UMNO Baru

As we walk down the memory lane of UMNO, one cannot forget the Grand Old Man of Politics - Dr Mahathir Mohamad. His name began in the whispers of the people as the Great Doctor in Kedah. Soon, his name went on the national stage when he challenged the leadership of Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Many have different opinions about Dr Mahathir vs Tunku Abdul Rahman. I personally know people who hated Tun for disrespecting Tunku. But when we weigh the ounces of RESPECT and GOVERNANCE, we cannot deny that Tunku was at fault for spending his time at the comfort of a Hill and enjoying his card games while May 13 was taking place in our history leaflets.

Nevertheless, I respect greatly the struggles of UMNO led by Tunku. If not for him either, Malaysia would not gain Independence in 1957. With that, I thank you, Tunku, and your struggles will always be remembered by me.

And as we progress with time, we cannot skip the legacy of Dr Mahathir for 22 years. Well, Tun's policy was rapid development. And as we know, if we rush things too fast, we are bound to have some problems in steering the country. Looking back at his administration at the state of the economies of the world, I personally have to praise Tun.

Look at the economies of that time. Tun adopted rapid development not for his own joy and satisfaction. It was really a foresight. The world was rapidly developing with massive industrialization progress. Tun realised that he needed to spend every Ringgit he had. Government spending caused a significant budget deficit.

Again, didn't we enjoy the riches? Aren't our kids now studying in overseas? Do we not have Government sponsored students overseas? Do we not have Government agencies located globally?

We did reap in a lot of benefits from there. His Look East Policy, was amazing. And was it just a mere mention and policy? No. One of his sons had to sacrifice his ambition and Tun sent his kid over to Japan to study. Lead by example.

Of course with rapid development, there are bound to be troubles. Asia developed too fast. And the financial speculators caught Bangkok off guard in 1997. In fact, there were excess housing in Bangkok. The Bangkok building boom had produced enough space by 1997 to meet its residential and commercial needs for 5 years. Amazing isn't it? Of course we had the chaebol issue in South Korea and the problem of governance in Indonesia. All these contributed to a meltdown of the economy and the speculators took their opportunity to send Asia crashing down !

At that time, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim showed signs of love for IMF prescriptions. Tun disagreed. And according to Tun, there were disturbing police intelligence reports on his desk at that moment about Anwar's personal life. Time have shown that IMF prescriptions are not flexible and the economists there do not understand at all the cultures and economies of Asia.

Should we all not thank Tun for pegging the Ringgit and adopting strict financial regulations in our local economy and finance sector? Otherwise, you and me will be so trashed up that we might be owing the Ah Longs of the West huge debts. Ah Longs of the West here of course refers to the World Bank and the Western financiers.

I thank you Tun, for what I have today. You saved the economy. Tun was not a qualified Economist, nor was he an accountant or financier. He was a Medical doctor. So great was his mind that Economists called his style, Mahanomics. Mahanomics were frequently in clashes with neo classical economic ideas. But didn't he show to the world, how great Mahanomics was?

Mahathir's Economics deserves the name of Mahanomics. Like it or not, he had his massive share of contribution.

Now, back to rapid development and we now look at the drawbacks. Yes, I do not deny Mahathir was a tough politician. He sacked many deputies, and he is not happy with his successor now. He had draconian laws too. If one wants to implement rapid development and the people are skeptical of your visions, at the same time you are so confident of meeting success, won't you hammer on and act bossy?

Yes. Tun showed to Malaysia - Boss Sini ! Tun needed not only financial stability but also political stability. Nevertheless, Tun had his fair share of contributions too. And we all cannot deny that Tun has dedicated an amazing portion of his life to Malaysia. In that sense, I would like to thank Tun Dr Siti Hasmah too. For behind every man's success, is a great woman. Thank you Tun Dr Siti Hasmah.

Today, we see UMNO under the leadership of Pak Lah. We cannot deny Pak Lah led BN to the biggest victory in his first term and the biggest lost in the second term. Let us all look back. Some say the problems are spilled over effects from Tun's era. Is that true?

Then, we look further back. Didn't Pak Lah's administration and his team had policies of dismantling the achievements and portfolio of Tun's visions ? Yes they did. Inconsistency of policies and governance there, created a big mess of what we have today. Pak Lah did not want to live under the shadows of Tun. And his team came up with the grand idea of dismantling Tun's legacy.

And this is what you get. A messy economy, surging prices. If I am not mistaken, we face spiraling inflation. The price of rice goes up, price of chicken, price of cooking oil, price of flour etc. One after another. Put it into a basket of commodities, we cannot deny that inflation is getting severe in Malaysia.

When inflation occurs, do we not expect for rising wages at the same pace or perhaps at least the a near similarity of percentage changes? No. We do not see our income boom like the inflationary pressures. And our top two leaders even decline Unions wish for minimum wages policy that are beginning to be inevitable in times of economic difficulty like this.

I am surprised Malaysia is not affected by the global credit crunch crisis. Could it be just an issue for developed countries? Developing countries seem unaffected and they face only the pressures of oil prices. One can only wonder.

Yesterday, Tun Dr Mahathir decided to quit UMNO. He has done all he could. Going around to country with roadshows. UMNO members will shout "Ya betul, KAMI SOKONG TUN !" in those events. The next day, it will be back to normal and nothing is done. Tun is mad. Tun is angry. He wants a change of leadership. He expected Pak Lah to stay for a term only.

It was so clear when Tun announced publicly to force Pak Lah to appoint Najib as the Deputy at an official function. At that time, Pak Lah showed signs of wanting to appoint other people as his Deputy. Tun made the first move and gave Pak Lah the checkmate there.

As time passes by, we see the Altantuya case lingering in the Court of Law. Najib's name was linked to it, although we don't know the truth and we can only take Najib's word that he has nothing to do with it, for now.

Tun recently praised Tan Sri Muhyiddin for his open offer to challenge for higher posts, the Presidency and the Deptuy Presidency. Hmm. Now Tun has left, and showed his power and influence. UMNO Supreme Council must act. Pak Lah is sensing something is wrong. The UMNO MPs say they are united in support of Pak Lah. But is the whole of UMNO especially UMNO Johor, all toughened up and shouting "Kami Sokong Pak Lah" ?

Mmm. We can hear the warlords pounding their drums. Tan Sri Muhyiddin has lost the "superpower" which I told you all about. Tun has pulled out of UMNO. But he can still throw his weight behind Tan Sri Muhyiddin although during campaigning time, Tun cannot be there as long as he stays outside UMNO.

Tan Sri needs Tengku Razaleigh badly now. Form the tag team. Datuk Seri Najib will play safe as always. And with him taking over as PM, can we expect him to win the next election? As RPK said, the Court of Public Opinion has their own verdict of Najib.

For the sake of our country, we either continue on Pak Lah's administration with him forming a new team of advisors. Or we can all opt for a team up of Tan Sri Muhyiddin and Ku Li with Ku Li leading the charge in UMNO. If he wins, I do not agree that Ku Li becomes the PM of Malaysia. I would suggest Tan Sri Muhyiddin due to age factors and consistency of policies as well as governance.

So far, I have not heard or read anything bad about Tan Sri Muhyiddin and that is why I say he has the best chance. Perhaps I am wrong about him. But considering all options, only Ku Li and Tan Sri Muhyiddin will have their chances shining brightly for a challenge of Pak Lah - Najib leadership.

What will happen tomorrow or in the near future? We don't know. I personally did not expect Tun to make this move of quitting UMNO. It caught me by surprise.

Let us all hope and pray that Anwar Ibrahim sits down quietly and respects the rakyat's choice of Government. It is clear - 5 states for Pakatan, the rest for BN and the Federal Government for BN. Respect it, Pakatan Rakyat. And please don't take advantage of this for the sake of stability, democracy and the country !

As for BN component parties, give UMNO a chance to fix their sinking ship. Let them repair it. Give them the space, chance and opportunity. And UMNO, please make full use of whatever chances you have left. Repair yourself and stand back up. Do not let the founding fathers' efforts go down the drain !

Berkhidmat Demi Negara !