By Yong Thye Chong aka Kim Quek

October 7, 2008

As UMNO’s political power continues to decline since the March general elections, Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties like MCA, MIC and Gerakan are caught in a secret dilemma – whether they should feel happy about this development.  Happy, because a weakened UMNO would give these racial parties, which have long been subservient to UMNO, the first opportunity in decades to make an attempt to regain their status as a genuine partner in the coalition, thus giving them the hope of recouping some of the lost support in their respective communities.  Not happy, because a lame duck UMNO may result in BN losing political power altogether to Pakatan Rakyat (PR), resulting in these component parties losing their governing status.

Expressed crudely, a strong UMNO is bad, because it will make the party more arrogant, thus further alienating the scant remaining minority support.  However, a weak UMNO is  also bad, because it will not provide the necessary pillar for its satellite racial parties to hang on to.

Therein lies a fundamental contradiction in the relationship between UMNO and its parasitic partners.  This contradiction, among others, would doom BN to an eventual disintegration, due to the structural changes that have taken place in the political landscape as manifested in the March 8th elections.  These changes are:

* Minority races no longer accept harsh racial discriminations, and they are convinced that their respective racial parties have failed to protect their constitutional rights, having been hopelessly subjugated to UMNO’s hegemony.

* People of all races have come to realize that the BN government has grossly mismanaged the country through corruption and inefficiency, and that UMNO has widely abused the affirmative New Economic Policy for corrupt self-enrichment of party leaders and their cronies.

* The majority of people of all races detests BN/UMNO’s racial politics and yearns for restoration of democracy and the rule of law, which have been steadily whittled away in the past few decades.

* The people have accepted Pakatan Rakyat as a viable alternative to incumbent BN, as evidenced by the 50% of votes cast in PR’s favour in the March election.

PARADIGM SHIFT

After being subjected to BN’s absolute dominance for five decades, the paradigm shift represented by the above changes is spectacular indeed, considering the fact that the country is still under repressive rule.  This political awakening of the people would of course not have been possible if not for the rapid advent of the ICT revolution and the relentless campaigning by Pakatan Rakyat.  And the beauty of this political process is that once the populace has become so enlightened, it is irreversible.  As time goes on, this enlightenment can only increase, as shown in the recent Permatang Pauh by-election, when PKR increased its majority against overwhelming odds.

The results of the Permatang Paul by-election, as well as subsequent opinion polls, have shown that while PR’s support from all the three main races has increased, that from the Chinese and Indian electorate has grown even more spectacularly.  This is an important signal to the minority racial parties in BN that their days are numbered, unless UMNO can make drastic changes to its policy of racial hegemony and corrupt governance through repressive rule.  But there is not the slightest evidence that UMNO is moving in this direction, despite harsh admonition and even warning of defection by its racial partners.  In this respect, the present crop of MCA and Gerakan leaders, who have been belting out chivalrous rhetoric with the promise to tame the unbridled UMNO in the run-up to their respective party elections, can only be described as indulging in mass deception – deceiving others while in a state of self-deception.

Indeed the contradiction in BN is not confined to that arising from UMNO’s big bully role, as a coalition of racial parties such as BN is inherently a flawed political structure.  Such a structure is only politically acceptable as a temporary measure during the early stage of a newly independent nation which is made up of disparate races, when the notion of united nationhood has not taken root in the consciousness of the people.  That is why the former Alliance Party - consisting of UMNO, MCA and MIC – which gained independence half a century ago for the then Malaya, was considered an appropriate political entity to lead the country into nationhood.  However, as the country matured, such coalition of racial parties should long ago have evolved into multi-racial parties to pave the way for true national integration.

RACIAL COALITION UNACCEPTABLE

The reason why a coalition of racial parties cannot be accepted as a permanent solution is simple – it is confrontational in nature among its partners.  As each racial party champions the interests of its racial group, conflicts are bound to arise all the time which necessitate constant negotiation and compromise.  And it is inevitable that every racial party within the coalition would look at another racial party as an adversary in addition as a partner.  Potential for friction increases in direct proportion to the degree of disparities  among the races, whether in the social or economic field.

So long as such a governing political structure continues to exist, friction and conflicts among the races will remain an omnipresent feature of government, thus posing an unacceptable stumbling block to racial integration and nation-building.

And such stumbling block becomes even more insurmountable, if one racial party assumes hegemony and imposes discrimination against other racial groups.  Indeed, in the case of Malaysia, this stumbling block has become monstrous, as the dominant partner is not only dictatorial but has also become thoroughly corrupted, perpetuating its rule through abusing the country’s depraved institutions under the shield of repressive legislations.  The devastation of such rule on nation-building is horrendous – worsening racial polarization, deteriorating rule of law and intractable economic morass, which has caused widespread hardships to the people, despite the country in recent years enjoying unprecedented booming prices for primary commodities which are largely exported.

It is precisely due to public despair and disillusionment of such flawed political leadership of BN that Pakatan Rakyat’s clean politics of good governance and multi-racialism is welcome with relief as a breath of fresh air to bring new hope to the nation.

HERETICAL IDEOLOGIES

In fact, following the recent political tsunami swept in by PR, the nation has become increasingly aware that UMNO’s prolonged hegemony has successfully deceived the nation – until recently, that is - into embracing dubious myths as golden formulae for nation-building.  Chief among these are the adoption of a coalition of racial component parties as permanent polity to rule the nation, and the conversion of extra-constitutional racial privileges evolved from the political agenda of the New Economic Policy as birth rights. These heretical ideologies have been the major root causes of the serious political and economic ailments that have plagued the nation.

There are good reasons why UMNO leaders have perpetuated these myths.  They are to ensure that, through these racial divide and rule strategies, party leaders’ political power and personal wealth can be permanently safeguarded.

And the leaders of satellite racial parties in the coalition cannot escape responsibilities in these sordid affairs, as without their willing abetment to provide the façade of multi-racialism, UMNO’s hegemony could not have been so perpetuated.

At this time when the nation is facing unprecedented political and economic turmoil that may make or break the nation, it is the responsibility of every member of Parliament, in whose hands the fate of the nation has been entrusted, to ponder deeply what he must do that will most benefit the people. Should he allow the nation to drift as it is for another five years until the next election is due, or should he promptly act to contribute  towards making a decisive break from the past so as to open a new chapter of hope for the nation now, without going through the hazards of a prolonged corrupt rule?