Malaysians are suffering because of corruption
Hitler did the same in Germany. The Nazi party created chaos to justify going to war, and the result was 60 million deaths and destruction. Umno, too, has its Hitler-like crazies. They are prepared to destroy the country just to gain absolute or total power. They are also prepared to bring down their own prime minister if need be. And the people behind this move are the corrupt.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Back in the 1980s we supported Semangat 46 mainly because Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was a thorn in Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s and Umno’s side — and anyone who is a headache to Mahathir and Umno is our friend.
In the 1990 general election, Semangat 46 won Kelantan. Then we discovered that the Semangat 46 Kelantan leaders were “doing deals” — such as collecting kickbacks for timber concessions. So it was ‘business as usual’.
Considering that the Semangat 46 leaders are also Umno people, that was not surprising. The Semangat 46 people not only retained their Umno culture, but they also continued the Umno corruption in Semangat 46.
Eventually, Semangat 46 was dissolved and the Semangat 46 people returned to Umno, almost en bloc. Some even became cabinet ministers under the Umno-Barisan Nasional government.
Hardly two years later, Umno split into two. Anwar Ibrahim was kicked out but his ‘student’, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (who was also detained under the ISA), quickly did a U-turn. It is said Zahid did not betray Anwar but did a U-turn on Anwar’s instructions so that he could be a mole in Umno.
The plan was, Anwar will topple Mahathir and then will return to Umno — so he needed some of this people in Umno and not everyone should join the opposition.
Anwar then took his case to court and tried to get his sacking from Umno declared null and void. Anwar lost his court case and then tried to work through Abdullah Badawi to get back into Umno. The Umno supreme council blocked Anwar’s return, so he had no choice but to officially register as a PKR member.
Before 2004, Anwar was NOT registered as a PKR member because this would disqualify him from returning to Umno.
From 1999 to 2004 we supported PKR for the same reason we supported Semangat 46 — because it was a thorn in Mahathir’s and Umno’s side. However, when we found out in 2004 that Anwar’s real plan was to return to Umno, some of us began to drift away from Anwar and PKR (and I launched Malaysia Today).
Our ‘perjuangan’ was mainly to oppose corruption and bad governance. And we considered supporting those opposed to the prime minister or to Umno (whether Semangat 46 or PKR) as a move to oppose corruption and bad governance. But then we found out that Semangat 46 or PKR were no different to the Umno we were trying to replace.
As the Malays would say: mengganti penyamun dengan lanun.
It appears there is no political will to bring about change. We tried with Semangat 46 and we tried again with PKR. Never mind who is the government, both the government-of-the-day and the government-in-waiting failed. And S Thayaparan (a retired commander of the Royal Malaysian Navy) wrote about this today. (READ HERE: Would Anwar Step Down If It Encourages Voter Enthusiasm?)
Today, Malaysians are suffering from the effects of corruption and bad governance. You can blame Covid-19, the global economy, the Russian-Ukraine war, or whatever. But the real cause of the problems facing Malaysians is corruption and bad governance, and the fact that Malaysians are prepared to allow corruption to perpetuate and the fact that Malaysians will vote for corrupt leaders to run the country.
Umno-Barisan Nasional supports corrupt leaders. Pakatan Harapan supports corrupt leaders as well. And the rakyat cannot understand why the country is in trouble and cannot understand why Malaysians are suffering from so many problems — inflation and the high cost of living being just one of those problems.
Both the opposition as well as some Umno people blame the prime minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, for the rakyat’s and the country’s problems. Hello, you allow your chickens to roam free, you do not secure them in a chicken coop, and then you blame the fox for eating your chickens? Bodoh sangat ke rakyat Malaysia ni!
The truth is Ismail Sabri was given a sinking ship to save (even Lim Kit Siang and many others agree that Malaysia is a sinking ship). And he is trying to do his best under the very sorry circumstances he has been thrown into.
But then some Umno people are sabotaging Ismail Sabri. They want Ismail Sabri to dissolve parliament to make way for a snap GE15. These people feel Umno can win big (menang besar) if a snap GE15 is held. And Umno can win big with just Barisan Nasional and without sharing power with PAS, Bersatu, or any other party.
In short, Umno can discard the power-sharing arrangement and gain total or absolute power.
This may be good for Umno or Barisan Nasional, but then this means Malaysia will be returning to the old days when Umno was too powerful that it could abuse its power and corruption became a way of life.
No, that cannot be allowed. Umno cannot be allowed to become like China’s Communist Party. Malaysia needs a balance of power. Malaysia needs checks and balances. Even if what Ismail Sabri’s critics say is true — that he is not in a strong position — so what? “Strong position” does not always mean it is good for the rakyat and the country, as Dr Mahathir has proven.
Just leave Ismail Sabri be. Whether he is as strong as Mahathir was, or whether he is as weak as Abdullah Badawi was, does not matter. What matters is whether he knows what is wrong with the country and what needs to be done, not what is good for Umno.
Those Umno people opposed to Ismail Sabri are acting on personal interest and for the benefit of the party, not in the interest of the rakyat and the country. So fook them! They are creating political instability as an excuse for parliament to be dissolved and for a snap GE15 to be held, kononnya, to bring back political stability.
Hitler did the same in Germany. The Nazi party created chaos to justify going to war, and the result was 60 million deaths and destruction. Umno, too, has its Hitler-like crazies. They are prepared to destroy the country just to gain absolute or total power. They are also prepared to bring down their own prime minister if need be. And the people behind this move are the corrupt.
