The Raja is dead - Long live the Raja!

The Raja is dead, long live the Raja.

In case you are confused by the age-old salutation, perhaps I should put it in less classical form:

The (old) Raja (Bodek) is dead, long live the (new) Raja (Bodek)!

The time has come for our reigning Raja Bodek to hand over his Tengkolok Diraja (Royal Head Dress or crown) and the Keris Panjang Diraja (Keris of State) to a new champion, UMNO Selangor delegate Ramli Simbok.

At the UMNO general assembly Ramli slammed - no, not opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang but - his BN 'comrades', Humpty Dumpty, Gerakan Dr Koh Tsu Koon and MCA Ong Tee Kiat for being kurang ajar (rude) towards UMNO No 1, AAB.

Humpty and Koh TK had a vociferous debate between themselves over traffic problems related to the Penang 2nd link. They did that when AAB was with them, so Ramli believed that was kurang ajar, a very disparaging and insulting Malay criticism of two leaders of BN’s component parties.

But what the heck, whenever an UMNO Y-leader wants to fast-track up the party’s ladder, there’s nothing more effective and convenient than bashing the leaders of other (non-Malay) component parties like the MCA, MIC and Gerakan (DAP, yawnnn, rates a lower scoring point as that’s an everyday affair), and Ramli had just done a perfect hat-trick.

He said: “When there is a crisis in Umno’s top leadership, certain quarters will take advantage and it is sad to see when friends try to take a shot at our president. Umno Youth would like to remind these people not to forget themselves.”

I am not quite sure what MCA Ong did to AAB, but for Ramli to achieve the hat-trick he had to blast Ong anyway: Besides, a hat-trick wouldn't be so perfect if it didn't include the MCA (rather than the nobody-PPP). Finally, Ramli had a good reason for embracing MCA in his scheme of things.

“Ong Tee Kiat must not forget that he is indebted to the Malays. He won in the by-election (in Ampang during the early 90s) because of the support of Umno. We sacrificed an Umno seat for him.”

We are all indebted to UMNO, especially in 1999!

But was it Ramli’s ‘concern’ for AAA which made me reckon he had wrested the Tengkolok Diraja away from you-know-who?

No, not in the least - read on and you’ll see why I have crowned him as the new reigning Raja Bodek.

Ramli Simbok averred that it was not wrong for UMNO leaders to champion the rights of the Malays when these are threatened or challenged by other races. Have you sense yet what he's bulding up to? Now, do you see why the MCA had to be included in his hat-trick?

OK, here goes!

Ramli expressed 101% (% pun not intended) support for UMNO Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin’s assertion in September that the Chinese will take advantage of any division amongst (UMNO) Malay.

Yes, Ramli wants the general assembly to know that he fully supports (sokong, sokong, sokong) KJ’s very apt and worthy demi agama dan bangsa (for religion & race) criticism of the Chinese as an unscrupulous lot likely to exploit Malay division, though many of us wonder how the agama bit had played a part in KJ’s attempt to disguise his 9,2000,000 reasons a couple of months back?

And of course that MCA bloke had to be put into his place for daring to criticise KJ then.

But hey man – it’s always good to register one's ampu-ish support for the SIL of AAB. Yes sir, nothing wrong in hitching one's wagon to the rising star of UMNO!

Now, that’s strategic thinking.

The Raja Bodek is dead, long live Raja Bodek!