1Malaysia, 1Melayu but what about 1UMNO?

To say the truth, so Judas kissed his master
And cried, 'All hail!' when as he meant all harm. - William Shakespeare (King Henry VI, Part III)


Either Najib has finally admitted his 1Malaysia was bull all along or he has succumbed to the 1Melayu drive.

The 1Melayu campaign (forget about its second chant, 1Bumi, because to UMNO, only Melayu are bumis) was initiated by Utusan Malaysia, which is owned by UMNO. For Utusan to publish such an agitating, radical and provocative policy proposal, logic tells us that it must have been ordered by the owner.

This indicates either Najib was having two bites of the cherry at the same time or he was having internal dissent (mutiny) within his own party, because Utusan’s 1Melayu is the very antipodes to his 1Malaysia. Thus have been asked, how could an UMNO-owned newspaper go against the policy of UMNO No 1, unless Utusan’s 1Melayu was ordered by someone other than Najib, against Najib.

Thus, assuming Najib wasn’t two-timing us with his 1Malaysia, he is suffering mutiny from very influential UMNO warlords. But who?

Whoever the dissenting UMNO warlord(s) is/are, this would mean his deputy Muhyiddin has not been playing bad cop to his good cop, but in earnest opposition to his 1Malaysia.

We know Muhyiddin is much older than Najib, and unless the younger man dies before his naturally expected time or is ousted from office, Muhyiddin is unlikely to be ever PM. Could it then be Muhyiddin undermining Najib’s position in his party to seize the No 1 leadership spot, an aspiration which no doubt exists in his heart?

But we also know Muhyiddin is not that smart enough to cook up such a sinister rebellion (he can’t even direct a state election effectively, forcing Najib to personally turun padang in Sarawak for 10 long days), nor has he the requisite party support to act on his own. In fact, in the UMNO party election which first elected him as deputy president, if not for a timely ‘convenient’ revelation of Ali Rustam’s sin of money politics (as if Rustam was the only UMNO leader to dabble in that) and consequential ban from standing for election, Muhyiddin wouldn’t have been deputy party president nor DPM. Ali Rustam would have been the popular choice (money politics regardless).

When Najib was DPM and playing his usual overly cautious man man lai to replace AAB, despite the strident urgings of Dr M, there were rumours of a threat by the former PM to support Muhyiddin instead for the party’s top post, out of frustration with Najib's prevarications.

So the Muhyiddin as a potential threat to Najib is not new, and could, on the basis of rumours, be linked to Dr M’s thoughts/wishes for UMNO’s current and future ideological, doctrinal and policy directions, as can be argued from his willingness to be patron to the ultra rightwing Perkasa.

The problem with UMNO politics is that whenever Dr M’s hands are seen to be or accused of being involved, the story would, as I see it, be grossly embellished to syiok sendiri category.

The current popular one is that Dr M is stacking the odds for his junior, Mukhriz, to leapfrog up to one of the very top positions. And obviously, the story suggests that there is a done deal with Muhyiddin, namely, Dr M backs him for the party president (and the PM-ship) while he (Muhyiddin) sweetly mentors (or mollycoddles) young Mukhriz upwards as his eventual successor.

But it’s not a very plausible theory because Mukhriz didn’t succeed in his bid to be Youth boss - no grassroot support, so how could he possibly ascend up to the very top of the party hierarchy?

That he became a deputy minister while KJ wasn't must be due more to Najib’s suspected appeasement of Dr M, to avoid the sort of disruptive and destabilising campaign against his premiership that Dr M is capable of, as witnessed in his attacks against poor AAB.

However, there is a limit to Dr M's power, because in UMNO when it comes to an individual members' interests, most UMNO members would happily stab Dr M in his back, as I will show shortly, wakakaka. Besides, Dr M knows he isn’t exactly a spring chicken, and young Mukhriz cannot depend on papa’s protection forever.

There are of course other warlords besides Dr M.

What about young KJ?

His biggest obstacle is Dr M, who hates him for several reasons: KJ is Mukhriz’s biggest threat in UMNO. KJ has offended Dr M’s son in more than just politics. KJ is seen as the hand behind AAB’s dismantling of Dr M’s pet projects and the marginalization of Dr M while father-in-law was PM. But most of all, the unforgiveable sin, KJ has blasphemously pally-buddy-ed that little red dot in the south wakakaka.

Bloody complicating, isn’t it?

UMNO has often boasted about the Malay sense of loyalty to the liege lord (superior, boss, raja, sultan). That may be true about 'Malay' loyalty per se, but we know it’s a different story altogether in UMNO.

Yup, some people in UMNO (as opposed to Malays per se), while claiming to be both Malays and Muslims, have often demonstrated their un-Malayness and un-Muslim ethics, where their so-called loyalty to their ‘liege lord’ and fear of the Almighty flew out of the window. There have been enough such incidents in recent times to make it unnecessary for me to provide any example.

Let’s leave their religious values aside (too sensitive), though of course we recognize that religious convictions (or lack of) temper values of loyalty and its exact opposite, treachery.

Perhaps here, we should also state a truism, that loyalty can only exist long term if it is of a bi-directional quality, and not as some bosses believe, only from subordinates to superiors.

But on treachery, there has been no greater display of this universally despised behaviour than by some UMNO leaders. Foremost had been the example of how Razak politically stabbed Tunku in the back. Many of my elders believe Razak’s treacherous coup d’etat against Tunku broke the old man’s heart more than his suffering the loss of power and pride.

Then, equally notorious, the Kedah Wonders (Johari Baharom, Osman Aroff) whom Dr M as PM had nurtured and pampered, kicked him ungrately and treacherously in the guts when AAB was PM wakakaka – see my Sep 2006 post Et Tu Baharom. This is what I meant by UMNO members willing to stab even their Iconic Senior when it suits their personal interests. Loyalty? wakakaka.

There is of course Malaysia’s foremost warrior-patriot Zahidi who was once Anwar Ibrahim’s vanguard perwira who attacked Dr M by accusing him of graft and nepotism, to drive the old man out of office pronto as the Anwar faction had wanted. He flopped and Anwar was booted out of UMNO. But survivalist Zahidi is now Defence Minister and must be considered as one of powerful warlords. He won’t even look at his erstwhile boss Anwar now - loyalty? wakakaka.

But note that Zahidi has recently bought into the 1Melayu camp, meaning (unless Najib is two-timing us) he like Muhyiddin is against Najib.

And on UMNO’s sense of loyalty (or lack of) I’ve no doubt many would also want me to add on to this list Dr M’s serial dumping of his deputies, like Ghafar Baba (in favour of his once blue-eyed boy wakakaka), Musa Hitam, the blue-eyed boy wakakaka again, and His Snooziness the Sultan of Somnambulance, poor bloke, even way after his deputy days.

IMalaysia? IMelayu? 1UMNO?

Can PAS trust UMNO?

Wait, more importantly, can Najib trust Muhyiddin and Zahidi? wakakaka!

P/S Ooops, somehow I forgot to add to the list one of the most powerful, if not the MOST powerful UMNO warlord, who chooses to always work in the shadow - Daim Zainuddin.