Hatred, fear & avarice in Malaysian politics

No doubt many of us after reading Malaysiakini article Najib unveils manifesto for top Umno job, where the future PM is reported to have vowed:

"I will defend the supremacy of the Malays until the last drop of my blood if I win the mandate of the delegates to become the next Umno president at election to be held in March 2009. This is the solemn promise I made to my late father before he died”

… did wonder whether Najib has improved since he last threatened to bathe the UMNO Youth keris in Chinese blood?

But many have consoled themselves by saying at least this time it would be Najib's own blood, where many in PKR would indeed love to see his last drop hitting the ground - wakakaka!

My uncle who was a public servant told me he once overheard Najib as a much younger man confiding to his cabinet colleagues apologetically about his public ‘demi bangsa’ war chant that it was merely ‘hey man, what do you expect lah, it’s party election time for UMNO Youth’.

And Anwar Ibrahim wasn’t all that different when he was Education Minister and trying to punch his way up to the top of the UMNO hierarchy. His tactic was to pamper to the nationalistic and religious rightwing in UMNO with some of the most draconian educational policies ever experienced in our 50 years of in dependence.

Both Anwar and Najib were playing to the gallery of UMNO and the heartland. But that shouldn’t and didn’t excuse them from exploiting communal feelings to further their own political advancements.

Then today we read in Malaysiakini article Najib manifesto from 'support group', not official that one of Najib’s close aide revealed the manifesto of ‘his last drop of blood’ was not sanctioned nor authorised by his office. It was released by a ‘support group’ of the DPM who personally wasn’t aware of the document.

Balderdash!

‘Support group’ don’t go about stating on his behalf that he made a promise to his dad he would defend the supremacy of the Malays to the last drop of his blood!

The way I see it, Najib is playing a political game where he gets his cake and eat it as well.

So he released the ‘demi bangsa’ vow, and then turning to the nons including the other BN component parties (and possibly international audience) he would say “Alamak, bukan ai lah, support group buat tu” – no different to Anwar vis-à-vis his 'buat ta'tahu' on the Kulim Wonder and his tap dancing around Article 153, etc – just the style of presentation between the two differs slightly.

… which brings us to a few other Malaysiakini headlines like:

(1) ...but MCA says Umno dominates BN
(2) BN leaders praise Ka Ting's 'bold' speech
(3) We want DPM post: MCA delegates

… which certainly would warm the cockles of Chinatown but hardly those of the heartland.

Tonight I want to discuss just in brief (very brief) three political emotions – Hatred, Fear and Avarice. I'll give a fuller treatment in future.

Hatred

Hatred could of course be as a result of fear, and vice versa.

It you see the PKR-BN polemics there is regrettably sheer hatred at the lower levels. When I went to Uncle Lim’s blog to read his post on the governance (or alleged lack of) in the purchase of the Eurocopter, my god, some of the comments were just plain expressions of hatred for Najib without any intelligent discourse of either the governance involved in the purchase or the technical features of the aircraft.

The above has been a typical example – there have been many others on both sides. But alas, for the PR, it would seem that 'brains' must have become an extinct creature for some PKR members.

… yet a few PKR members still have the brazen nerve to talk about a two-party system?

The feelings of hatred are not confined to PKR and UMNO only, for the headlines showed that the MCA and the Gerakan both have had their fill of UMNO’s arrogance to an extent that there now exists ill will and the accompanying aggression in both parties towards UMNO.

While MCA has been traditionally the closest partner of UMNO and therefore least likely to leave the BN, its current power-sharing demands are getting more and more extravagant and in some cases, bloody useless other than to feel good themselves, and invariably to annoy UMNO rather than convince it. The MCA's pendulum of conduct has swung across to the other extreme.

Fear

Strange as this may seem, but many UMNO members are fearful that their once primus inter pares status, even among the BN, have been eroded since 08 March 2008. That PR has swept into power across 4 states (Kedah, Penang, and especially Perak and Selangor) has been a most unpalatable and quite frightening fact.

There is no doubt certain parties have been gleefully exploiting this fear among the Malays. Some have seize upon it as a wonderful opportunity to pose as the champion of the Malays.

The net result is more polemics, racist declarations and a very divisive nation.

Avarice

Underlying all these would be the factor of avarice. I’ll talk more on this tomorrow.