Umno and PAS, don’t take the Malays for a ride
Shah A Dadameah, Malaysian Mirror
Talk about unity talks between Umno and PAS had been just that – TALK!
The man in the street and the guy at the teh tarik stall knew all along it was all political hype and was not likely to take place; no matter how enthusiastic some people seemed to be about it.
True to expectations, PAS and its allies have shot down the idea and Umno has nonchalantly said it does not matter and was no loss to the party or the Barisan Nasional.
Pakatan Rakyat, in rejecting the proposal, claimed it was a malicious and desperate attempt to compromise the integrity of the increasingly popular alliance.
Prime Minister and Umno president Najib Tun Razak said said the party had initially accepted the idea with an open mind and attitude, reiterating that the proposal had first come from PAS.
For the layman, the issue of unity is a misnomer. If there were disunity signs in the air, they were concocted by fickle politicians out to score popularity points.
Among the Malays, their lifestyle had, for ages, been on the basis of mesyuarah. When one of their family members or a fellow-villager is having a kenduri to mark a wedding, for instance, the others will chip in with donations of foodstuff, essential materials and manpower to make the function a success.
In corporate lingo, this would be akin to making a decision through a consensus of opinion.
In every matter, including family disputes, the way to resolving a problem among the Malays had largely been through this spirit of mesyuarah.
