08 Januay 01
CHIAROSCURO
MGG Pillai
Malay
Meeting Premature
The deputy prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi,
wants the UMNO-PAS youth chiefs' debate on Malay unity to be called off.
He fears that issues raised in that could disorient the tripartite meeting
amongs the presidents of UMNO, PAS and Parti Keadilan Negara. He could
not have made that
call.
UMNO, more than the
other two parties, wants Malay unity talks, if only to reassert itself as the
cultural leader of the Malays. But Abdullah's call suggests UMNO and he
are still unclear what all this Malay unity is all about. Malay unity is not
what its leaders think it should be.
He is wrong
in wanting the UMNO Youth chief, Hishamuddin Hussein, to call off his debate
with the PAS chief, Mahfuz Omar. His reasoning -- that the debate would spawn
issues that might hamper the meeting of the presidents -- more so.
This cultural unity cannot be got without debate and
discussion. It
cannot not be, as now, in a highly charged politicial atmosphere. The
more groups meet, not just the Malays, but the Chinese and Indians as well, to
discuss it, the more likely a concensus would emerge that all could accept.
Malay unity is no more purely a Malay issue. PAS sees
this clearer than
the other parties. Keadilan is caught in coming to terms with its
multiracial image and its imprisoned eminence grise's role in shifting Malay loyalties.
And UMNO cannot accept it forced the Malay cultural ground to move away from
it.
It is certainly not one which can be discussed
over tea amongst leaders of the three parties. The Prime Minister, as
head of government and as UMNO president, does not see or meet them as often as
he should. Now he wants their help to remain in power. This
meeting, when it takes place, would
therefore not be fruitful, even if broad
agreement is reached.
But that is not enough.
It should be thoroughly discussed, not in the context of UMNO or Malay
dominance but how it would mesh in with a multiracial society. Not just by
politicians but by interested parties and discussed in the context of a
multiracial Malaysia. It can be. It should be. The broad
agreement must be fleshed out, and that can only come with open debate and
discussion.
But UMNO fears debate and open
discussion. It would not discuss the Anwar imbroglio as it should with
its members, as the government would not with the country. It decides
its is the only true version, and all others with different views kaffirs who
ought to be destroyed. But Malay unity transcends politics. However
much the three leaders may discuss it, it cannot be enforced if the Malay ground
does not accept it.
For it to accept it, a few
hurdles must first be cleared: (a) the Anwar affair; (b) the
federal government reneging on petroleum royalties to Trengganu; (c) the judiciary
must cease to be the instrument of government to put down its enemies or
critics; (d) the police high-handedness must stop. They are
interlinked; with (a), (c) and (d) would not have risen in importance as
they have.
UMNO's frustrations double with every
move the National Front government takes to remove the former deputy prime minister,
Anwar Ibrahim, from Malaysian politics. If the Prime Minister had just sacked
him and left it that, he would not be in the parlous political situation he is
now in.
Instead, he went out of his way to have
him charged with sodomy and corruption. With all the investigatives agencies
at his comment, the Prime Minister could not find a more serious charge he
could pin on his former deputy than what made the Attorney-General's chambers
and the judiciary
looked stupid as he went on to jail.
UMNO's angst about Malay unity springs from this. The
Malay ground is
horrified he behaves not as a Malay feudal leader, forgetting the old Malay
belief that he whom he wants destroyed should not be humiliated. In other
words, the present crisis of Malay unity is not political but cultural, one
that cannot be resolved with three Malay political leaders over a cup of tea.
The Suqiu affair is a red herring, a manufactured
crisis, like the regular
threat before general elections of another May 13. It did not work this
time, because the Malay ground had already shifted from the government.
The pact between the UMNO Youth and the Suqiu group underlined
not a
resolution of the crisis but of sidelining the MCA even further from Chinese
affairs. This cannot but cause more problems, especially within the
Chinese community, farther on. It became a convenient peg on which to
hang on perceived non-Malay threats to Malay unity.
Indeed, I would argue that the meeting is premature.
They should meet to
discuss what Malay and Malaysian groups and intellectuals think and feel, one
that can only come about with open discussion. Otherwise, this meeting is
as important as a sandiwara, yet another rootless exercise that heaps more
items under the proverbial carpet.
Ends
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