Dr M: Wan Farid is just a proxy

Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad claims that the BN candidate for Kuala Terengganu by-election is someone who can be ‘used’ in time to come.

S Pathmawathy | Jan 5, 09 4:04pm

Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad expressed disappointment with the selection of Wan Ahmad Farid as the Barisan Nasional candidate in the Kuala Terengganu by-election.

Wan Ahmad will contest the parliamentary seat that had been held by deputy education minister Razali Ismail up to his death on Nov 28 last year.

“The choice of the candidate by BN is really very bad because everybody sees him just as a proxy... someone to be used later on if Najib becomes the prime minister,” Mahathir (left) claimed at a press conference in Putrajaya today.

Wan Ahmad had been appointed deputy home minister after the general election in March last year, and was reappointed a senator last month.

He resigned his ministerial post last Friday and his senatorial post today, in order to contest the by-election on Jan 17.

'PM’s particular choice'

Mahathir also dismissed claims that the by-election is an important battle for Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is leading the election campaign.

“They are trying to project it as Najib's test (because) if he becomes the prime minister then these are people (including Wan Ahmad, right) who will be surrounding Najib,” said Mahathir.

Asked whether he felt the opposition has a chance of bagging the seat, Mahathir said: “I don't know about the opposition having an upper hand but I think it is an even tide.”

He said the by-election would not bring about much difference for the BN as “it is not a major fight”.

“But of course the candidate (from) Umno was the prime minister's particular choice, because he is working with the prime minister,” he said.

Wan Farid will stand against Mohd Abdul Wahid of PAS and possibly Angkatan Keadilan Insan Malaysia vice-president Harun Moham. --- malaysiakini.com

Zaid: Pak Lah a nice man

" No, I think Pak Lah is a nice man. He wouldn’t sack me on his own [...] but then Pak Lah couldn’t even maintain himself..." he said.

Reform of Umno doubtful, says sacked ex-minister

Sacked Umno member and former de facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim is doubtful if the ruling party is capable of reform as pledged following its dismal showing in the March 8 polls.

Zaid, who was given the boot on Tuesday for having close ties with the opposition, lamented that some leaders in Umno could not accept his open-minded approaches and views.

During a press conference in Petaling Jaya today, the former minister was asked if Umno is capable of reforms, to which he replied: "I doubt they (the leaders) can."

"But Umno will have a new leader in March... I may be wrong," he added in reference to the transition of power plan which will see Najib Abdul Razak succeeding Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as number one.

On the same note, Zaid stressed that his sacking underscored the fact that Umno leaders were not open to the ideas of change which he advocated.

"The criticisms against me were because they cannot accept these ideas of change. (Otherwise) why are they so angry with me? What have I done? They can't accept these changes," he said.

Among others, he said, certain party leaders could not accept his stand on wanting to make the Malays more independent.

These party leaders, he added, considered such a view as a 'betrayal' of the Malay race.

'Stop belittling me'

Although he did not name the leaders, Zaid, when responding to another question, called on Umno vice-president Muhyiddin Yassin, information chief Muhammad Muhd Taib and supreme council member Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz to stop ‘belittling’ him.

"Umno leaders like Nazri, Muhyiddin, Mat Taib (Muhammad) and others always made fun of me and said all sort of things. I think they should concentrate on doing their work and resolve the country’s problems.

"Like they said, since I am a nobody, there is no need for them to belittle me all the time, focus on your work," he added.

Zaid said his attempt to articulate a new vision for the party which was less communal had been misconstrued as being ‘rebellious’.

He also warned that if Umno did not adopt a more inclusive approach, race relations in this country would be further affected.

"Umno has become more etno-centric, more communitarian but that is not our role. Umno’s role is to be the provider for everyone [...] that is where we differ," he said.

'Pak Lah a nice man'

Zaid also disagreed when asked if his sacking was a move by Abdullah to boost his popularity in the party.

No, I think Pak Lah is a nice man. He wouldn’t sack me on his own [...] but then Pak Lah couldn’t even maintain himself..." he said.

Zaid's resignation from his ministerial post in September and his sacking this week render a blow to the Abdullah administration.

The 58-year politician had left a successful legal practice to serve in Abdullah’s government in March and his appointment was lauded as a sign of the premier’s resolution to push for reforms.

Zaid was entrusted with the task of reforming the judiciary, one of the major reforms that was promised by Abdullah.

Nevertheless, it was a bumpy road for Zaid during his short tenure in government after he was dealt with internal criticisms on several counts such as the setting up of the judicial appointment commission and the issue of apologising to six affected judges in the 1988 judicial crisis.

He finally resigned in protest over the use of the Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial, against an opposition politician, a blogger and a journalist - Malaysiakini.com

Ketuanan Melayu rebutted

By Shanon Shah
shanonshah@thenutgraph.com
24 Nov 08 : 9.00AM

"IF you live in Malaysia, you cannot have Ketuanan Melayu. The word 'ketuanan' is alienating. Malaysia has Eurasians, Indonesians, Chinese, Indians, and so on. If anyone deserves to be called the 'tuan' of this land, it's the Orang Asli."

Most Malaysians would be forgiven for thinking that it was a non-Malay Malaysian politician speaking out against Ketuanan Melayu. But these sentiments were articulated by Nur Farina Noor Hashim, the People's Progressive Party (PPP) Puteri bureau head.

"I just had no interest to join Umno," Farina, who joined PPP in 2004, tells The Nut Graph. PPP is a component party of the Barisan Nasional (BN), of which Umno is the dominant party.

Farina is, of course, referring to the position taken by Umno leaders that suggests ketuanan Melayu is synonymous with Malay rights, and that Malay rights are under threat. Or rather, any questioning of ketuanan Melayu is tantamount to threatening the Malay race.

The consistent message from these Umno leaders of late seems to be that only Umno is capable of defending the Malays. Or that Umno is the Malay race. And their currency is ketuanan Melayu.

Farina is not the only Malay Malaysian politician to view with some amount of circumspection Umno's position as defender of the Malays and their supremacy.

"I love Malays and I love Malaysia," says Gerakan central committee member Dr Asharuddin Ahmad. "But this country cannot survive without non-Malays. We are all Malaysians. The future of Malaysia lies with multiracial parties," he tells The Nut Graph.

Interestingly, Asharuddin (photo right) is a former Umno member. He joined Umno in 1988, but left to join Gerakan 10 years later. He says he has been branded a traitor to Malay Malaysians, but asserts that joining Gerakan does not make him "any less Malay or more Malay".

"Umno's struggle is not wrong, but I prefer Gerakan's multiracial approach," Asharuddin says.

"Ketuanan" alienates

Umno leaders' defensiveness around the ketuanan Melayu rhetoric is not new. Their recent rancour in attacking dissenters within the BN, such as former Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Zaid Ibrahim and Gerakan Wanita chief Datuk Tan Lian Hoe, was therefore alarming yet unsurprising.

The question, however, is whether Malay Malaysian politicians have a future outside of Umno, especially if they want to remain within the BN.

In that sense, the case of Gerakan's Asharuddin is interesting, having crossed over from a party that champions ketuanan Melayu to a multiracial one.

But Asharuddin is not alone. Another ex-Umno member who jumped ship to join a multiracial BN component party is Datuk Nik Sapeia Nik Yusof from PPP.

Nik Sapeia was invited by party president Datuk Dr M Kayveas to join, even though he is still facing court proceedings for the charge of attacking former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2006. Nik Sapeia is now the party's Kelantan chief.

"Before I came along, nobody believed PPP had any supporters in Kelantan," Nik Sapeia tells The Nut Graph. "Now in Kelantan, every time I organise an event I get thousands of people attending and supporting it. The Kelantanese are ready and they want change to happen in the political scenario here."

He says the Kelantanese are increasingly seeing that PPP will bring about this much-needed change.

Asharuddin and Nik Sapeia are undoubtedly minorities among the BN's multiracial component parties. However, they are slowly coming out of the woodwork, especially since the BN's unprecedented losses in the 8 March 2008 general election.

Farina (photo right) feels that Umno's outbursts and threats will only backfire in the long run.

"Malaysians are very open-minded and intelligent now," she says. "Our politicians must be on par with the rakyat's intelligence, because it's the rakyat who want change and will eventually change this country."

Multiracial politics

The voices of these non-Umno Malay Malaysians within the BN join those in the Pakatan Rakyat that have also been upping the ante against Umno's ketuanan Melayu rhetoric.

As part of its election campaign, PAS launched its "PAS for all" tagline. The Islamist party also continues to aggressively recruit non-Muslim support via Kelab Penyokong PAS.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) leaders, such as Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Dr Syed Husin Ali, have been promoting "ketuanan rakyat" instead of "ketuanan Melayu". And the DAP also scored a coup when it recruited Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim as the party's vice-chairperson. He was formerly vice-chairperson of Transparency International's board of directors.

The Pakatan Rakyat parties are therefore, in varying degrees, grappling with their respective multiracial futures. The previously monoreligious, monoracial PAS is trying to appeal to a wider section of Malaysians. In an interview in the November 2008 issue of Off the Edge, even party spiritual advisor Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat said, "If there is a Chinese person in Kelantan who is good, pious and clean, I will campaign for him to become Chief Minister. As long as he is qualified, as long as he is a Muslim, I don't care what ethnic background he comes from."

The Chinese-dominated DAP is trying to increase its appeal to non-Chinese Malaysians, specifically Malay Malaysians. And high-level Malay Malaysian leaders in PKR are trying to consolidate the party's tentative multiracialism.

A little-known fact is that two other opposition parties, albeit non-Pakatan Rakyat members, are multiracial and led by Malay Malaysians. They, too, are vocal in their opposition to the Ketuanan Melayu rhetoric.

Historical miscalculations

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) national chairperson Dr Nasir Hashim (photo right) says Umno's racial outbursts are rooted in historical miscalculations.

"We made a mistake, even after Merdeka, when we were emerging as a nation. We should have talked about helping the poor among all races and not just zero in on one race," he tells The Nut Graph.

Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) president Hassan Karim concurs. He tells The Nut Graph: "The NEP (New Economic Policy), being capitalist and race-based, only benefited a minority of Malays. What about analysing it from a class perspective? Not all Chinese are rich either, you know. There cannot be ketuanan Melayu or ketuanan bukan Melayu. There must be justice for all."

According to PSM's Nasir, the implementation of the NEP which focused on one race soon gave currency to the ketuanan Melayu rhetoric. But he says ketuanan Melayu is just a red herring. "Name me one Malay who is a pure Malay. There is virtually none — all Malays are mixed-blood to some degree."

Rather, Umno's outbursts can be seen as the increasingly desperate acts of a party frustrated by its loss of power, he argues. "Umno is frustrated by its losses during the general election, and continues to use race and religion to divert the anger of poor Malays," adds Nasir.

"Because as so-called leaders of the Malays, Umno has failed. It has not even been able to help poor Malays and Malay entrepreneurs," he asserts. Therefore, the ketuanan Melayu rhetoric conveniently redirects the frustration and anger of disenfranchised Malay Malaysians towards other races. Herein lies the danger of Umno's rhetoric, says Nasir.

"In times of economic difficulty, the ketuanan Melayu rhetoric will likely give rise to fascist tendencies. When people are feeling the pinch and they are frustrated, you just need to cucuk them and then they'll meletup. Umno knows this only too well," he says.

Again, PRM's Hassan (left) concurs. "Ketuanan Melayu will destroy our country. I'm a Malay too, you know, but I believe that what Umno is fighting for is feudalistic. We cannot move forward if we follow Umno."

The Malay Malaysian leaders interviewed all say that interest in their respective parties, both in the BN and opposition, has risen since 8 March, especially among Malays.

It is definitely heartening that there is a diverse and growing number of Malay Malaysian political leaders speaking out against supremacist rhetoric and for an inclusive society. But it is even more encouraging that they are gaining support.

Perhaps this, then, is the most encouraging indicator yet that racial politics is losing currency in Malaysia.

BN’s power play

by Ng Boon Hooi
ngboonhooi@thenutgraph.com
20 Nov 08 : 9.00AM

Bullying giants

IN George Orwell's novel Animal Farm, there's a line about how all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. The same could be said about the component parties in the Barisan Nasional (BN).

The BN is made up of 13 disparate parties — five based in the peninsula, and the rest in Sabah and Sarawak — with Umno, the MCA and MIC forming the backbone of the coalition. This formalised power-sharing agreement helps ensure that the various voices are heard and the interests of the different ethnic minorities are represented.

But Umno is the dominant force in the BN, taking the lion's share of leadership positions in the government by virtue of it representing the Malay-majority populace.

This has resulted in some component parties complaining of being sidelined in the decision-making process. The BN formula of mutual cooperation, it seems, doesn't always work.

During the 55th MCA general assembly on 18 Oct, outgoing president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting raised eyebrows when he said the BN has to reform to resolve the perception that Umno dominates over the other component parties in the ruling coalition.

Despite an almost immediate denial by BN chairperson and Umno president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the "Umno bully" theme seems to have struck a nerve among the component party members.

The MCA and Gerakan leaders have blamed some Umno leaders' actions and perceived arrogance over the past few years for the results of the 8 March general election, which saw the non-Malay vote bank defecting to the opposition.

The imbalance of power within the BN is recognised, if not articulated, by other component parties as well. And if so, can anything be done to address this issue?

Rebalancing the BN

Newly-elected MCA Youth chief Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong (right) believes that there is room for discussion within the BN. He tells The Nut Graph that the MCA Youth has always spoken up regarding whatever issues they disagree with, such as the use of the Internal Security Act (ISA), and bumiputera equity.

However, unlike many of the delegates at the MCA assembly in October who were very critical of Umno's dominant role in the BN, Wee prefers to focus on how best to re-balance the relationship between the component parties by overhauling the coalition.

"BN should not operate during election campaigns only. BN should have a system [in place] from central to state and local levels. The coalition members should hold regular meetings so that they can enhance understanding, and avoid making decisions and statements that conflict with one another," says Wee.

Wee, who is the deputy education minister, also has high hopes that regular BN supreme council meetings can be held to rectify whatever imbalances of power that exist within the coalition.

"It would change the perception that Umno has a dominant role. Umno should let people see that BN represents a multi-ethnic and multilateral approach [to decision-making], and not be seen as a homogenous party," he adds.

United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok also believes that regular meetings can help to give more voice to the component parties.

He says that there's no need to hide that Umno speaks louder in the BN as the party has the most seats in parliament (79 out of a total of 222 seats).

"We have to fight every step of the way in every issue that we bring up at the BN meetings. We try to get BN to improve [in getting consensus for decisions]. [It's] not easy, we are not denying it," explains Dompok in an interview.

No need for change

But the idea that the BN needs to reform or that there needs to be change in the political balance does not meet with Umno Youth exco Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir's approval.

Mukhriz, for instance, is firm in his belief that there is no real need for changes in the BN format, as called for by the outgoing MCA Youth chief Datuk Liow Tiong Lai during the wing's annual general assembly on 18 Oct.

As for bringing about a better balance of power between the parties, Mukhriz says it all depends on how the component parties present their views and whether it is brought up at the right forum — for instance the BN supreme council meeting.

But Mukhriz also tells The Nut Graph that it is also not fair for the other component parties to divert the responsibility for their problems, including the poor showing during the 8 March elections, to Umno.

"[The allegation that Umno is arrogant] is not the only issue, so how could it be possible to dump everything on Umno?" asks Mukhriz, who is vying to become Umno Youth chief at the party polls in March 2009.

Equal footing?

Though the BN supreme council now meets more regularly, it is not yet apparent how successful it can be in ensuring that all the component parties have an equal footing in fashioning government policy.

Who dares to challenge Umno's dominance within the BN?

The MCA and Gerakan have been the most vocal in lamenting the lack of consultation in decisions made by the government, especially over the ISA detentions that took place on 12 Sept 2008.

Yet, despite both parties passing resolutions at their respective general assemblies, neither party was willing to risk government displeasure by signing an opposition-initiated petition against the ISA in Parliament.

The choice of whether or not to make a stand against a government policy or statement by a senior Umno leader actually lies with the individual leader, says Dompok.

As an example, he points to the memorandum submitted by nine non-Muslim cabinet ministers in January 2006 calling for a review of laws to resolve religious disputes that affect the non-Muslims. After Umno leaders objected, eight of the ministers subsequently withdrew their endorsement of the memo. Only Dompok (left), who is Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, had the guts to refuse.

A year later, Dompok once again broke ranks with his cabinet colleagues by speaking out against Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak's remark about Malaysia being an Islamic state. The fact that he still remains in the cabinet is proof that some amount of criticism at least is tolerated within the BN.

Both Wee and Dompok note that the coalition is slowly responding to criticism about being overly dominated by Umno, and that some changes, such as regular surpreme council meetings, are under way. But Umno must do more to accommodate its smaller partners.

"US now has the first black president, but our country is still talking about ketuanan Melayu. In Sabah we don't have 'tuan'. The last 'tuan' left in 1963," Dompok says.

Gaining leverage

There has been some change within the BN power structure after the coalition lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament. With the opposition Pakatan Rakyat needing only 30 MPs to cross over to topple the government, the smaller component parties, especially in Sabah and Sarawak, have been able to speak out more forcefully.

This has especially been the case for Upko, which has four representatives in Parliament.

For example, Upko took a strong stand against the proposed Petronas gas pipeline project from Kimanis, Sabah to Bintulu, Sarawak, which the party said would not benefit Sabah. Angered by the prime minister's decision to go ahead with the project, Dompok hinted at a possible review of the party's position in the BN.

Amazingly, the threat worked. The cabinet agreed for Sabah to have its own petrochemical industry using the bulk of the state's oil and gas resources, while excess oil and gas can be piped to Bintulu.

The incident showed that it is possible to gain leverage over Umno within the BN, at least in the present political climate.

"I don't think that it is [a] question of using the leverage, but [finding a way of] working within the family of BN," Dompok says.

But whether the other component parties, such as the MCA and Gerakan, can find a way to get their views accepted without doing something similar remains to be tested.

Post-mortem necessary for Umno to understand March 8

OCT 22 - Immediately after the surprising results of Malaysia's March 8 general election became official, there was a rush by journalists, analysts, academicians, laymen and politicians – though apparently not from the ruling BN – to study the preceding months and to make a list of the things that Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's people did or did not do that caused things to go so seriously wrong for them.

Since then, many books have appeared, and continue to appear, on this subject. The questions are simple, even if the answers cannot be.

How did the BN go from holding 90.4per cent of parliamentary seats to having only 63.1 per cent in four short years? How did the oh-so-dominant Umno manage to lose 28per cent of its federal seats?
Also, how could the other BN parties on the peninsula do so badly as to lose 51.6 per cent (MCA), 66.6 per cent (MIC), 80bper cent (Gerakan) and 100 per cent (PPP) of their strength?

Most interestingly, what do these figures say about the internal dynamics, and the public perception of, the ruling coalition?

The first sign that the establishment was not going to dig too deeply to identify the problem came when Abdullah, under pressure from the likes of former premier Mahathir Mohamad to resign, instead of generously taking blame for the results, declared on March 10 that "we are all collectively responsible for all that we have been doing because the government has been making decisions on the basis of consensus."

In line with this distancing stance, he stated that the BN – and not Umno as such – would set up a body to carry out a post-mortem. No further information about what such committee has been doing has been made available.

Former Finance Minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, strongly concerned about what he saw as a serious crisis for Umno, sent an open letter on 12 March to all 193 division leaders, pleading for an emergency general meeting to be convened to discuss the party's worst election results in history.

The Tengku was right in focusing on Umno as the body where reforms were most needed. As he pointed out, Umno once controlled two-thirds of Parliament all by itself. Today, it has 35.6per cent of the seats.

Supporting Umno has obviously gone out of fashion among young Malays. Is that Umno's fault, or is that everybody else's? His plea to the divisions fell on deaf ears.

Seven harrowing months later, it is time for analysts to make another list, this time to explain, not what Abdullah's people did wrong before March 8, but why they stay mired in reactive mode.

The recent decision to ban Hindraf was shocking for what it revealed of the establishment's inability of understand the country's socio-economics, and its reliance on old solutions to solve problems it does not even care to understand.

Certainly, Anwar Ibrahim's incessant taunts at the government had something to do with it. But he was able to do that because Abdullah was not doing enough to inspire confidence among his people.

That is now the job of his heir apparent.

If it had been brought home to Umno and the BN that government arrogance, the lack of reforms and the breaking of promises on reforms were the cause of their troubles, then adequate measures could have been taken to encourage its supporters. That did not happen.

Even now, when Abdullah has been forced to leave by March 2009, he continues to promise reforms.

But sadly, a reform deferred is a reform denied. There is only so much disappointment a voter can take, before he starts looking elsewhere.

To be fair, there was an attempt – perhaps half-hearted, but still an attempt – by Abdullah to revamp his image. On March 18, he presented his new Cabinet in which was included the much-respected lawyer from Kelantan, Zaid Ibrahim, as minister in the Prime Minister's office in charge of the judiciary.

Abdullah also relinquished his Internal Security portfolio, giving it to Syed Hamid Albar, who was moved from Foreign Affairs to Home Affairs.

Since then, Syed Hamid has made himself a very unpopular person by invoking the hated Internal Security Act to arrest blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, opposition politician Teresa Kok, and Tan Hoon Cheng, a young journalist. Raja Petra remains in custody, while the Teresa Kok case threatens to escalate into an inter-ethnic issue.

Syed Hamid's recent move to ban Hindraf is incomprehensible because it does not promise to solve any problem at all, aside from giving police more excuses for arresting Indians angry with the system.

It was his use of the ISA that led to Zaid Ibrahim leaving the government in protest, badly disheartening government supporters who had been hoping for substantial reforms to the judiciary.

Abdullah's government is therefore no longer championing – even rhetorically – any open agenda for reform. It should have listened to Tengku Razaleigh, and perhaps it could then have stopped undermining its own legitimacy. - The Malaysian Insider

About the Author:
The author, Mr Ooi Kee Beng is a Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. His latest book is Lost in Transition: Malaysia under Abdullah (SIRD & ISEAS 2008).