Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
14 Dec 2015

Is Othman Aziz, the Jerlun Umno Baru division vice-chief, on Najib Abdul Razak’s side or is he secretly trying to undermine the PM? His unfortunate choice of words, describing Najib as “The Chosen One” (by God), does not augur well for the PM. If Othman has watched ‘Star Wars’ (SW), he will realise that ‘The Chosen One’ is not a complimentary term.

It is stupid to claim that Najib is ‘The Chosen One’. He has failed to deal with any of the allegations which beset him. At worst, it is blasphemy to use God’s name in this fashion.

How did Othman, a mere mortal, obtain a hotline to God? Which crystal ball is Othman gazing into? Did he consult the self-styled Raja Bomoh, Mahaguru Ibrahim Mat Zin, and look through the shaman’s ‘telescopic bamboo’ to see what God has ordained for Malaysia?

This time last year, ‘The Chosen One’ was playing golf with his buddy, President Barack Obama of America and neglected to deal with the worst floods in Malaysia’s recent history. ‘The Chosen One’ was forced to return home, only after he was ridiculed on social media for his lack of compassion and leadership.

Worse was to follow. ‘The Chosen One’ became evasive when asked why he returned on a commercial flight. ‘Najib-One’, the government ministerial jet, had been tracked criss-crossing the world, stopping at top retail therapy locations, in America, Europe and the Middle East, before landing in Bangkok.

Aficionados of SW will tell you that the young Anakin Skywalker was the ‘Chosen One’ of Jedi prophecy, who would bring balance to the Jedi Force.

Anakin was a good Jedi, but he allowed himself to be turned to the dark side by an older wizened politician, the Emperor Palpatine, to become Darth Vader. So, it is hardly flattering for Najib to be known as ‘The Chosen One’. Anakin was seduced by the powers of evil.

Obi-Wan-Kenobi, Anakin’s mentor, said that the Jedi knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic, before the formation of the Empire. The knights are similar to the original founders of Umno, the once-respected guardians of Malaya.

‘The Great Jedi Purge’

The ‘Great Jedi Purge’ can be likened to the current infighting in Umno Baru, with ‘good’ Jedi being killed and many Jedi becoming bad. There is much treachery, the lines between good and evil are blurred, and many are seduced by corruption and abuses of power.

If Najib is ‘The Chosen One’, Star Wars can be used as an analogy for Umno Baru.

The Umno Baru equivalent of C-3PO, the loyal robot, which was programmed for communication, could be portrayed by Umno Baru secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor. Like C-3PO, he is fussy and constantly worried about the party’s image.

Tengku Adnan once called female bloggers liars and said, “…All bloggers are liars, they cheat people using all kinds of methods. From my understanding, out of 10,000 unemployed bloggers, 8,000 are women.”

Whilst C-3PO is a lovable droid, the same cannot be said of Tengku Adnan. Critics equate him with Jabba the Hutt, with his grim sense of humour and other not-so-flattering qualities.

Muhyiddin Yassin of the Umno Baru supreme council is like Mace Windu, the Jedi Master of the High Council, who suspected treachery of the highest order in the Jedi council, but because he was slow to act, was quickly destroyed.

Saifuddin Abdullah who resigned from Umno Baru is likened to Han Solo, whom George Lucas, the founder of SW, said was “a loner who realises the importance of being part of a group and helping for the common good”. Saifuddin is like Solo, who in SW joins the rebels and is rewarded by being made a general.

Captain Lorth Needha of the Avenger starship, paid the price for being truthful. He was telekinetically strangled by Darth Vader, the supreme commander of the fleet. Needha’s character is like the Umno Baru vice-president, Shafie Apdal, who tried to assume a brotherly role with Najib by urging him to reform and reveal details about 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion donation. Like Needha, Shafie, was ‘silenced’.

Shahrizat Abdul Jalil is the equivalent of Mara Jade Skywalker, a Jedi knight who was first raised in Emperor Palpatine’s court as a dancer, but later became Palpatine’s court assassin.

‘The Chosen One’, Darth Vader, is like a character from a classic Greek tragedy. He turned to the dark side, and did many evil things, but he is also a victim. Some SW fans say that Darth Vader was lied to and manipulated by a more evil being, and that there was a hint of goodness in him, right up to his end.

So, if Najib is ‘The Chosen One’ and the Umno Baru version of Darth Vader, then who is the equivalent of Emperor Palpatine? And which one of them is the true villain?

(‘Star Wars’ fans, please feel free to describe the SW character that you see in Umno Baru.)

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO).