We badly need a nation

We badly need a real united nation ― not only Putrajaya.


1) The beginning of the end

In the beginning it used to be the one and only organisation i.e. UMNO the acronym for “United Malay National Organisation”. Pas was then Umno’s ulamaks, the religious scholars’ group. Dissatisfied with the state of affairs in Umno, that ‘Islamic component’ broke away to form Pas, the Pan Malayan Islamic Party. Yes, the Pas that we see today. That was in the early fifties.

The vital point has always been to capture the hearts and minds of the Malays, something which was very logical then, as it is now. With the banning of Hisbul Muslimin by the British authorities and the declaration of the Emergency ― mainly due to the activities of CPM, the journey of Pas as an Islamic party was more treacherous than ever.

For Pas, it has always been Islam. For Umno it has always been the bangsa (race) followed by the other denominators, including Islam. For the left ― the likes of Rashid Maidin, Ahmad Boestamam, and Chin Peng the vision was a “Merdeka” (free) Persekutuan Tanah Melayu. For Umno it was then “Hidup Melayu” as it is now.

This part of our history makes interesting reading, especially with the return of August, when we celebrate our independence.


2) Moving from the original territory ― the Malays
(Umno needs Islam)


Over the years, Umno has, consistently been labelling Pas as a party fit only for village lebais (religious teachers). There were other colourful labels manufactured and attached on to its arc rival: Anti development, myopic, extremists, over zealous with its Islamic concept etc. Pas however remained unperturbed. Initially such horrendous onslaught especially through its controlled media managed to keep the non-Malay voters at bay.

In spite of such scare tactics on Pas-propagated Islam, Umno realised that for it to be marketable, Umno has to wear Islam; at least the mask. To leave out Islam is to commit a very serious strategic and tactical error which Umno could not afford. Why? It strongly believes that the Islamic tag would help it boost its flagging fortunes. For that: Umno must be seen as the only champion of Islam ― nothing less. And Umno must vehemently grab that portion of the Islamic make-up.

In the eyes of its leaders even that is not sufficient. Umno needs an Islam that is much more progressively superior. How does one make it happen? Just improvise. Improvise Islam so that Umno has a much more advance version or clone of Islam. (That was how we have stumbled into Islam Hadhari, Penerapan Nilai-Nilai Islam” etc)
In other words over the years, Umno discovered that to be relevant, it has to shift and conquer the right territories ― from the solely ‘Malays’ to ‘Malays plus Islam’. Pas on the other hand, remained steadfast to Islam. All it wanted was for Umno to fully embrace Islam. It did not (seem) to really bother if it could rule the nation. Upholding Islam has always been high on its agenda.

Pas knew then, as it knows now, to democratically rule this nation of ours, it has to go beyond the Malays. Pas could not be bothered (then). For Pas ― with Islam everything would be in place. Yes, one might ask: Will such ‘naivety’ find its chance in realpolitik?

As we have seen, with time Umno the secular race-based political party deteriorated from bad to worse. From the original secular nationalistic stance it also embraced into folds cronyism, corruption, power abuse.

What then is the consequence?

Alas, even its brand new versions of everything under the sun from Islam to corruption etc, (Islam-Islam Hadhari), corruption (money politics), subsidies (to the rakyat) and incentives (for the IPPs), ― to list one or two examples) could not keep it afloat. We saw that in PRU12.


The rest is history.


3) What is Umno doing?


The question is: Does it really surprise us if Umno is behaving the way it is behaving now, especially after its debacle in PRU12?

Isn’t it digging deeper into racism, bigotry and the areas unimagined for most sober-headed citizens?

To be relevant Umno has to venture beyond “Hidup Melayu”. To be relevant it has to be very envious of Pas’s Islamic credentials. And for that Umno has always been busy in the workshop ― from polishing its Islamic mask to the antics of haraming non-Muslims presenting themselves in suraus and mosques ― even for those who are in the course of carrying their duties as the people’s representatives. At the same time, it has to show its undivided love (loyalty) for the monarchy although at times, it finds convenient to unmask it.

That’s the one and only Umno which has been ruling us.

Have people been close to its heart? Heart? No, that’s too big a word! Is Umno, as a friend use to ask, genuine?

I agree with the suggestion from some quarters in Pas (Mahfuz, Sallehuddin?) ― it is timely now for Umno to take a break and do its genuine soul-searching. But first, leave that man ― the MAN who rules us for almost his entire life ― from the process.

We badly need a real united nation ― not only Putrajaya.

Can you imagine, in this century:

Some politicians are still (only) dead serious about Malays and Islam. In the process they forgot about the nation and the very reason why we elect them in the first place.

Footnote:

I am writing this piece to educate myself, as a layman ― a rakyat. If you accidentally stumble into it, and find that something is seriously wrong/offensive (including language), please help correct it. That way, together we hopefully would be more ‘enlightened’.