1999Vol19no.1.Pdf

UMNO's survival now appears to be linked to the survival of big corporate conglomerates. &y Dr Maznah Mohamad lying for) is money. ._I Events ofthe past months may .have aroused :raging While the politics of monc" ,qtJ(!St.ions about the durability of Dr Mahathir ~s reigns high within the party, ib premiership. D<'epcr than this perhaps, is the ques• original dictum of "Ketuanan Melayu" (Malay supre"':"lacy) :lion of the survival of fhe par.ty he controls. Can· rings increasingly hollow to the UMNO, which has virtually become undifferentiated Malay masses. U\L~O leaders from the stJtc and whic:h I1<1S ruled the country since are not in step with the "other" independence, continue 1to form the govemme.nt; att side of development. The party is marginalising many group::. of iufiui.tum? "disenfranchised" Malays who are the victims of ... kewed devel opment. UMNO !.~der~ · recur hen UMNO was de UMNO, the party, is in great tur ring resort to "\i,h.! ia\•ellian and clared iJJegal in 1988, moil, again. dirty tactics for political 5UI"'wal many took it as the sur is leaving a moral legacy that is est sign of its eventual However, the fear among many full of holes. It i ... aL'O lea\'ing a demise. It did not happen. people of UMNO ever breaking gaping leadership credibility UMNO did not vanish because of up is being allayed by their trust gap. judicial intervention. It was re in Dr Mahathir. There is nothing born as UMNO Baru, or "new" that he cannot fix. In fact, he, and ~ntity Crisis UMNO, but in its old cast. It was the party may even come out The party is encountering an restored to its status quo ante. more triumphant after the crisis. identity crisis. \\'hat u~~ to con So goes the thought. Will it work stitute the ~Way etho~, UMi\:'0- Today, the oft-echoed lamenta this time around? style, was couched in the attain tion of "money politics" as being ment of economic parity, politi UMNO's bane is louder. Umrni To get an idea, let's look at some cal one-upJllafuhip and the reli Hafilda, key witness in the aspects of UMNO's less bright gious high ground. Democracy, Anwar lbrahim trial, even went side. To begin with the party human righb, and the rule-of as far as, it appeared, slandering lacks renewed idealism. Its mem law were shunted aside as incon and breaking up her own family, bership is elicited among social veniences obstructing the process all to "save" UMNO, the party. climbers with corporate ambi of Mala\' advancement. The party president even half-se tions, rather than among those riously suggested that nothing with a commitment to a cause. As Today, without doubt, what was short of his hvin could fill his some would see it, in UMNO, the touted a' the Malay ethos is un shoes. All of these signal that only cause worth dying for (or dergoing a :,hakedown. For one Aliran Monthly January 1999: 19(1 ) Page 2 justice And Common Desllny Human Rights Message 27 Human Rights Evaluation 30 Reformation In Penang 38 15 ALIRAN'S HOMEPAGE 19 http://www.moloysio.net/oliran 25 Printed by RP Print..,.. Sdn. Bhd. 37 116, 68 I< 70 Jol.an Air IUm 10400 Puuo Pilung.Mal.tysiL 40 Ttl : 604 • 21655C6 Fu: 604 ·2271164 Published by Aliran Kesedaran Negara (ALIRAN) 103, Medan Penag2, 11600 Jelutong.. l'enllng. Miliys1L Tel : (04) 658 5251 fliX: (04) 658 5197 Ali ron Monthly Jonuory 1999: 19(1) Page 3 thing, economic parity per se can ful agenda is related to its disdain was circumscribed. Witness the not be upheld under conctitions for counter-pointing youthful banning of the Al-Arqam influ of the shrinking pie. For another, voices. Since the early 1970s, ence on campus. We may recall the religious high ground is be UMNO has not been able to tap that during the pre-UUCA days ing forced to take on a more prag into the energies of youth. This the lively proclamation of com matic dimension. The infustice was the result of the backlash of peting ideological postures was that was apparent in the hand ling policies put into place to tame the one of the healthy features of of the Anwar Ibrahim issue has restlessness of students and campus life. become too transparent to ignore. young dissidents. Students were Hence, the ideas of judicial inde forced to disengage from politics Today, twenty-one year olds at pendence, due process of law, after their involvement in the university - old enough to and human rights have almost peasant uprising of 1974. The choose their go\'ernment- are overnight struck a chord with uprising, which was partly stu muzzled from talking and large sectors of the Malay com dent-led, shook the then regime thinking politics. As for wear munity. so badly, that to prevent the re ing their political colours on peat of any show of student their sleeves, that is strictly off When Anwar Ibrahim was dis power, the University and Uni limits. One cannot imagine how plissed on moral grounds, the versity Colleges' Act (UUCA) sterile the campus environment party president (being too much was crafted for use. It was tabled can be these days. of a moderniser) was out of touch by the then Education Minister, with the existence of an ancient Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Small wonder that most political Malay social covenant: a ruler parties today lack any cogent should never resort to the ploy of The legislation has become so sense of idealism or imagination. shaming a subject (memberi 'nib) successful that it is now stultify Without some participation from lest the wrath of the Almighty is ing creativity, critical reflection spirited, incorruptible, energetic set upon the land to destroy it. and healthy "rebellion" among youths, it may be difficult for university students. Despite their political movements to renew Not once in the history of UMNO energy, time, spirit and social dis themselves or poljtical parties to has any prominent dissident position for engaging in vibrant be re-invented to avoid obsoles te:.n so publicly humiliated (as political concerns~ university stu cence. nwar Ibrahim has been) and dents are proscribed to a life of oved on moral grounds! Even staid and often vacuous bookish Lately, havingp-ealised that it has he case of Rahim TambyChik, pursuits. no consensus among the young Eere was no formal accusation (perhaps the crowd that had been that he had committed any moral The consequence of this is apa thought to thrllng the Refonnasi or criminal wrongdoing! thy and indifference towards so rallies}, ~0 hastily propoSed, cial issues. Those who harbour that the minimum age for ~ tfhe removal of Anwar Ibrahim any political inclinations express membership be reduced to Hi f8 the one single political event themselves surreptitiously and years. This will not amount to that has been responsible for un exercise self-censorship within anything since ma8l of us know leashing the many facets of perceived safety limits. During that ~alaysian children are stay Malay resentment. On the other the heady days of the economic ing longer in school these days. hand, the process of UMNO's boom, university students be Those v-•ho drop out at the age of decay had actually set in long came even less concerned about 16 must be either extremely poor before. This combination of re fulfilling civic duties, let alone or extremely uninterested in cent Malay mass disaffection and about contemplating meaningful school. Either way they need help a weakening party structure roles in politics. of the more basic kind rather than holds the key to how future apprenticeship into politics. As events will be shaped. Naturally, most Malay students expected, this hasty move to resorted to religion because it was tamper with figures to score Lost ldealls111 the only legitimate avenue for po numbers for the party did not litical expression (through the Is come to fruition. The proposal UMNO's lack of a single power- lam of various shades). Even this was dropped. Ali ron Monthly January 1999: 19(1) Page 4 Memltershlp ancl sitions) are plenty of money, sin Those "years of consensus" Opportunism ister poison-pen letters, charac helped to build the stature and ter-assassination plots, in some coffers of UMNO from a party One other indicator of UMNO's cases the help of mystics (some protective of the Malays to a hold on power is its membership times resulting in severe fatali party protected by wealthy profile. From the mid-1980s on ties), and the use (and hence Malays. Having built itself up as wards, the factor of U'vfNO's fi abuse) of the instruments of the a financially formidable party, nancial omnipotence appears to state. The apex of this game of helped by the spoils of the boom be more successful in rallying fol out-chancing rivals was the un ing economy and privatisation lowers than its earlier more noble rivalled way that the book 50 deals, UMNO became increas ideology of uplifting the Malays. Dalil was produced, distributed ingly dependent for its protection Cynics equate UMNO's mono and pedalled as koranic truths. and enrichment upon a class of Jithic image as the undisputed That the presenl national crisis wealthy corporate Malays. champion of Malay supremacy was triggered by the issuance of with the party's ability to shore this pernicious piece of trash is Perhaps that is where the singu up lucrative business deals. On even more pathetic! lar role of the party in upholding the other.hand, this is intentional.

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