The UMNO Wanita leader, Datuk Shahrizat Abdul Jalil is the typical example of UMNO leaders who have to resort to the politics of fear, hate and lies to try to perpetuate their political careers and political position in the party.
Malaysiakini reported that at the winding-up speech of the UMNO Wanita General Assembly, Shahrizat urged former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir, former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and former Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apbdal to return to the fold as she does not want Malays to be “controlled” by DAP because of Umno leaders opposing UMNO president Najib Abdul Razak.
She urged Mahathir, Muhyiddin and Shafie to be with UMNO, “right or wrong”.
She said: “There is no other party. Do you want to surrender the Malays and bumiputera to DAP? I am not prepared (to do so).”
She lost control of herself when she continued in a most irresponsible and seditious manner, declaring: “Let blood flow, we won’t allow DAP to take over. Umno is weak, god forbid, our country is taken over by DAP.”
If any DAP or Pakatan Harapan leader had made a similar “blood-curdling” speech, the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar would have tweeted a directive to his subordinates to commence immediate police investigations and action.
Let us see whether there will be any action from the Inspector-General of Police against Shahrizat or she belongs to a special breed of Malaysians who enjoy immunity and impunity under the law!
What Shahrizat has told are a pack of lies, for the DAP does not want the Chinese to control Malays, or the Malays to control the Chinese, or any race to control another race, but for all Malaysians to rise above race to interact as Malaysians for the best common national interests of the people and the country.
In 1950, the founder UMNO President, Datuk Onn Jaafar was too ahead of his time when he tried to open up UMNO to “non-Malays” to create a united nation and left UMNO in disgust.
Today, 65 years later, we have the Wanita UMNO leader and I am sure to be followed by many UMNO leaders at the UMNO General Assemblies this week, continuing to breathe fire and brimstone trying to pit one race against another, indulging in the worst and most irresponsible and chauvinist form of racial rhetoric, grounded on the politics of hate, fear and lies.
Two days ago, non-Muslim journalists were barred from covering the Puteri Umno launch of its programme “Daulatkan Islam Agama Negara” (DIAN) by the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi.
UMNO is not going forward but backwards.
From a “national” party, the present UMNO is now not even a party for the Malays or of the three million UMNO members but has been reduced to a party of Najib’s cronies and UMNO chieftains who dominated the UMNO Supreme Council and the various UMNO divisional leadership positions.
UMNO Deputy President and former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had been quite frank in his recent speech to 1,000 Barisan Nasional leaders in Pagoh that Malay support for UMNO is down to 30 per cent, while 78 per cent of the people are unsatisfied with the present state of the economy.
The corruption in UMNO leadership has reached an advanced stage, most vividly illustrated by Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals.
If Najib cannot convince the present UMNO leaders and members about his accountability, transparency and integrity in the twin mega scandals, having to sack the Deputy Prime Minister, the Rural and Regional Development Minister, the Attorney-General among others for not trusting him about the twin mega scandals, how can Najib expect to convince 30 million Malaysians?
Najib should have a smooth sailing at this week’s UMNO General Assemblies, with UMNO delegates singing his paeans about his integrity, accountability and transparency, although I doubt he would have passed the test with support from the majority of the three million UMNO members if they could vote on whether they approve of Najib’s role in the twin mega scandals.
UMNO today has become even more repressive and authoritarian than the past, even putting the darkest years of Mahathir’s 22-year rule to shame.
No wonder former Deputy Prime Minister and former UMNO Deputy President, Tun Musa Hitam, said that UMNO was slipping into a dictatorship worse than during Mahathir’s time when Muhyiddin as UMNO Deputy President is barred from officiating the opening of the assemblies of UMNO wings.
In tandem with this growing authoritarianism in UMNO, there is also a lurch towards dictatorship in general governance when the UMNO/BN majority in Parliament rammed through the National Security Council Bill usurping the constitutional powers of Yang di Pertuan Agong and the Cabinet with regard to the Proclamation of Emergency.
These are the real reasons why UMNO is afraid of DAP, not because the Chinese will control the Malays, but because UMNO has become very regressive and exclusivist while at the same time become more corrupt and repressive – and the Malays themselves are rejecting UMNO.
Sharizat is not really worried that DAP will cause the Chinese to control the Malays, as she knows that there is no iota of truth in such fear-mongering – but she is afraid that the days of UMNO are numbered as the Malays themselves will reject UMNO and the Shariazats will no longer be able to exploit baseless fears of the community for her personal and family benefit and UMNO-putras will no longer be able to exploit the Malays.
[Speech (2) at the launch of the DAP 50th Anniversary Celebrations at Ballroom 2, City Kingdom, Seremban on Wednesday 9th December 2015]