[MGG]
Fear and Loathing in UMNO
The
UMNO extraordinary general meeting over the weekend (18 Nov 00) was its all but last
chance to put its house in order. The Prime Minister, its president, hangs on to
office because, as he told a Hong Kong interviewer, his deputy, in UMNO and government,
Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is incompetent. He would cling on to office
until he is ready. When would that be? When he decides it is time to go.
When would that be? You shall know at the time. The rules need changing.
Why? To return the party to its members, branches and divisions. So, when
the 2,000-odd delegates appeared at the Putra World Trade Centre, they were not
there to raise UMNO to its greatness but for a wake. The serious conflicts in
UMNO were swept under the proverbial carpet while it decided the rules needed changing
first. For the first time in memory, the
proceedings, except for the Prime
Minister's opening and closing speeches, were in camera. If it was one of UMNO's
life-and-death that must be in secret, why then is the presidential secret open.
One would have thought he would have to take delegates into their confidence and tell
them the facts of their dilemma. So, it could not have been that. It was
not.
The fear that the EGM would turn into a free-for-all
with delegates gnashing at each other, as members of parliament and state assemblymen
do hese days with impunity, was enough to close the hatches. This frightened
and Prime Minister and his ilk, and as usual misjudged the mood. Malay decorum
demands civility, and the delegate was not about to let anger overcome his cultural
scruples. Yes, a few division heads preached revolution, to oppose some of the
provisions, but it was the usual hot air that maskes a deeper malaise, one that would
not go further. But delegates were uncertain, angry or supportive. The uncertain
and angry ones appear to have decided that the Prime Minister will get the rule
changes he wanted so that he and UMNO would face a worse crisis further on; the
supportive would back him. So, if it reflects, as the Prime Minister crowed, the
mandate now to return UMNO to the people, nothing could be more wrong.
Those who came from afar to listen to the debates were fobbed off
with re-reruns of the
May UMNO general assembly. The mutterings when they realised it adds to UMNO's
difficulties. The delegates were suffused not with hope or confidence but fear.
It is fear bereft of hope andhelp that UMNO heads for an ideological, philosophical,
political deadend. No one,
not even the Prime Minister, knows how to steer UMNO
away. If he had, he would have spelt it out yesterday. When he does not
accept that what brought UMNO to its knees is how he destroyed his jailed expelled
deputy prime minister, how could he resolve what all but damaged UMNO. For the first
time, the delegates openly talk about Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim and how it has all but
destroyed UMNO.
UMNO reacts to amend its rules in bits and
pieces while keeping power firmly with the oligarchy that controls it. It rejects
new men and ideas, unless it approves of them. To join its ranks, a member must
have money. Which not many UMNO members outside the government and party gravy train has.
So, he can only if men with money, or with access to it. For he
could not get the
30 per cent divisions to nominate him for the presidency, 15 for the deputy presidency,
eight for the vice-presidency and two for the supreme council if he cannot afford it.
In other words, UMNO allows only men with money into its upper ranks. This does
not change. This cushions the current leaders, but it pushes more of its members
into the opposition, especially PAS. Much is made of a new women's wing called
Puteri to attract the under-30s, but what use is this
if the UMNO member is bereft of a
chance to the leadership because he is poor?
As one
delegate said: "The house is on fire, and you are worried if the windows are
closed!" The delegates were worried. It showed. Looking around, I saw
not confidence, arrogance, verve, hope but concern, doubt, fear. They know they
sink, bereft as they are of hope. UMNO is buffetted by the typhoon the Prime
Minister unleashed to destroy his heir and now nemesis, Dato' Seri Anwar. That
must be resolved first. Even UMNO accepts that. He is the unseen ghost in
every UMNO deliberation. The Malay believes he is unfairly punished, and the more the
Prime Minister, and the courts, affirm he is not, the more sullen the ground. So
long as this is unaddressed, and none but the Prime Minister who must, UMNO cannot but
be bereft of hope. And worse.
M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my
