Najib and MCA in a lose-lose game

MM Online - You want more? Make the Chinese back BN, Najib tells MCA

Wah si ler kai Ah Hnea 

On the surface of it, Najib's call seems more than fair, as he's implying that he has already 'given' to MCA (minister posts, assurance of Chinese vernacular education under his premiership, etc) and there will be more if they can play their political role successfully, namely, to rally the Chinese Malaysian voters back to the BN corner.

BUT and a bloody BIG 'but', the reality of Malaysian politics, as played by a besieged UMNO or more correctly some of its leaders, makes Najib's condition a lose-lose situation for both MCA and BN.

We see time and time again how besieged UMNO leaders, when confronted by threats to their political survival whether inter or intra-party, would fall back on their nasty formula of the jingoistic bangsa, agama dan raja (but seldom ever negara).

Today Najib under serious threats from within UMNO, specifically by Mahathir and his faction and supporters, has played the bangsa card to rally the party faithful and the Malay Heartland to his banner. 'Yesterday' (ie. 2001 and 2002) Mahathir set the ugly example by making what Lim Kit Siang termed as the 929 and 617 Declarations.

On 29 September 2001 Mahathir declared Malaysia as an Islamic State, obviously to outflank PAS in the wake of a near disaster for him and his BN in the 1999 general elections when Chinese Malaysian voters came to his rescue and saved his political skin, and a year after, on 17 June 2002, he upped the agama ante (presumably in readiness for the 2004 general elections) by declaring that Malaysia is not just a moderate Islamic State but a fundamentalist Islamic State.

Then there was another UMNO leader, wakakaka, who resorted to the same bangsa cards with his alleged "Cina balik Tiongsan" during his UMNO-days' campaign in the Heartland and his threat to stop the bells in an Indian temple from ringing.

Now, don't think I am always bashing only him, wakakaka, because our dear Ku Li had been the same - for more, read my 2008 post titled
Tengku Razaleigh signals his claim for UMNO No 1.

And then there was even former deputy chairperson of PKR (same DNA as UMNO), Dr Syed Husin, one time socialist and my once-hero who finally became a zero in my eyes - for more, read my 2011 post titled Dr Syed Husin, the Socialist who lost his way.

That's UMNO leaders' (and their splinter groups') modus operandi when their political a$$e$ were being singed by fire or when they wanted to singe someone (intra or inter-party) else's a$$, wakakaka.

As Samuel Johnson said on 07 April 1775, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel", and which would definitely include so-called patriotism to bangsa, agama dan raja. And didn't we witness very recently how an UMNO man specially Pak Kadir Jasin whom we know as one of Mahathir's mouthpieces, stated that Najib would be committing lèse-majesté if he didn't heed the Rulers' call to solve the 1MDB affair a.s.a.p including taking appropriate legal actions.

Malaysiakini had then reported:

HRH Sultan Selangor chairing the Rulers' Conference

'someone' could have been sitting beside HRH if he is not in SB 'Hilton'

The Conference of Rulers wants the investigation into 1MDB to be completed as soon as possible and action be taken against those who have committed wrongdoings.

Commenting on this development, veteran newsman A Kadir Jasin asked if Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak would adhere to the decree or commit lese majeste.

He also described this as a test for attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali, inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Abu Kassim Mohamed, Bank Negara governor Zeti Akthar Aziz and the Public Accounts Committee.

"Will they be loyal and true to the rulers or be afraid of Najib," questioned the former New Straits Times Group editor-in-chief and close ally of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Wakakaka, and this from an UMNO man whose party gave free rein for its members to commit acts of gross lèse-majesté in 1992. Yessir, on 10 December 1992, Dr Affifuddin Omar, an UMNO man from Padang Terap, no doubt given the imprimatur by his party leaders, asked in Parliament:

"How can we continue to uphold rulers who are known to be robbers, adulterers, drunkards and kaki pukul (thugs)?" [...]

"They (the rulers) must be made to realize that they do not own this country. They are not Superman but placed on their thrones by the people.

"The real power did not lie with them, but with us - the representatives of the people."

Aiyoyo - rulers who are known to be robbers, adulterers, drunkards and kaki pukul (thugs)?

Just compare that gross insult to Najib's potential buat ta'tahu terhadap tuanku2. And which would be the real lèse-majesté?

Mind you, Affifudin Omar then had the sarung protection of Parliament as well as that of (no doubt behind the scene) the most powerful PM in Malaysian history - ingat, ni tahun 1992, OK? Wakakaka.

Miss Malaysia 1992
today she would have been Jakim-ed kau kau

(photo from http://3.bp.blogspot.com/)

This is not to say that Najib can buat ta'tahu about 1MDB, but the sheer hypocrisy in the bewailing of menjunjung tinggi to the pronouncement of the raja2 and the shameless by-far-too-rich threat of lèse-majesté.

But that's just UMNO putar belit-ing its sinuous slimy sinister way around.

But Najib or rather UMNO since the days of Razak has not been fair to MCA, indeed in more than one way, frequently jerking the carpet right from beneath those Ma-Hwa people and still expecting them to blindly support Tai-Koe even when the UMNO government policies were disadvantageous to Chinese Malaysians.

And that's precisely why Chinese Malaysians, especially the younger generation, find it ridiculous to keep supporting the MCA (or Gerakan).

Okay, Najib might have just whispered sweet-nothings to the MCA assembly on Chinese vernacular education, admittedly a very important issue close to the hearts of Chinese Malaysians, but hasn't that been totally contradictory to his support of the recent 916 Red Shirt rally who called for the abolishment of vernacular education?

Najib (not unlike PKR leaders currently) has his two feet each separately on two different boats which obviously have been moving towards separate direction. His legs are now splayed out kangkang, with him in danger of being ripped asunder starting from his you-know-where.

He played the bangsa game and now wants to show he is Ah Jib Gor, Bung Muhibbah.

Mind you, as an accused-alleged-abused (wakakaka) pro-Najib though sadly unpaid blogger, I could argue he should be excused from the former, the bangsa game, with the blame for that placed solely on Mahathir, who we can easily argue forced Ah Jib Gor into a corner, to wit, his Samuel Johnson's 'last refuge', and at the same time of course making Najib a Samuel Johnson's 'scoundrel', wakakaka.

But alas, much as Malaysian or rather UMNO politics would be such, while that bangsa resort might been an excuse for Najib the UMNO man, it's not an acceptable tactic for Najib the PM.

So Ah Jib Gor, beware, with your two feet separately on two different boats sailing away in separate direction, you'll end up not only with a bloody sore behind but also right in the raging stormy sea, wakakaka.

And coming back to MCA, the party like its shadow-mate or half-brother, Gerakan, the Ma-Hwa people had been willing captives to UMNO's 'sins', or more appropriately, the 'sins' of Mahathir vis-a-vis, for example, his 929 and 617 Declarations.

Lim Kit Siang had then written:

Before his “929 Declaration” that Malaysia is an Islamic state at the Gerakan national assembly on September 29 last year, MCA and Gerakan leaders had been attacking the DAP for working “hand-in-glove’ with PAS to establish an Islamic State, proclaiming at the top of their voices that Malaysia is a secular and not an Islamic State.

But immediately after Mahathir’s “929 Declaration” that Malaysia is an Islamic state, the MCA and Gerakan leaders were the first to give their full and unequivocal support that Malaysia had always been an Islamic state from day one of our nationhood 44 years ago as if the founding fathers and early leaders of MCA like Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Tun Tan Siew Sin, Tun S.H. Lee, Too Joon Hing or even the early UMNO leaders like Onn Jaffar, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn would have agreed to multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia becoming an Islamic State.

For eight month after September 29 last year, MCA and Gerakan leaders were trumpeting that Malaysia is a moderate Islamic state – in fact, Gerakan President, Datuk Dr. Lim Keng Yaik made such a statement only on Sunday.

But after Mahathir’s announcement on Monday that Malaysia is not a moderate Islamic state but a Islamic fundamentalist state, Keng Yaik and his counterpart, the MCA President, Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik would be the first to endorse Mahathir’s escalation of his stand from his “929 Declaration” that Malaysia is an Islamic State to his “617 announcement” in Parliament on June 17 that Malaysia is not a moderate Islamic State but fundamentalist Islamic State.

[Helloooo, Uncle Lim, didn't you just acknowledge admiration for Ling Liong Sik, and that you had earlier wanted Mahathir to chair a RCI to investigate Najib and his 1MDB? Wakakaka]

When did the Cabinet make this radical policy shift to declare Malaysia as a fundamentalist Islamic State, going against the 1957 Merdeka Constitution, the “social contract” of the major communities and the 1963 Malaysia Agreement that Malaysia is a democratic, secular and multi-religious nation with Islam as the official religion but not an Islamic State?

It is both sad and most shocking that the Prime Minister and all the Cabinet Ministers are not setting the good example of respecting and upholding the historical, political, legal and constitutional principles of the Malaysian nation by unilaterally, arbitrarily and unconstitutionally declaring Malaysia as an Islamic fundamentalist state.

Thus I had condemned, and still do, both MCA and Gerakan as 'willing captives' to UMNO or Mahathir's draconian deformasi dictates.

Today, in a politically moribund MCA, its Youth wing, realizing its status as an endangered specie, wants to show their 'constituencies' or what few are left of them, that MCA is still relevant as representatives of Chinese Malaysians, as demonstrated by a Johor branch (Pasir Gudang) severing relationship with PM Najib and another (unusually for a meek mousey MCA) calling for Najib to provide information and clarifications on 1MDB.

Would these radical (for MCA) gestures be a sad case of 'too little too late'?

And we need to bear in mind too these MCA Youths are in the same peer group as the Chinese Malaysian youths whom Singapore Ambassador-at-large Balihari Kausikan had criticized as being politically delusional, wakakaka.

As I had written in an earlier post Secret about Chinese Malaysians the Chinese priorities would be something along this line:

• procreate (sons) to perpetuate the family line. Confucius said that a man's greatest sin was in not doing so. I admit and am glad that today's Chinese don't care so much about the gender of their children (girls today are just as great as sons) as much as their children's health, intelligent and well-being, the last of which includes education
• the concept of 3 daily 'bowls of rice', even if this has to be achieved by selling pirate DVDs
• as mentioned in dot-point (1) above, their children's education especially for those not so well off, to enable their children to bloom like lotus, which rises up from the muddy dirty water (poverty) and bloom in glorious splendour through education, qualification and a career.

With today's Chinese Malaysian youths, perhaps I need to add in one extra priority, to wit, 'respect by the UMNO-BN government as a Malaysian, equal to other Malaysians' which it would seem is to include an appropriate quantum of political power.

Najib and his MCA cohorts have until GE-14 to work that out. Good luck, you need it!