Umno’s antics could further damage BN
If it does not do some soul-searching and mend the error of its ways, then the coalition as a whole is doomed
Amir Ali, FMT
Umno in its haste to claim victory in the recently concluded 13th General Elections (GE13), has lost all sense of direction and this is going to damage the party’s image more than ever.
In the wake of reformasi, the jailing of Anwar Ibrahim and the wild response by Umno grassroots in many cities forced the party to do some seriously reflection, with Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his team leading the way.’
Despite being the Deputy Prime Minister during those turbulent times in the party’s history, Abdullah had one thing in mind, get back the support of the grassroots and bring the Malays back into the fold.
In that exercise he listened to diverse views, including that of outsiders and this in the end helped Umno regain its glory in the 2004 elections, which the BN won massively.
Alas this feat by Umno is historic since the party will never regain such popularity as we saw in the 2008 and the 2013 elections in where Umno was relatively nonexistent!
It was never present in GE13, where the Barisan National took the helm of the entire campaign and in which even Najib Tun Razak, the leader of the Umno was presented not as the party chief but as the BN chief.
Umno candidates were massacred in the BN, never showing their true colours – that is of Umno itself, and claiming to represent one organisation under the 1Malaysia banner.
Thus, Umno’s strategy in GE13 was more towards its invisible cloak that projected it as BN and not as Umno.
The question is: Would the results of the GE13 have been the same if Umno was pushed forward as it was before the reformasi era and during that one glimpse in 2004?
Umno seems to have also forgotten that the victory for the government in GE13 was that of BN’s, not that of Umno’s.
Umno was lucky to have won that many seats
Henceforth, is it unwise for Umno to talk and play tough when it knows that it will have its nose rubbed in by the judges and magistrates who have a new found freedom which they did not have when Umno was at its prime?
The arrest of activists and political leaders will surely not calm the wave of protests against the GE13 results, since this is the not the way to handle the thorny situation created by the just concluded but disputed elections.
Umno must accept the fact that it was lucky to have won that many seats but that does not mean it has the power to toy with the country’s democracy and threaten the opposition with arrests.
