Mature, polite and thoughtful politics based on the best ideas in the Malay political landscape has died, lamented Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan. According to Mohamad Hasan, or Tok Mat as he is fondly known, Malay politics had significantly changed over the years and is now dominated by what he described as toxic politics, marked by slander, hatred, and insults.
It has destroyed the core values that drive us to engage in politics and support the ideals of political movements, he said in launching the general assembly of Umno’s Wanita, Youth and Puteri wings tonight ( August 21)
“It will inflict severe damage on the culture and conduct of Malay politics."
As such, Mohamad has called upon the party to fight against the growing issue with reason and constructive solutions.
Is Mohamad Hasan right that Malay politics has become degenerate ?
Well, I don’t think you need to be a genius to see that Malaysian politics, ipso facto Malay politics, has indeed gone down to the gutters.
We have 6 living prime ministers, all of them Malays, and of these, four have either been to jail, is currently in jail or might go to jail in the future. I doubt if even the mafia or triad organizations could rival the records of our prime ministers.
If you ask me whether I think that the sort of degradation and degeneration that we are witnessing in Malay politics is unique to Malay politics, I don’t think that is the case.
I think America is having a much more severe case of toxic politics than the Malays. As toxic as Malay politics is, at least none of our prime ministers have faced an assassination attempt. Donald Trump of America, on the other hand, just escaped an assassination attempt a couple of months ago. In just a few more months, America is going to polls to choose their next president, and my instinct is telling me that regardless of what the result is, Americans are going to be embroiled in a civil war after the results are in.
If you were to ask me why is it that Malay and American politics have descended to such a degenerate state, my answer will be , it is because of their success.
The Americans were probably at their best when they were in a stiff competition with the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 90s, America emerged as the sole superpower in the world, and in this moment of triumph, the seed of its decline was also planted.
Left unchallenged, it didn’t take long for the Americans to become degenerate and depraved. The epitome of its degeneracy occurred 10 years later after the infamous attack on the twin towers on September 11, 2001. In response to the attacks on the twin tower, for a reason that no one can fathom until today, the Americans decided to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, with a trumped charges that these countries possessed weapons of mass destruction. Despite the fact that it was as clear as daylight that these countries were not involved in the September 11 attacks, and despite that the fact that it was clear to all and sundry that the American were lying, for even after they had successfully invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, and hanged the then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, they couldn’t produce a single weapon of mass destruction to validate their allegations, the Americans continued to occupy Iraq and Afghanistan for years and decades, while the leaders of the western world who perpetuated the lies that resulted in wars that caused the death of millions of Afghans and Iraqis, were completely left off the hook.
Since the events of 9/11, America as well as the western world has continued to decline with each passing years. Today, its degeneracy has peaked to such a point that there is probably not a single institution, value or personality that the Americans cherish or respect. Every sense of fair play and decency is out of the window in American politics today, and after this coming presidential election in November, I daresay that America might not even be able to hold on to their much-celebrated democracy for much longer.
In Malaysia, like in America, it is likely the success of Malay politics that has caused Malay politics to descend into degeneracy and lunacy today.
From its very inception, Malay politics have always had challengers. In the beginning, its challengers came from external sources, like the Malayan Union or the Parti Komunis Malaya, but even after it had established itself as the most powerful hegemon of the Malaysian political landscape, Malay politics could still count on fair and healthy competition amongst the various personalities within the Malay political landscape itself to shield Malay politics from being ruined by its own success.
Healthy and fair internal competition amongst the Malays however, likely ended in 1987, when the result of the closely fought Umno election of that year was so viciously disputed that it resulted in Umno being declared an illegal organisation in 1988.
After Umno was resuscitated back to life under name Umno Baru in 1988, the concept of competition, at least at the highest echelon of Malay politics, died, and its place, the concept of “menang tanpa bertanding” began to take root.
It will take around 10 years before we would see a significant competition in Malay politics again, but by that time, the lunacy that came as the result of a lack of competition had so firmly took possession of Malay politics, that the depravity that Malay politics displayed during the 1997-8 period, is still haunting them and the entire nation until today.
As how the war in Iraq and Afghanistan has marked America for ruin, I sincerely believe that it was the shamelessness and depravity that we saw on display in that fall and trial of Anwar Ibrahim in 1998 that has marked Malay politics, ipso facto Malaysian politics, for ruin today.
In his speech today, Mohamad Hasan has urged Umno’s Wanita, Youth, and Puteri delegates to address and explore strategies for combating toxic politics in tomorrow’s ( August 22) debate session.
Put forward proposals and motions to tackle this issue. We need a concrete strategy. If there are laws that need to be amended, suggest the necessary changes,” he urged the Wanita, Youth and Puteri delegates.
If you ask me though, I don’t think that anything can be done to arrest the depravity and degeneration of Malay politics, anymore than I think that there can be anything to arrest the depravity and degeneration of American politics.
Nasi sudah menjadi bubur. Once it is out, you can’t put the toothpaste back into the tube. We must reap what we sow. The chickens will have to come home to roost. We are the owners of our actions and intentions, and as bitter as it maybe, we will have to bear with the consequences of our action, until it runs its course.
If there is a chance at all of turning back the tides, I suppose the person that Mohamad Hasan should look to is himself, not the Youth, Wanita and Puteri delegates, to do what is necessary.
If he is really serious about bringing back, polite and thoughtful politics back to Malay politics, it is he who should challenge Zahid Hamidi for the top position, put to end the culture of "menang tanpa bertanding", and reinstitute the practise of having a fair and healthy competition in the Malay and Malaysian landscape.
Not only must he challenge Zahid Hamidi, he must also make sure that no matter what happens, he himself will not succumb to the temptation of winning at all cost, by resorting to slander, hatred, insults and lies in the course of the competition.
If he himself, as the second in command of Umno, don’t think he can do it, then what can he expect the Youth, Wanita and Puteri delegates to do ?
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