Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s highly-funded strategists have at least vindicated themselves – managed to win in the UMNO elections yesterday after they had been given a drubbing in the 14th General Election though it is likely to be a pyrrhic victory.

As if to drive home the point that Najib is still a force to be reckoned with in Malaysian politics, Najib’s strategists went “for the kill” to deliver the message after the UMNO elections results were known last night that Najib is still the leading force in UMNO politics and to set the UMNO agenda in post-14GE with the statement on the pertinence and sagacity of Najib’s “bastardised” Malays prediction three years ago.

This is a wily political move to pave the way to create the image that Najib was a great and self-less Malay martyr on the eve of his anticipated arrest next week for the 1MDB “kleptocracy at its worst” – that he is being persecuted not because of his kleptocratic 1MDB scandal but to save Malays from being “bastardised” when UMNO loses power.

Najib spoke about “bastardised Malays” in Perlis in August 2015, a month after he orchestrated the 1MDB “Week of Long Knives” where he carried out an undemocratic coup d’tat and sacked the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, and crippled all institutions which might have upheld the rule of law on the 1MDB scandal and enabled “A dead man walking” for some three years until Malaysians regardless of race, religion and region united in the 14GE to Save Malaysia from hurtling towards the trajectory of a rogue, failed, kakistocratic and kleptocratic state.

He warned at the Padang Besar, Kangar and Arau UMNO delegates meeting in Kangar that the Malays and Muslims would lose everything if UMNO loses power

He said: “Some people say that the Malays will be defeated, beaten or fall flat on the ground but I choose the word ‘bastardise’ (Terbangsat).

What was most pertinent was the immediate rejoinder at the time by a former UMNO leader, Khairuddin Abu Hassan, that the Malays will be “bastardised” (bangsat) if Najib remained in power, as the Malays will be divided and be bastardised if Najib is not ousted.

Najib’s statement last night is the best proof that there are UMNO leaders who have not learnt the lessons of 14GE and who see the formula for UMNO’s revival a return to the irresponsible and extremist politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies which was propagated with an intensity and viciousness never seen in previous general elections.

Another recent example was the targeting of the Finance Minister, Lim Guan Eng, for issuing Chinese translations of his statements, which Guan Eng had done for ten years as Penang Chief Minister and a practice which had been done by MCA Ministers under the Najib premiership.

For the past decade, Guan Eng was demonized as anti-Malay and anti-Islam Penang Chief Minister by UMNO propagandists, that the Malays and Muslims in Penang were being oppressed, marginalized and mistreated.

There was no basis whatever to these politics of race, and religion, hate, fear and lies which is best testified by the results in Penang state for the 2018 General Elections, where the 10 UMNO State Assembly representatives in the 2013 General Elections was reduced four-fifth of its representation to two State Assemblymen.

The Penang UMNO election results in 2018 should be a warning – that if UMNO returns to the politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies, and continues to be destructive, divisive and dishonest political party, then UMNO should expect rejection and repudiation by the majority of Malay voters with its parliamentary representation in the 15th General Elections drastically reduced.

Already, UMNO is now reduced to only having 52 Members of Parliament, representing 23.4% of the 222-member Parliament, a far cry from UMNO’s zenith of political power when it had over 50 per cent representation of MPs in Parliament.

Najib’s prescription will ensure that National UMNO will go the way of Penang UMNO in the 2018 General Elections.

This is a decision that the new UMNO leadership elected yesterday will have to make.

They will have to decide whether the observation of Faisal Hazis of the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies is correct or otherwise.

Faisal Hazis said:

“Umno now is still the old Umno, which has yet to see a change in leadership. Without the change, there would be no new direction for the party and they will go back to their old roots.

“Umno itself is a big ship. To see changes, it would take many years and a lot of sacrifices.”

He said Umno is likely to default back to racial politics despite the clear voter rejection as its new president would have to put in significant effort to turn the Malay nationalist party around.

(Media Statement in Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang on Sunday, July 1, 2018)