By Niza Shimi
Looking at these old photographs from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) archives I can see a few things that will never be the same. Although details on the photographs are lacking, I think it was the demonstrations against the Malayan Union.
According to the website, the fight against formation of the Malayan Union by the British paved the way for the founding of a single Malay party. It said, if the Malays were fractionalised over local and regional sentiments, they now began to realise the situation, thus agreed to unite.
This is the first obvious point, that UMNO can no longer count on Malay unity.
With the threat of Malayan Union no longer omnipresent and with 65 years of independence, Malays are no longer those simple kampong folk in those photographs, who probably came on foot from villages and dressed in their few best clothes.
Malays today are largely urbanised, well-educated, affluent and widely travelled. They were probably the generations born post-Merdeka who benefitted from the New Economic Policy for affirmative action that was put in place in 1971.
Those people in the photograph were most likely their grandparents. My grandfathers could have been in those photos, both having been teachers who lived to tell tales of living under both British colonialism and Japanese occupation.
UMNO cannot count of that spirit of fighting a common enemy, the foreign colonisers. These days Malays seem to be fighting Malays, politically at least. Worse, the educated and affluent do so through this new thing call social media.
Everybody fights everybody in the cyber world. Sometimes you don’t even know what they are fighting. Perhaps being in consensus and agreeing to disagree is no longer cool. Being contrary and obnoxious is cooler. Who knows anymore?
Unlike Malays past, UMNO today cannot take Malay gratitude for granted. Malays have everything. They have nice homes, eat well and send their children abroad for study. Many Malays own businesses, which would have been most unlikely before independence.
Malays presumably don’t owe anything to UMNO anymore. Very few of my generation would have inherited wealth from their grandparents but perhaps future generations are better off. They don’t owe the government for jobs to put food on the table. They are self-made.
For sure, UMNO cannot count on the undying loyalty of people from my parent’s generation who were grateful for educational opportunities for their children. Today’s affluent Malay parents can afford private schools.
When once UMNO was a force among the rural heartland of the Malays, their dominance was shaken by the upset loss of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, made up of UMNO, Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) and others, in the 14th general elections (GE14).
BN’s loss shook UMNO’s well established power structure down to the core, or to the grassroots. Those who once gained from “benefits” of being in UMNO quickly abandoned the party in search of new providers, like rats jumping off a sinking ship, as it were.
But that could be to UMNO’s benefit. Only the loyal remained. UMNO purged the ingrates, the hypocrites, the power hungry and the hangers on. Other parties have them now.
But that network that used to work like a well-oiled machine may need to be revamped, overhauled and reconditioned. Can it still work like it did before?
What UMNO cannot take for granted anymore are the people of my mother’s generation. These women who were uneducated (girls were meant to stay in the kitchen in those days) and mostly housewives. (Now girls have opportunities far beyond my mother's imagination.)
These women joined the Women’s Institute, the Kaum Ibu (as Wanita UMNO was known then) not to be political but to learn domestic skills and to socialise in a safe environment. Their networking prowess was formidable and they were the most effective vote canvassers. Their generation is gone.
Can UMNO learn from the party's mistakes that led to the loss in GE14? Will Bossku (former PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak) being jailed make UMNO weaker or stronger? Are UMNO leaders prepared for what is known as the “Neo-Malays”? I assume this means the enlightened, questioning and non-deferential Malay?
If a Muslim is a bad person, you don’t blame Islam. If a Malay has become ungrateful, do you blame UMNO? Malays are not identified with UMNO anymore. Malays are all on their own.
Disclaimer: I am not a member of UMNO or of any political party. I'm just curious and opinionated.
Niza Shimi is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav.
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