Umno’s caveman politics

– Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
December 30, 2013

The donkeys in Umno are coming out braying. Here and there, they were elected as leaders. The most fundamental building block of excellence – demanding and insisting upon excellence, is totally absent from Umno’s selection criteria.

And so, Umno Malays have a voracious appetite for dullards and dolts as leaders. Despite that, its paramount leader still talks senselessly about transformation. Does that drop from the sky or what?

In that sense, Malays have not progressed at all – in the olden days, the musclemen and strongmen get to become leaders. These people get to lay first claim on sources of wealth, land, women, other people’s wives and so forth. Today, in the 21st century, Umno want Malays to stay mute as democratic rights get assaulted because they are done in the name and on behalf of Malays.

All right-thinking Malays must resist this and reject Umno-style rule, because it will eventually lead to acquiescence and acceptance of intrusion into our lives. One day, it will be all right if the Umno overlord comes into our house, sleep with our daughters and even wives, and we are asked to tolerate that kind of repression because it’s done by one of us anyway.

The Malay family will be told to accept that cruelty and abuse, because it is done by another Malay. That is how Umno define government as.

Umno likes this kind of rule. Nowadays, it’s called the Malay government – a “kerajaan Melayu”. But we want to know, what does kerajaan Melayu mean? A government synonymous with leaders who are corrupt, abusive, mediocre, discretionary, repressive, incompetent, led by donkeys?

A kerajaan Melayu that demands complete obeisance and any form of challenge to it is treated as treasonable, as an assault on the supremacy of Malay rule and government?

Wasn’t a challenge to Malay royalty once upon a time deemed as treasonable? So has Umno become the new monarchy?

The business of Umno then is to perpetuate the myth of a kerajaan Melayu. It seems Umno can only extend its shelf life on the myth of Malay rule. It perpetuates these myths because it does not have to answer the issues of income and wealth distribution among Malays; it does not want to answer issues of corruption and abuse of power. It does not have to answer the pillage and plunder done in the name of agama bangsa dan tanah air. It does not tolerate question on the excesses of the government.

This is the reason we must continue to fight Umno. Because, as how Umno defines it, absolute and unquestioning acceptance and subservience to Umno Malay rule is their version of a final expression of our political will. We must never accept that.

The BN government and for that matter any government, that of PKR or DAP are not the final expression of our political will. A government is a work in progress, inching and moving towards better government and better governing. That is why we fight for better, as well as good governance, getting rid of corruption, rejecting incompetence, fighting for the rule of law, until these traits get adopted fuller and fuller by a reigning government.

Our collective political will demands a government that exhibits the traits of a good government, free from corruption, clever government, efficient and productive. It must also be a government founded on the principles of the rule of law and one of these requirements is that all citizens are treated as equals before the law and the provisions in our constitution.

Umno leaders are bringing us back to the Stone Age. In modern times, leaders are selected from the stupid and the loud and the feudal bullies. Notice lately, how Umno gravitates towards glorifying the absolute and discretionary rule of Malay rulers?

In a regression of history, the tyranny of absolute rule of kings and overlords is elevated to prominence. We even want a Universiti di-Raja believing that stature confers immunity from challenge and adulteration from non-Malay elements.

Za’aba, the early Malay political thinker, warned against the repressive and absolute rule of ancient kings and rulers. He was specific in identifying the repressive rule of Malay rulers as the single source of Malay tragedy.

The tyrannical rule of old was singularly responsible for Malays inheriting negative inhibiting personal traits that became ingrained as a result of hundreds of years being subject to untold tyranny and enslavement – “kena picit, perah dan ramas di tangan pemerintahnya pada zaman dahulu, iaitu pemerintah daripada bangsa mereka sendiri”.

It’s all politics in the name of Malay feudal triumphalism which is supported by feudal-minded Umno.

Ever heard the Queen of England demanding the return of honorific titles? That would be un-queenly, right? But what does Umno know about what’s right and what’s wrong?

Einstein said there are two things that are infinite; the universe and stupidity. But he is not sure about the former. If he had lived today, all he needs to do is to look at Umno and affirmed that stupidity indeed has no limits.

So how do we treat statements given by the Kuantan Wanita Umno chief recently? Answer: we should treat it as statements coming from someone at the bottom of her class. Call it bottom-of-the-class thinking. Do we want to be led by ignoramuses? And that is much loved by Umno people, they just loved to be led by stupid people.

That’s why we hear of things like 1Melayu shouted out by a person who doesn’t even looked Malay from Penang, and worse, that is accepted by the Malays. We have things repeated by normal people like only the mentally retarded do (the latter’s conduct is excusable) – like if you don’t like things around here, migrate, leave for another country.

That kind of stupidity materialises in several forms, if the price of sugar is high, consume it less, if the price of toll increases, use other roads. If you want strong libido, consume less sugar.

PJ O’Rourke, the writer of a number of books on political satire, offered an interesting observation on the fundamental cause of many of our troubles. If are looking for the source of our troubles, he said, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.

Stupidity, it seems, filters downwards slowly. But like water, stupidity will find its own level. The recent statement by the Wanita Umno leader from Kuantan is an example of such stupidity revealing itself eventually. This is the kind of Malay leadership regarded by Umno that can uplift the Malays. That is also the level of leadership offered by Umno to the Malays.

Only stupid people like the wanita Umno leader equates Umno/Putrajaya Government as the final expression of our political will. Therefore, according to her logic, those not happy, disagree with Umno and Putrajaya, should leave the country. This kind of thinking was discredited extensively recently but appears to have filtered down very slowly until eventually settling down in wanita Umno Kuantan.

This kind of thinking is like something that floats in the gutter – unpleasant and revolting. It however comes naturally from the bottom-of-the-class thinking. – sakmongkol.blogspot.com, December 30, 2013.

* Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de guerre of Raub MP Datuk Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz.