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Rehabilitating Umno Comment by Rusdi Mustapha An oligarchy is a government led by only few powerful people. Under an oligarchy, dissent in political opinion or conflicts in ideology are not tolerated. In a recent speech at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), an Umno veteran from Johor, Datuk Shahrir Samad, alleged that Malaysia is under an oligarchy. This is a very serious allegation, and needs to be addressed. Especially when someone not just your regular Malay politician or ordinary Umno member says so. Shahrir was recently elected to the Umno Supreme Council, the party's highest decision-making body, with an impressive vote from grassroots members. Shahrir maintained that Mahathir had deviated from the norms in his leadership of Umno, especially when it came to choosing a successor. He said, as one example, the 'Malaysia Incorporated' concept, under Mahathir as its chief executive, had created an "economic oligarchy"; a "Billionaires Club" whose membership, including Malays, had shown their arrogance to the government administrative machinery and were answerable only to the prime minister. He quoted the example of a deputy minister criticising the management of the country's premier airline, Malaysian Airlines (MAS), only to have the head of MAS retaliate with threats of court action. "This deputy minister did not realise that things have changed compared to when politics were held supreme, with more power than the corporate sector," said Shahrir. Shahrir said the arrival of this new economic oligarchy had enabled Mahathir to direct them to his idea of economic development. Since the loyalty of these oligarchs is only to Mahathir, the results of Malaysia Incorporated did not translate into a healthy relationship between the private sector and government. He added that the above example indicated that these 'Billionaires Club' members did not acknowledge government administrators' right to criticise them. Government officials, he said, needed official sanction from the prime minister to criticise these club members. Shahrir also said that under the New Economic Policy, in which attempts were made to transform the Malays from being a "political entity " to an "economic entity", many pre-conditions had to be met. "Many of these pre-conditions have been met by the previous leaders before they can embark on the changes. For the Malays, if the political aspects of the policy are well emplaced the rest will follow suit. It is a case of getting the politics right, and the rest will follow. The late Tun Razak Hussein understood this. Under Mahathir such conditions do not exist." Under Razak, said Shahrir, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (Pas) joined the coalition, thus settling the question of Malay unity. Secondly, Umno as sole trustee of the Malay struggle was told to practice meritocracy, so great leaders could emerge. "Under the meritocratic scheme of things within the Malay-Umno society, this would eventually lead to strengthening the quality of future Malay leaders. When this has been achieved, the non-Malays would naturally accept the right of Malays to rule," he said. Shahrir said the Mahathir era, especially after 1987, had lost these two crucial aspects of Umno politics. Malay unity under Mahathir was threatened with the appearance of Malay parties such as Semangat 46, which helped Pas capture Kelantan in 1990 general elections. "In 1999, protest over the arrest, and the subsequent jailing of former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, led to the formation of another party, Keadilan, which also helped Pas to capture Terengganu. At the same time Mahathir is still stubborn enough to transform the political culture within Umno by creating Umno Baru. Meanwhile meritocracy was shoved aside. With this, the process of finding new and effective young Malay leaders was stunted." Shahrir emphasised that these were his personal views. Personal or otherwise, it was, I believe, a clarion call for Umno members to ponder over what he had said. As a Malay, I see it as a distress call made by a respectable Malay politician whom I believe may have a lot more to say on the matter. If what Shahrir said is true, in the parliamentary democratic system that we purportedly uphold, a commission of inquiry should be created to find out whether oligarchy is in fact being practised in this country. I am sure there are more Malays like me out there; I am worried over Shahrir's statements. If what he says is true, I am afraid that the Malays may lose out, politically or economically. Judging by what he has said, it looks as though Shahrir is convinced that the process of preparing new and dynamic Malay leaders has been stunted. If that is true, what hope do we have for continuity in Malay leadership in this country? According to Shahrir at least, meritocracy, as a matter of survival for Umno to prepare for new and strong Malay leaders, is dead. I sincerely hope he is wrong.
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