COMMENT
Umno simply can’t manage differences in opinions except through animosity until death. Take the Kelantan situation. Mustapa Mohamed (Kelantan Umno liaison chief) or Tok Pa is a good technocrat. He works hard. I’m confident Tok Pa is a good man.
But he does fail miserably in the personality department. Even the TNB lamp posts have better “personality”. As a politician, Tok Pa is colourless. We don’t know when he is angry and when he is happy.
I once asked Tok Pa if he knew the Kelantan dialect. If we listened to his conversation, it’s difficult to tell he’s from Kelantan. His face is expressionless.
He says he wants to seek Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s (Ku Li) advice, but it’s difficult to gauge his actual intention.
Is his offer to seek Ku Li’s counsel aimed at covering up Kelantan Umno’s carelessness in not inviting the most influential personality in Kelantan to its meetings?
The problem in Kelantan is that every Umno division leader thinks he’s a bigshot, at least until the election arrives.
Let’s take a look at Kelantan and Tok Pa’s declaration that Umno will wrest 23 seats in the coming general election. Is it an empty war cry?
I’ve just returned from Kelantan and let me tell you what we saw.
We saw a vigorous and energetic community. Progress and development were organic.
Organic progress in Kelantan
Organic in this instance means that the majority of the progress and development came through the people’s own effort and hard work, with minimal government encouragement and support.
The Kelantan government may have succeeded in only earning RM400 million to RM500 million a year – a small amount when compared to other states – but its citizen have disposal incomes.
The money is in their own hands. The biggest lesson here is that the best people to manage our money is we ourselves.
With money in their own hands, Kelantan citizens have moved ahead in their own personal development and progress.
The political lesson here is simply this – with economic autonomy, Kelantan citizens have wider options.
Now for me that is a huge sign that the Kelantanese doen’t need the politics of patronage which Umno is touting as essential for development.
The Kelantanese have long ago learnt that a government is merely a wadah (vessel) through which to achieve their objectives.
Having economic autonomy has empowered the rakyat in Kelantan to remain loyal to the ruling administration which was built on values, conviction and faith. It’s a call that people can relate to.
In this contex what is Umno struggling for? Not for the Malays surely because that struggle has been replaced by personal interest.
Umno is trumpeting his struggle for the “people’s welfare”’ when actually it is looking into securing the comfort of big corporates.
Trust must be earned
Tenders are being awarded without open bidding or through limited tender.
Even the limited bids tender is exposed to all kinds of manipulation and wheeling and dealing.
So Umno talking about Malays is a big lie. To say that Umno represents the Malays is a lie. Umno is incapable of representing the Malays.
If indeed Umno is struggling for the Malays, then why is Terengganu and Kelantan being denied oil royalty when Malays are the majority in both these states?
So when Umno talks about Malay unity and Islam, they are actually talking about Umno unity.
If a party is talking about championing the Malay struggle, then it must not be conditional.
If you want to help the Malays, then don’t insist they be Umno Malays because Malays in DAP and PAS are also Malays and Muslims.
In 2008 there were 5.7 million Malay voters. Umno candidates only garnered two million Malay votes. That means 3.7 million Malays did not support Umno, which champions the struggle for Malays.
Trust, as such, must be earned and not demanded, Mr Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.
The writer is a former Umno state assemblyman and has now joined DAP.
Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | February 16, 2012
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