Screw you, Umno

By MT Webmaster Last updated Apr 13, 2016

But there is still one thing that Najib needs to do before he closes the book on this issue. And that one thing is he needs to make a list of all those who ‘played neutral’ and ‘did not take sides’ over the last 16-17 months when he was being attacked by Mahathir, the ANC and the Pakatuns. These people should be kept at a distance and should not be allowed within ten feet of his office.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I was told I should not use four-letter words in my articles. The problem, however, is that I was born in the UK (so those Pakatuns and DAP Red Bean Army cyber-troopers please note that I have not run away to England, as you allege, but I have merely come home to the land of my birth).

Anyway, here in the UK the use of four-letter words is normal. We hear it every day, umpteen times a day, on BBC and Sky TV. We even hear the phrase ‘Jesus Fooking Christ’ used quite liberally. So four-letter words are not considered swear words but more the expression of your thoughts.

I mean, when someone tastes my wife Marina’s nasi dagang, rojak pasembor, nasi bariani, nasi lemak, Penang prawn mee, mee Mamak, etc., they might say, “This shit is fooking good!” Of course, ‘shit’ here is meant as something positive while ‘fooking good’ means more than just good. It is beyond good. It is the height of good. It is…well…fooking good (and nothing can be gooderer than ‘fooking good’).

So, because of that, the title of my article does not use four-letter words, unless you regard Umno as a four-letter word by virtue of the fact there are four letters in the word Umno. Instead the title of my article uses a five-letter word — screw.

Could I have avoided using that five-letter word and instead use something else? Well, instead of ‘screw you’ I suppose I could use ‘to hell with’, ‘damn you’, and so on. But I think we have to admit that in this context ‘screw you’ best describes what I want to say and ‘fook you’ would, in fact, have been even better.

Now, why do I say this? Well, simple really. For more than a year the Umno party President cum Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, has been under attack. We can quite understand if the attacks came from just the opposition and people like Rafizi Ramli and Tony Pua. It is, after all, their job to attack the government and the government leaders.

But then quite a number of these attacks came from Umno people themselves, party leaders included. And very few, only some, Umno members and leaders came to the defence of the Prime Minister.

It was as if this was a personal matter between Najib and his adversaries that does not involve anyone else from Umno. They did not see this as an attempt to hurt Umno and Barisan Nasional. They have the impression that if Najib is hurt then only Najib gets hurt and Umno and Barisan Nasional would be spared.

And this is why PAS is better than Umno. When DAP attacked the PAS President, Abdul Hadi Awang, and sponsored the anti-Hadi group in PAS to bring down the party President, most of the members and leaders stood behind Hadi.

During the party elections, 80% of the members voted for Hadi and his team (the first time ever that PAS saw ‘block voting’). The anti-Hadi group performed so badly they were forced to leave the party and form a new party, Amanah, which is still struggling to gain support. In fact, they could not even mobilise more than 500 people for the Anwar Ibrahim First Anniversary gathering outside the Sungai Buloh Prison and the anti-GST rally recently.

Say what you like, Hadi has the support of his party — even though his Deputy, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, seems to be in a blur and is confused about whether he is the Deputy of PAS or the Deputy of DAP. Maybe Hadi should give Tuan Ibrahim a hard whack on the head to wake him up.

In Umno’s case, however, only a few members and leaders came out to categorically, unconditionally, and unequivocally state their support for Najib. From where I was sitting, I saw that Najib was fighting a lone battle, supported by just a few key and loyal people who openly took a stand and were prepared to sink or swim with Najib.

But then this has always been the Umno culture from way back. Most are more concerned about themselves and about their own careers than about the party or the party leader.

They would play safe and not be seen to be too pro this side or too pro that side unless and until they know which side is going to win. They would pretend to be neutral and then when a clear winner has been announced they would come out and declare their support for the winner.

Now, after more than a year since December 2014, it has finally been proven that Najib did not steal RM42 billion of 1MDB’s money and that RM42 billion of 1MDB’s money has not lesap or disappeared into thin air and that RM2.6 billion of 1MDB’s money was not transferred into Najib’s personal bank account.

And this would mean that the Anti-Najib Campaign (ANC) has failed in its attempt to oust Najib by using the 1MDB issue as the catalyst to oust him. And that would also mean that Najib is now secure and is going to remain the party President and Prime Minister until he is ready to retire and hand power to his anointed successor.

It was a tough 16-17 months for Najib. However, the worst is over and Najib can now breath a sigh of relief. He has been vindicated and absolved of all the allegations that he is a thief. And Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his ANC now need to eat humble pie, as do the Pakatuns and those such as Rafizi Ramli and Tony Pua.

And also note all those who kept mum the last 16-17 months but are now going to shout from the mountaintop that they always believed in Najib and never doubted him one bit and have always supported him and will continue to support him till the day they die.

With friends like these you really do not need any enemies.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK