EXCLUSIVE | Keris, kleptocracy, and Umno’s theatre of irrelevance
17 Jan 2026 • 7:00 AM MYT
Citizen Nades
A legally qualified journalist and a good governance champion
Image Credit: Focus Malaysia
OPINION: Not too long ago, Umno’s annual assembly was broadcast live on state television, a spectacle amplified by politically appointed editors who dispatched platoons of reporters for wall-to-wall coverage. Their presence was less about journalism than feudal -- cameo appearances to reassure party masters that obedience was guaranteed.
For six decades, fortified by dominance over the media and a compliant civil service, Umno operated with an air of invincibility. Its power permeated every sphere, from administration and law to contracts and finance. Little moved without the party’s blessing.
In this unchallenged era, even theatrical gestures -- like then Youth leader, Hishamuddin Hussein, unsheathing, kissing, and brandishing a two-foot keris -- were symbols of unchecked arrogance, not subject to scrutiny.
The political landscape treated Umno’s utterances as scripture. Observers, analysts, and diplomats would analyse speeches as if decoding prophecy, desperate to read the party’s next move.
That era is over. Those heady days are gone. The political tsunami of 2008 stripped Umno of its two-thirds majority and humbled it in four states.
The crushing blow came in 2018 amidst the involvement of its president, Najib Abdul Razak, in the 1MDB scandal. As hard as Umno and its members tried, the stigma of being named as the world’s biggest kleptocrat would not go away.
Najib insisted 1MDB was not directly implicated in the U.S. Department of Justice report, but Malaysians were unconvinced. Week after week, the Wall Street Journal and The Edge Weekly churned out damning exposés.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/350449
In July 2020, Najib was convicted of abuse of power, money laundering, and criminal breach of trust involving RM42 million in SRC funds. He swore his innocence with an Islamic oath, but the courts spoke otherwise.
His deputy, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, inherited the helm and wagered everything against Anwar Ibrahim’s fledgling opposition.
By 2022, Umno was clinging to survival, propping up the unity government -- the only lifeline left. Yet the party refused to accept the court’s verdict, insisting Najib had not received a fair trial and clamouring for pardons, even as billions were looted under his watch.
On December 26 last year, Najib was convicted on 25 charges, sentenced to 15 years in prison, and fined $2.8 billion by the High Court of Malaysia. He will appeal, but the stain remains.
But it refused to accept what the court ruled – Najib stole money from the public purse. They claimed he did not get a fair trial and later argued that he should be pardoned for “his services to the country”.
To insist otherwise would be stretching fantasy to its breaking point. After all, it was under his watch that RM45 billion vanished from the treasury, as if public funds were a magician’s prop to be spirited away.
After getting a reduction in his sentence but failing to complete his jail sentence at home, Umno began yet again clamouring for yet another pardon.
But on Dec 26 last year, Najib was convicted on 25 charges, sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined $2.8 billion by the High Court of Malaysia, but will appeal the judgment.
These days, Umno makes its presence relevant and noticeable with loud noises, especially from the Youth leader, Akmal Salleh.
The DAP (which some observers say has metamorphosed into MCA 2.0) has become its punching bag and even merely expressing an opinion could incur not only Umno’s wrath but also of DAP leaders.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2026/01/11/like-it-or-not-najib-once-led-umno-loke-reminds-dap-members
Puchong MP Yeo Bee Yin found out the hard way when she was ticked off by DAP secretary general, Anthony Loke but he maintained stolid silence on what party disciplinary chairman, Tony Pua, had said.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/764066,
Umno is now a party caught between nostalgia and irrelevance. Its leaders still brandish the keris as theatre, (the samurai sword has replaced the keris)!
But the blade no longer cuts through the electorate. The swagger of dominance has given way to grievance, with the party clinging to old enemies as if they were lifelines.
The truth is harsher: Umno’s survival depends less on its own strength than on the indulgence of coalition partners and the patience of voters weary of scandal. Its refusal to reckon with Najib’s convictions, its obsession with pardons, and its reliance on racial theatrics betray a party unable to reinvent itself for a Malaysia that must move on.
OPINION: Not too long ago, Umno’s annual assembly was broadcast live on state television, a spectacle amplified by politically appointed editors who dispatched platoons of reporters for wall-to-wall coverage. Their presence was less about journalism than feudal -- cameo appearances to reassure party masters that obedience was guaranteed.
For six decades, fortified by dominance over the media and a compliant civil service, Umno operated with an air of invincibility. Its power permeated every sphere, from administration and law to contracts and finance. Little moved without the party’s blessing.
In this unchallenged era, even theatrical gestures -- like then Youth leader, Hishamuddin Hussein, unsheathing, kissing, and brandishing a two-foot keris -- were symbols of unchecked arrogance, not subject to scrutiny.
The political landscape treated Umno’s utterances as scripture. Observers, analysts, and diplomats would analyse speeches as if decoding prophecy, desperate to read the party’s next move.
That era is over. Those heady days are gone. The political tsunami of 2008 stripped Umno of its two-thirds majority and humbled it in four states.
The crushing blow came in 2018 amidst the involvement of its president, Najib Abdul Razak, in the 1MDB scandal. As hard as Umno and its members tried, the stigma of being named as the world’s biggest kleptocrat would not go away.
Najib insisted 1MDB was not directly implicated in the U.S. Department of Justice report, but Malaysians were unconvinced. Week after week, the Wall Street Journal and The Edge Weekly churned out damning exposés.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/350449
In July 2020, Najib was convicted of abuse of power, money laundering, and criminal breach of trust involving RM42 million in SRC funds. He swore his innocence with an Islamic oath, but the courts spoke otherwise.
His deputy, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, inherited the helm and wagered everything against Anwar Ibrahim’s fledgling opposition.
By 2022, Umno was clinging to survival, propping up the unity government -- the only lifeline left. Yet the party refused to accept the court’s verdict, insisting Najib had not received a fair trial and clamouring for pardons, even as billions were looted under his watch.
On December 26 last year, Najib was convicted on 25 charges, sentenced to 15 years in prison, and fined $2.8 billion by the High Court of Malaysia. He will appeal, but the stain remains.
But it refused to accept what the court ruled – Najib stole money from the public purse. They claimed he did not get a fair trial and later argued that he should be pardoned for “his services to the country”.
To insist otherwise would be stretching fantasy to its breaking point. After all, it was under his watch that RM45 billion vanished from the treasury, as if public funds were a magician’s prop to be spirited away.
After getting a reduction in his sentence but failing to complete his jail sentence at home, Umno began yet again clamouring for yet another pardon.
But on Dec 26 last year, Najib was convicted on 25 charges, sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined $2.8 billion by the High Court of Malaysia, but will appeal the judgment.
These days, Umno makes its presence relevant and noticeable with loud noises, especially from the Youth leader, Akmal Salleh.
The DAP (which some observers say has metamorphosed into MCA 2.0) has become its punching bag and even merely expressing an opinion could incur not only Umno’s wrath but also of DAP leaders.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2026/01/11/like-it-or-not-najib-once-led-umno-loke-reminds-dap-members
Puchong MP Yeo Bee Yin found out the hard way when she was ticked off by DAP secretary general, Anthony Loke but he maintained stolid silence on what party disciplinary chairman, Tony Pua, had said.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/764066,
Umno is now a party caught between nostalgia and irrelevance. Its leaders still brandish the keris as theatre, (the samurai sword has replaced the keris)!
But the blade no longer cuts through the electorate. The swagger of dominance has given way to grievance, with the party clinging to old enemies as if they were lifelines.
The truth is harsher: Umno’s survival depends less on its own strength than on the indulgence of coalition partners and the patience of voters weary of scandal. Its refusal to reckon with Najib’s convictions, its obsession with pardons, and its reliance on racial theatrics betray a party unable to reinvent itself for a Malaysia that must move on.
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