Business as usual

 

Rejected by newspaper editor

 

The recent Umno general assembly was hard to ignore. Even Pakatan Rakyat die-hards who claimed Umno had passed its glory were tuning in to news reports and blog posts to keep up with the latest. Young people and non-party members too wanted to know what in-coming party president and prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had to say, and they wanted to know who would be the new leaders entrusted to salvage the bruised party from further ruin.

 

What happens in the Umno general assembly affects not only party members but the whole country. By convention, for as long as Barisan Nasional dominates parliament, the Umno president and deputy president will become the country’s prime minister and deputy prime minister respectively. It is also usually the case that members of the supreme council are appointed into cabinet. In this regard (and whether one likes it or not) Umno’s business is everybody’s business.

 

The assembly was particularly important this year because things were not well with the rakyat. We have been in a state of political restlessness for a whole year and are anxious about the impending economic depression.

 

We knew from the onset that the outcome of the general assembly must provide some sense of confidence for the rakyat. More importantly, the assembly and the party elections had to reflect the changes demanded by the general electorate. If not for the party’s own survival, for regular Malaysians to feel assured that their grievances were heard.

 

The Umno delegates knew this, and they knew they had the power to act. They also knew since March 8 last year that women and the young were two caucuses they could not afford to neglect. These are groups that are becoming increasingly informed and demanding. To make things trickier, they exist within the party and without.

 

The delegates knew they had to win, win back and maintain support from these caucuses. And they knew that in their weakened form, they had to take drastic measures.

 

For these important caucuses the Umno delegates voted into the supreme council Datuk Bung Moktar Radin, the Sabahan whose greatest contribution in parliament was to use abusive and sexist language against his colleagues. They also installed Datuk Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, chief of the ‘failed and forgotten’ Putera Umno.

 

For Malaysia’s mothers, women professionals and activists as well as the women who make up 60 percent of all graduates produced year after year by our local universities, the delegates delivered just one representative to the supreme council: Datuk Dr. Norraesah Mohamad. And in the spirit of reform and renewal, they voted overwhelmingly for Khairy Jamaluddin despite his unpopularity and the stern warning against bribery issued by the party’s disciplinary board just a week before the elections.

         

So, the Umno delegates have exercised their right and power to elect their heroes and role models. Meanwhile, Pakatan Rakyat is poised to continue their offensive against Barisan Nasional in the upcoming tri-elections and the rakyat too will continue to be restless and anxious. Looks like it is business as usual in Malaysia, everyone. What’s for lunch?