Next week's UMNO General Assembly.

16.3.2009.

16th March, 2009. In one week's time we'll know the answer to the question "Where is UMNO going after this ?". This may seem a question that only the Party's members should concern themselves with. In truth, it's a question that all Malaysians should be interested in. Because UMNO is the dominant component in the BN, if it falters, then BN falters, and like it or not the country's peace and harmony as we know it these last 52 years would change forever.

The undercurrents of racial disharmony have always existed in Malaysia. Only the election of a strong central government had ensured that the latent, naturally existing racial conflict has been put under a lid. 

Sports and a National-Type School System have helped cool the divergent tendencies of the three major races who all trace their old civilisations to way back when. The strength of the central government required a strong leader, or a leader made strong. 

Before Dollah and before the Tunku was forced into retirement, perhaps the weakest leader was Husain, but UMNO made sure that the Party stood solidly behind him, and except for the insignificant challenge by one Sulaiman Palestin, no open dissent on his relatively short tenure was allowed to surface. 

Dollah  has been a totally different story. Riding on the success of his predecessor, Dollah  led BN in winning more than 90 % of Parliament and all except one State Assembly in the 11th. GE in 2004. Of course all the party leaders in BN gave full credit to Dollah  and the man wasn't too shy to own up the credit heaped. That the vote was for the achievements made by the country up to 2004 when under the stewardship of Mahathir was conveniently forgotten. That was the problem. 

From that date until the debacle of the poorly-timed  GE12 in 2008, Dollah  has come to believe his own little fantasy about his non-existent prowess. In very short successive decisions, many Cabinet-approved projects were scuttled, while many dubious new ones were announced. No care was taken to note that some of the projects cancelled involved other huge and directly related infrastructural developments, such as the billion-ringgit Customs Complex in JB. In fact right until this month, the building of the LCCT airport close to the 25% utilised KLIA was still being considered by Dollah's government, even after loud public criticisms were made. 

From personal  and anectdotal stories about Dollah , the image of the person is one of indisciplined thinking, an out of depth manager, and perhaps worst of all, one with complete disrespect of other people's time. Too many very senior government officers tell stories of unpunctuality and poor preparation for meetings and gatherings. Even at a wedding that I attended in KL last night, a retired very senior Police Officer made the revealing statement that wherever he went and people talk about Dollah , they were all negative. The flip-flop nature of Dollah's decisions, his lack of focus at meetings, and strange behaviours are well-documented. His poor sense of propriety is public knowledge - remember the big floods in Johore when he went to Perth to open his brother's short-lived nasi kandar shop ? Remember the meeting with Anwar in Hulu Langat the morning Najib was tabling the additional budget last week ? And his lies and denials ? About family-linked business deals and about pending GE date , about the MB for Perlis and Terengganu being his constitutional right to appoint and no one else's, and glib "I don't know" when asked about embarassing departmental incidents? 

And this is also the son of the ulamak who, at 67, hold starlets' hands and kiss his new wife so lovingly in public. I'm no puritan myself, but he is after all a Muslim PM with a Malay upbringing and this is a matter of appearance, and he is pontificating on a new Islam Hadari !

The opposition (not just political parties, but all his opponents) has been quick to spot a PM so inept that not to take this opportunity by its throat to screw him and the government he is supposed to lead would by itself constitute an act of stupidity. That is why all the worms are now coming out of the woodwork. 

The real tragedy of it all has been the fact that UMNO is not totally peopled by stupid morons. Sure, there are still too many school garderners and lab-assisstants leading the Party at the Branches, and therein lies the great problem for the continuing strength of UMNO. But in total there are enough Ph.D's to open a new University of UMNO. 

The trouble is there seems to be an embedded culture of "bodek" - whatever the President does must be loudly supported, even if it's wrong. And right now the ostensibly incoming President is the most obviously guilty of that. The rakyat is discerning like never before. Even Islam teaches us to speak out against a bad leader. An unwillingness to do so is simply "bodek", and a cover-up of misdeeds not desireable of a responsible leader. That is not to say that there has been total silence in this issue. But the critical voices have been too few and too far between. 

I think for the few who have dared to speak up, it must have taken tremendous courage, and if they offer themselves for Party posts, deserve to be elected. What we have right now is the total ravage of "money politics" in UMNO. There is talk right now that a case has been made against a candidate for the topmost Party position. Simply put, if UMNO members elect those who resort to this corrupt practise, then I suggest they take all they can get now, because the rakyat will make sure that UMNO won't be around much longer.

It may seem strange to UMNO members, who are used to getting handouts from Party leaders for even the simple thing like attending a large Party function, that when some opposition parties hold a gathering, it's the members who come who give money to the organizers. I urge the delegates to the GA next week to cast out greed for a few possibly ill-gotten ringgit and do the right thing - pick Party leaders who stand for righteousness, and willing to defend King and Country. Don't be too absorbed by the claim that 3.5 million Bumiputras are UMNO members. Be concerned that there are 15 million voters out there.

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