“Heroism came not from loyalty, but from serving the interests of the Kingdom, from serving the nation. Heroism came from working with the people, rather than against them, from working together and harnessing their talents rather than treating them as docile subjects to be bought, manipulated and dismissed. Heroism was expressed in the actions of the people at large, rather than in the actions of a single person.”
“‘New Politics’ comprises four major components – political integrity, democratic innovation, a new governance framework and progressive political thought. “This is in line with today’s ‘New Realities’, which are comprised of globalised elements (the advent of ICT and social media, the emergence of new social consciousness and the third stage of democracy where people demand for the widening of decision-making process) and local conditions (a more educated citizenry, urbanisation, and a growing middle class). ‘New Politics’ and ‘New Realities’ complement each other and this aspires our society to live in a mature Malaysian democracy.”
OUTSIDE of the communist system, Umno is probably one of the most successful political parties in the world. Well, at least it used to be.
After the defeat of Barisan Nasional (BN) during the last general election, this is no longer the case.
Umno is now perceived as a delusional political organization that still lives in the past, hence the reason for its epic failure recently. There are loud voices questioning the relevance of this party now, going as far as to question even the identity and legitimacy of this party.
Some Umno leaders are still demonstrating faith in the party (albeit unconvincingly), telling members that the party will “bangkit semula”.
I am legitimately wondering how do they plan to do this.
What is your plan? The Umno today is not the same Umno that our forefathers dedicated their life to.
How do I perceive Umno? To be honest, it has become really sad.
Because to me, how can some of you Umno leaders shout “Hidup Melayu” in every Umno general assembly, promising the people that you are an organization dedicated to protecting the rights of Malays and Islam when you are in fact very corrupted?
In which part of our religious teaching that it was okay to betray the trust of the people that voted for you? Where is your sense of ‘Amanah’?
Umno is not only a corrupt party, it has failed the community it has pledged to protect since the party’s founding. For this reason, are you surprised that Umno has lost the respect of the majority of Malaysians, including the Malays, and especially the ‘new middle ground’?
If you understand this, you will understand why the Umno-led BN lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament in GE12 and GE13, and more importantly, lost in GE14 rather embarrassingly.
Moreover, many see Umno as a monolith, an unchanging party surrounded by scandals and lies. The popularity of this party has declined steadily over the years but in 2015-2016, with multiple scandals surrounding the president, Najib Razak, the party’s credibility has declined further.
Umno’s popularity has been steadily declining over the years, but the 1MDB scandal in 2015-2016 only accelerated the process. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, June 1, 2018.
Apart from that, some of Umno leaders and their children are behaving as if they are some kind of self-appointed royalty.
They are completely out of touch from the day-to-day reality of the people, parades elitist behaviour, and are forgetting the fact that if not for the people who voted for them and trusted them, they won’t be where they are.
The culture in Umno has become so toxic that the smart ones are no longer being appreciated.
The words “Umno mana suka orang pandai” have been coined hundreds of times, it has now become a norm. For this reason, the urban community especially viewed Umno as an association filled with people with low IQ points.
It’s probably not true but can you really blame them?
Allow me to put this rather crassly – those who know how to kiss the leader’s ass will climb the position ladder in this organisation and “budaya membodek” has spread like cancer.
And the result? All of us felt safe in our own echo chamber and bubble of delusion. I am actually surprised how little we realised about the people’s perceptions about us as Umno members.
Some have even asked, “Do people really hate us that much?”
Where were you all this time?!
Some of us in Umno are behaving as if this country has no rule of law. Physical and emotional threats are going around either in social media or in real life without real consequences. Dirty politics have somehow become a norm. It should not be.
Dirty politics, such as that practiced by Sungai Besar Umno leader Jamal Yunos (centre), has become the norm, even though it should not be. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, June 1, 2018.
Ministers were known to say things that are remarkably uncalled for, and those statements have so many angles to be manipulated by the (previous) opposition to ignite anger among the citizens of this country. It’s either the statement had been spun or some ministers really believe that they are untouchable, so they can be incredibly offensive to Malaysians.
Do any of you remember this hideous logo?
How do we heal?
Quoting Bridget Welsh: “In the last two decades, Umno has proved unable to reform, to effectively address or check these negative trends. In fact, the opposite trajectory has occurred, responses to developments have enhanced a weakening of the party.
“As Umno faced crisis after crisis, the reaction had been to defend Umno against its enemies rather than look meaningfully at the internal problems inside the party. The same response has been evident during 2015-2016 over the 1MDB scandal and the effect has been that the problems inside the party have deepened.
“Contemporary Umno is caught in a serious situation of its own making, it is destroying itself. Like cancer, conditions inside the party have reached higher stages of seriousness.
“Inside Umno there apparently is a lack of political will to make the necessary normative and structural changes Umno needs to win back the support from the majority of Malaysians.”
But how?
Umno needs to step away, above and beyond from the old elitist practice. We are here to represent the people. Not for people to appease us. Umno leaders and members need to behave better. We need to keep evaluating the people’s perception towards us.
I know it’s not easy to please everybody, it’s nearly impossible, but does it hurt to understand why people have rejected us, or worse, hate us? Because this will be translated into their votes during the elections.
Umno needs to understand why, before this, nobody dared to speak the truth to leaders? Was it because they tried and got fired? Was it because leaders like to stay in their bubble of delusion? Was it because the truth hurts and inconvenient?
Umno needs to recruit more smart people and give them space to shine. Not kill their political career at the green stage because you are insecure about your own intelligence and capabilities. You see guys, I know everybody loves to be a hero.
But the truth is: “Heroism came not from loyalty, but from serving the interests of the Kingdom, from serving the nation. Heroism came from working with the people, rather than against them, from working together and harnessing their talents rather than treating them as docile subjects to be bought, manipulated and dismissed. Heroism was expressed in the actions of the people at large, rather than in the actions of a single person.”
Umno needs to curb money politics. From what I understand, money politics was already the new normal by the end of the 1980s but it has deepened further since.
While I am completely aware that politics always needs money, but I personally don’t think money should be the reasons for politics. Interests of the people should be the reason for politics. Money in politics has to be regulated, it becomes sickening when money is used to advance political expediencies.
Let’s look deeper into Umno, shall we?
There are people that use money to gain power, and use the power that they gained to get more money, which in turn enables them to secure more and more power.
Is it me or is this a rather vicious cycle that eventually produces ugly effects such a dirty politics, corruptions, leakages, control by the rich, black money and eventually the loss faith in our democracy. Or as what happened in Umno – loss of faith in this organization.
What about formulating a law of political financing? Are we ready for this?
Or here is a radical idea. Take money out of Umno politics and see how many of these people still say they will fight for the rights of the Malay and Islam as our religion. I am actually very curious.
Umno must change. We are at the age of ‘New Politics’.
Quoting Saifuddin Abdullah: “‘New Politics’ comprises four major components – political integrity, democratic innovation, a new governance framework and progressive political thought.
“This is in line with today’s ‘New Realities’, which are comprised of globalised elements (the advent of ICT and social media, the emergence of new social consciousness and the third stage of democracy where people demand for the widening of decision-making process) and local conditions (a more educated citizenry, urbanisation, and a growing middle class). ‘New Politics’ and ‘New Realities’ complement each other and this aspires our society to live in a mature Malaysian democracy.”
This is why Umno needs to reform.
Some time ago, we actually recognised the need to adapt and evolve.
It was in the speech of our former president.
“Umno must change. The process of reform needs to be done so that the internal transformation of our party is relevant to every age. We see what was referred to as a new political reality or new politics.
“The political atmosphere today is different from when Umno was born in the 60s, 70s, or in the 80s and the 90s. They were totally different from today’s environment. So, it means that we must adjust Umno in terms of our approach, our methodology, our policies and so on.
“But guess what? Umno should maintain the same basic values. The principles of the struggles, the same goals, should not change. Only its rules, methodology and approach.”
So why didn’t we adapt? Why were we so delusional and complacent? And now we have paid the price.
The process of reformation is not something that can happen overnight, but we should already work on this now. How we should do that? It’s something we should all sit down and think together.
Form a think tank. Find out if institutional changes within Umno is possible. Do a research.
Come up with a survey. Be really honest with ourselves. Apologise. Evolve.
The Oxford dictionary defines “evolve” as: “To develop gradually, or to make someone or something change and develop gradually.”
The old adage of “adapt or die” that has its roots in Darwinism states that if an organism does not adapt to its environment, it will die. Only the fittest will survive, and those are the ones that transform themselves to live in a new environment.
The same goes for Umno. We either adapt and evolve or… well, die.
We have to choose. Now. – June 1, 2018.
* Nurul Ashiqin Shamsuri is an Umno member.
* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight.
Source : The Malaysian Insight by Nurul Ashiqin Shamsuri
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