MGGP: What you see is not what is

What you see is not what is
27 Jan 2006

THE UMNO YOUTH DEPUTY LEADER, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, said in Sabah the
former deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, is irrelevant
to the politics there. That was the only news in the English
language newspapers in West Malaysia, in effect all the newspapers in
which double as the National Front's publicity organs. But it had the
opposite reaction. That he himself is irrelevant in Sabah is of
course not mentioned. When the opposition is irrelevant, and someone
high in National Front says it, the coded message, which most
Malaysians know, is that it is not. Dato' Seri Anwar had a successful
tour there. He gathered large crowds, and what he had to say was
reported there, particularly in the Daily Express. The National Front
owns all the newspapers there too, and opposition candidates in the
past are known to be locked up or restrained from filing nomination
papers so that the National Front candidate can be returned
unopposed. But politics in Sabah is also changing.

The National Front goverment in Sabah headed by Dato' Musa Aman of
UMNO is, to the Sabahan, a colonial government, and Kuala Lumpur a
colonial capital. No explanation it is not by West Malaysian National
Front politicians will change that. So Mr Khairy, as a colonial
representative, is irrelevant, and his denials are for the benefit of
West Malaysians, not Sabahans. What UMNO leaders from West Malaysia
say in Sabah is often published in West Malaysian newspapers but not
in Sabah. West Malaysians as a rule read of opposition doings only
when UMNO leaders rebut or refute. In the Pengkalen Pasir byelection,
in Kelantan, in December 2005, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim drew large
crowds, but it was dismissed, and unreported, although a National
Front, usually UMNO, rebuttal by UMNO often was. The National Front
looks over its shoulders to see what the opposition – usually PAS and
Dato' Seri Anwar – is thinking or doing, before it makes its move.
When it does not, as in the passing of Islamic bills in Parliament or
allowing the religious affairs department to bury a non-Muslim as a
Muslim, all hell breaks loose.

What annoys the National Front in Sabah is that several of its
leaders want to join the Parti Keadilan Sabah, whose president is
Dato' Seri Anwar's wife, Datin Seri Wan Aziz binti Dato' Wan Ismail.
The Sabah unit operate on its own, and is seen as a Sabah party not a
West Malaysian clone. It is credible in the state. Dato' Seri Anwar's
presence in Sabah has given the party a fillip, and this worries the
National Front. As it worried the Malaysian Chinese Association that
more than 1,000 of its members had joined PKR in Penang last week.
Its leaders issued a statement that they were of no consequence, they
were not members, they were bankrupts. But MCA leaders were in Penang
up to the night before to persuade them not to leave! It was also the
largest gathering of Chinese that PKR had attracted, short of its
dinners. To often the blow, the New Straits Times reported that the
DAP, almost all Chinese members, would not join an opposition
coalition!!

Dato' Seri Anwar, who left for the United States on the night of 14
January 2006, has decided he would be in the Opposiion. He would have
rejoined UMNO but his re-entry is an issue. At the last UMNO general
assembly, a resolution, hastily withdrawn, would have barred any who
left the party rejoining as he would be a traitor if he left. It was
meant to affect only Dato' Seri Anwar, but three of UMNO's six
presidents, two of whom prime ministers, would be affected by the
resolution. On the practical side, many in power in UMNO do not want
him in to climb to the top on their shoulders, and then be cut off
from the mainstream. He did that once, and lightning, as they say, do
not strike twice in the same place. UMNO cannot live with him, nor
live without him! But he has thrown in his lot with the opposition,
though not which party. But he flies the flag for PKR for the moment,
although he does not – indeed, cannot – hold office yet.

He was an UMNO apparatchik when in office, and many in the party and
elsewhere, remember him as that. He would therefore have a rough ride
back. He is definitely not welcome in UMNO. He was talked of as a
potential president of PAS, but that is talk for the moment. He
speaks to them, to their leaders, he was invited to DAP's retreat
recently, he keeps his options open. That worries many in the
National Front and the opposition. But he is a politician with a
following of his own. When he moves, many of his personal followers
will move with him. That includes those who are with the other
parties, including the National Front. He is 58, of the same
generation as Pak Lah, eight years older and a distant relative. The
two are from Penang, and a political rivalry naturally exists. When
Pak Lah was foreign minister, one of his political moves in Penang
was to keep Dato' Seri Anwar out. That has not changed, although Mr
Khairy was squiring Anwar's daughter when he met, and later married,
Pak Lah's.

Hecan be a dangerous opponent. If he has firmed with the opposition,
as he appears to have, it spells danger for UMNO. But it addresses
the threat amateurishly. It speads the news, by deed and words, that
the opposition is split. It shows the opposition to be incapable of
uniting. The irony is that the opposition is prepared to unite at a
time when UMNO is not. The inflighting within UMNO between the Pak
Lah faction and his deputy's is a sign that UMNO is not united. At
least that is how Malaysians view it. It is no use therefore saying
the opposition is disunited. Or the National Front, especially UMNO,
united superficially during the occasional byelections, is when it is
not. Politics in Malaysia has gone beyond that. It cannot say
Malaysia is Islamic because the non-Muslims in the National Front
back the move. But they are at odds with their communities for that.
Besides the National Front and its lead party still accept what the
founding fathers believed in, but not why. They have rewritten
history in the process, but the youngsters of today, usually sons
and daughters, or grandsons and granddaugters, of those who saw
independence through, believe in what UMNO does not believe in. So
force is not an option. And what they think is not what the National
Front and UMNO does.

[My second column for January 2006 in Harakah, the official organ of
the opposition PAS. published this week]]

M.G.G, Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com