Malay unity and the art of war
What Malays must understand is that it is the Rakyat that are the masters, and NOT the leaders. If we understood that, we’d realize that competition between separate workable political coalitions is in the best interest of all Malaysians, including us.
Suflan Shamsuddin
Be it in the corridors of power or in coffee shops around Malaysia, the UMNO plot to deliver the ‘Malay Unity’ talks continues unabated. Success could take the shape of a formal merger, a loose forum, or something in between. A united political voice will protect the Malay hegemony and cripple Pakatan Rakyat.
UMNO won’t bother talking unity with PKR. It is too hostile. The tactic to undermine PKR is to neutralize the ‘head honcho’ and his cohorts. Succeed at that, and this house of cards will fall, reason the UMNO tacticians.
Between delivering ‘Malay Unity’, neutralizing the PKR leader, and promoting disharmony within Pakatan Rakyat, UMNO/BN reckons it has the perfect three-prong war strategy to win the next election. All without changing the way it governs. Game, Set and Match.
This article focuses solely on the first prong of this strategy. The others will be looked at separately.
PAS conservatives are tempted. UMNO offers the greatest ideological alignment. Nik Aziz and the Erdogans have helped repel advances. But politics is like business. With a change in the board or management, anything is possible. UMNO can bide its time.
UMNO tells the Malays that the agenda is to protect their interests. But is that right? Or is this just political gimmickry?
The Malay Unity agenda will invariably create a ‘fortress’ mentality. Why? Because it is premised on the notion of ‘Us’ (Malays) being under siege by ‘Them’ (non-Malays). UMNO’s policies, actions and rhetoric must point to the need to ‘raise the drawbridge, point the cannons, and make ready the archers’.
At the centre of this fortress will stand the knights who use Ketuanan Melayu and Islam to guard it at all cost. And the Malays just might be taken in, not least because many still accept the role of political leaders as overlords to whom unfettered loyalty is owed.
If a body believes that it is attacked, it will produce adrenaline to increase its energy, defences, and reflexes. But as that happens, the mind’s capacity to grow, develop, and mature is impaired. That’s simply a function of responding to a perceived crisis.
Communities and nations respond the same way. In World War II, the UK, the US, and others fought to defend against aggression. National growth and development was suspended until victory was secured.
This fortress mentality helps raise energy levels for aggression and defensiveness. If the Malays succumb, they will be leaving their destiny in the hands of their political leaders. And the development of core qualities that builds self-reliance, which is needed for their longer-term success, will be sacrificed. (See my Malaysia Today article entitled “The Malay Struggle and the Traitors” on a fuller description of these core qualities.)
If the Malay Unity agenda were promoted solely for UMNO’s political expedience, without there truly being a siege, then it would be a con job of the highest degree against the Malays. Because they will ultimately loose out. It will also be a betrayal of the trust that non-Malays have given much to collective nation building. This is a disastrous cocktail to brew.
What Malays must understand is that it is the Rakyat that are the masters, and NOT the leaders. If we understood that, we’d realize that competition between separate workable political coalitions is in the best interest of all Malaysians, including us. A one-party/coalition monopoly (which is what we would be left with if the Unity talks bring down Pakatan Rakyat) creates inefficiency, and allows for patronage, authoritarianism and racial extremism to go unchecked.
If elements within PAS remain adamant that they sit more comfortably with UMNO/BN, and others feel more comfortable with PKR/PR, then the best outcome would be for PAS to split along such lines. What emerges will be a stable two-party/coalition system. And believe it or not, every one gains from this outcome.
It takes honesty for UMNO to admit that their strategy to make short-term political gains greatly damages the nation. But my hunch tells me that this word remains unfashionable to those who wield the real influence from within.
