Is Umno power-crazy?
I had said in Parliament (video) that if Umno is not power-crazy (gila kuasa), it would not have suffered the shattering defeat in the political tsunami in the last general election of March 8, 2008.
For speaking truth to power, I was suspended from Parliament yesterday.
Now, outgoing UMNO President and Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has admitted as much that Umno is power-crazy.
In fact, he even gave five illustrations of Umno being so power-crazed as to create a crisis of credibility and erosion of public trust in Umno.
According to Abdullah, the five factors resulting in Umno becoming power-crazy are as follows:
• longevity in power has led to complacency and a number of Umno leaders are increasingly out of touch with the ordinary people who have been the source of Umno’s strength for so long.
• relative neglect of the rural community in our desire and intent to achieve developed nation status.
• ineffectiveness of Umno political programmes in reaching out to the younger generation, apart from what is already being implemented by various governmental institutions.
• prolonged conflict among ourselves, especially while competing for positions within the party, has eroded the spirit of fraternity among party members.
• materialism has seeped into the party, making a number of party members greedy and avaricious, hence creating the negative perception that Umno is a corrupt party.
UMNO MPs who got their pound of flesh yesterday by getting me suspended from Parliament had done Umno the greatest disservice by hoisting the denial syndrome on all levels of Umno.