The Boris Yeltsin to Najib’s glasnost


– Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
August 01, 2013

Readers may be interested to read an abridged version of an interview I had with The Malaysian Insider, here.

I spoke freely about a number of issues. One of these includes the future of Malays and what Mahathir is doing to imperil the social structure in Malaysia by distorting the issues.

If I may expand. Najib will fail in his glasnost style of politics because he hasn’t got the ground troops in the support power structures. He has the institutions, the means which are given legislative muscle- but the people to implement his ideas are not there.

His world is full of tenured sycophants. Tenured in the sense that as far as these people get bits and pieces of economic and business entitlements- they sing like canary of Najib. In order to make his ideas take root, he needs the manpower with enough zeal, dedication, honesty and commitment to carry out the ideas.

Sadly, he has a modicum of talent and even then, the talented ones like KJ, Nurjazlan are viewed with suspicion and envy. Najib has got two chances – slim and none. Look at what happened to Gorbachev. Najib has old man Boris Yeltsin in the form of Dr Mahathir hovering around him. Old man Boris would very much like to put a Putin with enough aggression to control the politics. He is cultivating several- Muhyiddin, Shafie Apdal, and eventually the son. Yes, Mukhriz is now being trained to take over.

The Umno ground stands in opposition to Najib. What he has is, perception that is media created mostly that his policies are working. The Umno ground isn’t buying his Glasnost style. They want assertiveness and power talk. This is where, the man who can walk on water – Dr Mahathir – comes in.

What Dr Mahathir has done is to set the tone and the theme for the coming Umno elections. His message: – In order to check and balance the emergence of an assertive Chinese community, the next batch of Umno leaders must be the most Malay of Malays. They must be aggressive, strident and bellicose.

In other words, Umno must be ultra-Malay and its leaders ultra-Malay leaders. Mahathir wants the perkasafication of Umno which he sees as being emasculated under the weak leadership of Najib. Only Najib hasn’t seen this or if he knows about it, he has no capacity to counter Mahathir. It’s vintage Mahathir laying down the terms of Umno leadership. It’s actually and endorsement for those who can represent the truer Malay. If Muhyiddin is too thick to catch Mahathir’s drift, it will be his loss.

The Mahathir-type Umno leader immediately rules out PM Najib. For Najib is now seen to be too compromising. His 1Malaysia concept is subject to widespread ridicule overshadowed only by overwhelming routinised propaganda. His actions of spending and spending are regarded as useless by Mahathir.

Incidentally, Najib’s spendthrift way reconfirms what I have been saying about him – that the only way he knows to sort our problems is the way he has always used in holding the Pekan people mentally captive – pay his way through. Najib’s solution in securing loyalty and support is by way of Pekan-isation of the Malay mind. Pekan-ization has now entered into Umno’s political lexicon.

Najib is seen to be giving in to demands from the Indian and Chinese communities. The fact that MCA is no longer part of the administration is not relevant because Najib believes his benevolence transcends MCA. With or without MCA, Najib believes he can serve Chinese interests simply by a politics of accommodation. MIC appears to have placed their fish trap in a strategic passage. It has gained at MCA’s folly and expense. It has more Indian reps in the administration than in all previous governments.

Whether the Chinese want to share or go on their own is not the issue. The more pertinent issue is whether Umno has leaders with sufficient assertiveness and fortitude to withstand the Chinese onslaught. They must come in to rescue Umno. It is the Umno Malay imperative to replace Najib now.

For all Mahathir cares, a resurgent Umno can work with DAP as long as Umno is accepted as elder brother. But a stronger Umno must emerge first and a stronger one does not need a Najib.

Dr Mahathir has written an article. It was titled “The Chinese Dilemma”. The Chinese it seems must decide whether to seize political power now that it has economic power. Dr Mahathir is also saying the Chinese are wrong in supporting DAP because unlike MCA, DAP does not want to share power.

The comparison is hardly correct. MCA does not share – it takes what it is allowed to chew. MCA is Umno’s Pekingese loyal to Umno and subservient.

MCA is a good boy because it is willing to share power by being the subordinate partner. Dr Mahathir ignores the fact that in Penang, the DAP shares power with its PR partners and in Selangor shares power with PKR and PAS. In Penang it shares power much in the same way as Umno shares power in Umno dominated states. And in Selangor DAP shares power much in the same way, MCA or Gerakan shares power in Umno dominated states.

The difference is, the power sharing is done on the basis of first among equals. With Umno, the power sharing basis is a master-servant structure.

That is the real cause for the rejection of MCA. The Chinese by and large see MCA as an ineffective instrument to represent Chinese needs.

DAP cannot rule Malaysia without partnering up and know this; without having Malay leaders in the forefront. And ruling Malaysia as in doing it alone is not on its radar screen. The DAP’s attractiveness lies in the cause it champions – things that are dear to Chinese within the given Malaysian social environment; a good government, good governance, far deal for Chinese etc. As for the rest, the Malays can have it except the Malays are now sophisticated enough in their thinking to value matters like good government, reduced corruption, absence of abuse of power, reject nepotism and cronyism-led economy etc.

That kind of Malay government can be accepted by all including DAP. – August 1, 2013

* SakmongkolAK47 is the nom de guerre of Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz, the Raub MP.

  1. #1 by Bigjoe on Friday, 2 August 2013 - 8:05 am

    Prior to this, the opposition attack against UMNO/BN has been to hit hardest around Mahathir, only going for him when his dirty hands are clear or it was impossible to ignore. In other words, it has not been the center of their attack. The main reason being that he is out of office and its not even obvious he is pulling the strings from behind.

    It may be time to reconsider and strip away the facade that is Najib or anyone else and go for the throat of the shark, old he may be, itself.

    Mahathir is hell bend of dragging the opposition and anyone else attached into the sewer of politics of which he thrives. Facebook have officially label his words unsuitable for public consumption – words that we, especially the Malay community have been bathed for several decades. And those words has created multitude of mutated minions more than willing to wallow in the putrid that they make in abundance and comfortable they can keep making more.

    The opposition may not have a choice and just dive into the sewer temporarily to kill the alien monstrosity that is his politics and the many zombie blind-loyal mutation he has created over the years.

  2. #2 by ENDANGERED HORNBILL on Friday, 2 August 2013 - 8:57 am

    YB Sakmongkol, I like yr analysis.

    I also agree with yr point that Mahathir is the root of all evils. My question is: but why /

    Satan has a cause; he is EVIL himself. But Mahathir is not lucfer. So why ?

    Is it for gold or PETRONAS? Or Putrajaya?
    Or is he trying to set up a mamamk dynasty in the likes of Gandhis of India or Kennedys of US.

    So Sakmongkol, tell me.

  3. #3 by lee tai king (previously dagen) on Friday, 2 August 2013 - 9:05 am

    So according to AK47, monsterO’mamak believes that unlike mca, dap does not want to share power.

    So you say, share power like the way mca did, monsterO’mamak?

    Well well well. Quite clearly you do not know the true reason why mca has failed so badly.

  4. #4 by yhsiew on Friday, 2 August 2013 - 10:11 am

    MCA’s refusal to have reps in the administration may well turn out to be a blessing in disguise. The party is more daring to voice out grievances of the Chinese community now.

  5. #5 by ENDANGERED HORNBILL on Friday, 2 August 2013 - 10:12 am

    Stupid UMNO.

    They should instead go solve how 3,000 civil servants can be bankrupted in 1 year.

    Does that mean in the last 10 years, 30,000 civil servants were made bankrupts or more?

    Najib, some answers please. Under Malaysian laws, they are all condemned for life. What a shame!

    Maybe Mahathir should answer this. How many bankrupts were made when Mahathir ruled from 1981 – 2003? What part did Mahathir do in this?

  6. #6 by sotong on Friday, 2 August 2013 - 2:39 pm

    The price of political influence which come with corrupt transactions/deals is very lucrative.

    This is why corruption is rampant….everyone wants to be in position of power, trust and influence to get rich quick.

  7. #7 by Adeline on Friday, 2 August 2013 - 5:25 pm

    I suddenly had a wild idea. Could MCA be in colusion with Dr M on all these?

  8. #8 by Noble House on Saturday, 3 August 2013 - 4:49 am

    We find these great gangs of UMNO political speculators, who alternately take possession of the state power and exploit it by the most corrupt ends. The nation is powerless against these great cartels of politicians who are ostensibly its servants, but in reality dominate and plunder it.

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