, Tajudin Ramli, Francis Yeoh, and you’ll see that it is a nice mix. Although Ananda is a Ceylonese descent, but, I guess he can be considered as an Indian. For someone who seems for a Malaysian Malaysia, he could last in power for that long.
But that’s the thing about Tun Mahathir. He cares for the Malays. Or is it as long he is in power? Or is he just being perceived as caring? But one thing about Tun, he knows branding, and the powers of perception. He came up with Proton Saga, the PETRONAS Twin Towers, KLIA. All the hardware needed to raise the self esteem of the Malaysians. Who cares if Proton cars are of poor quality. As long we can design, manufacture and market our own cars, with our own brand! Heck, we even got the worlds tallest twin towers! We are proud!
Not only did he took care of Malaysians esteem, he even took care of his opponents!
This brings us back to 1987. The fight for UMNO leadership between Team A (Tun Mahathir) and Team B (Tengku Razaleigh). Tun Mahathir won by only 43 votes. The aftermath was swift. Due to the irregularities during the UMNO elections, UMNO was deregistered. Tun Mahathir swiftly re-registered the party as UMNO Baru and with that, left Tengku Razaleigh and his supporters out of UMNO….
Sign of a really political savvy politician. And with it, he made it tougher for anyone else to challenge him. Only those with a huge war chest can apply and only if you are willing to fall down hard should you lose.
In fact, the person who became the replacement for Tun Mahathir is the one who did not challenge him. Tun Musa Hitam challenged and lost. Tun Ghafar never challenged Tun Mahathir, and you know what happened to Datuk Seri Anwar. Datuk Seri Abdullah was in opposite side in 1987, but he never challenged Tun Mahathir when he was the DPM.
Datuk Seri Abdullah, affectionately known as Pak Lah has always been perceived as a nice man. And a “Mr Clean”. Easy for him, as he never had the opportunity. For the young Malaysians, Pak Lah seems a likeable person, especially his advisors are mostly young dynamic Malaysians. If they graduated from Oxbridge, then they must be good.
Now, the rise of Pak Lah as the PM coincide with the rise of a young man called Khairy Jamaluddin. The PM and his son in law. Now the thing is, Pak Lah promised to clean up Malaysia. And yet, he and his son in law and son seems to be involved in many interesting business ventures worth millions…That is just the tip of the ice berg. Most would assume that they are in it for themselves. But, that is not the case. And it all leads back to UMNO…..
After 1987, UMNO became different. Not only the name has changed, and later renamed. But more importantly, the constitution was changed to enable certain people the added advantage in UMNO. And for those people, a very important package for that route is money. This is what I believe is being done, cause frankly, of all the past and present Presidents of UMNO, Datuk Seri Abdullah does not enjoy a strong grassroot. The money is neeed for the strong grassroot support. Like any other political campaign, money is a very important part of the equation. After all, that’s how George Bush won the 2000 elections.
But like any meteoric rise, there will be certain factions unhappy with the star. As always been the case with Malays, or UMNO in particular. Datuk Seri Anwar was seen as Tun Mahathir’s successor, and yet, was sacked. Not only he was sacked, he was punched, humiliated and suffered injuries. And his reputation was smeared. Remember the book, 50 Dalils, that book became a bestseller, and triggered Anwar’s downfall.
The thing is, for some, when they can’t fight fair, they will fight dirty. That’s why Tengku Razaleigh lost, because he never plays dirty. And now, Khairy Jamaluddin is bearing the brunt of the dirty games of UMNO politics. And it does not help to know, that some of his contemporaries are willing to do anything to pull him down. So what if he is an Oxford grad and might able to lead Malaysia to glory, as long as these sad people get what they want, and that is Khairy’s head. Royal Professor Ungku Aziz summarise it best, the Malays are world class PhD, “Perasaan Hasad Dengki”. If I can’t succeed, I will ensure that others will not succeed too.
Today, Tun Mahathir launched an attack on the current administration. This line interest me
“But if they (the Cabinet/Government) come under the influence of people with other agendas, it cannot be helped”
As Tun Mahathir is very good with his doublespeak, study the line carefully. It seems like it is pointing to Khairy Jamaluddin. It’s like, Tun does not like Khairy at all. Tun probably hates Khairy’s guts. The thing about hating somebody, most of the time, it is because that somebody reminds you of yourself.
But one glaring thing of today’s news. During Tun Mahathir’s reign, we will not read such news on the mainstream. But that’s freedom of speech, Tun Mahathir has the right to express his views. I find it funny, as most Muslim Malays love to imitate the Arabs. and I do see that Pak Lah leads like the Prophet (pbuh). Unfortunately, in the Malaysian Malay or even UMNO world, silence means inaction…….
Frankly, I am tired about the whole thing. 1987 and 1998. Now, 2006, we are looking at another one. Time and time again, the same person was involved. Each time, the Malays were split. And each and every time, the Malays will lose out. In the long run, Malaysia will lose too.
Stop, reflect, and ponder.
