As we all know, the United Malays National Organisation, or UMNO, is Malaysia's largest political party. It is the founding member of the Barisan Nasional coalition and emphasizes protecting Malay culture, Islamic values and pro-business policies. Of late, Prime Minister Najib has increasingly emphasized reducing ethnic tensions and protecting minority rights - a move that does not seem to have gone down well with certain quarters. The PM launched 1Malaysia a few months ago.
According to Wikipedia HERE:
1Malaysia is an on-going campaign announced by Prime Minister Najib Razak on September 16, 2008, calling for the cabinet, government agencies, and civil servants to more strongly emphasize ethnic harmony, national unity, and efficient governance. 1Malaysia has been incorporated into UMNO offical ideology.
1Malaysia strongly emphasizes national unity, ethnic tolerance, and government efficiency. The eight values of 1Malaysia as articulated by Najib Razak are perseverance, a culture of excellence, acceptance, loyalty, education, humility, integrity, and meritocracy.
The news about this new organization seems to be duplicating what UMNO is already doing. So why the duplicity of roles when both organizations are fighting for the same group of people? Take a look at the following excerpt extracted from Malaysian Insider HERE:
The MPM press release said “following several discussions by several Malay NGO leaders, there was a desire for a consultative council to bring together as many Malay NGOs concerned about current developments faced by the Malays”.I am deeply concerned after reading the report as the resolutions seem to be authoritarian in nature and seems to be sending an unspoken message to UMNO. It also seems to be telling the rest of the world that there are chasms that exist in that community due to pronounced differences of opinions in practices and policies of the government. As it stands, there is already discontent in the air about corruption, rising costs of living, party politics, inter-party conflicts, intra-party issues, scandals, accountability etc etc. This new development could mean further bad publicity which our country does not need. Of late, we have received more than our fair share of such negative publicity from both near and far.
“It is apparent that there is pressure on Malay rights and privileges in their own country, towards the position of Islam as the official religion, the position and sovereignty of the Malay Rulers that is always being questioned, the New Economic Policy that is being sidelined despite the lack of achievement by the Malays and also national security,” it said.
These are among several “sensitive” issues for the Malays which have become provocative matters by those who want to destroy the security and prosperity of the country, the statement added.
The statement said the consultative council is not a platform for confrontation unless they are forced by parties described as those “inciting” racial tension.
“The main function of this council is to act as a medium to gather Malay NGOs that share the same stand to handle pressures faced by the Malays, Islam, Malay Rulers, national security, public order and other related issues,” the statement said, adding the idea to form the body was made early last month.
The MPM will form a task force that will be chaired by council members in rotation.
The statement also said the MPM had resolved each member should jointly study issues important to the Malays, Islam, Malay Rulers, national security and public order that is brought up or questioned by others, or to be championed by the community.
Others include the preparation and implementation of action plans to handle or oppose provocations against issues that relate to Malays and Islam, or issues seen as inciting or hateful.
The resolutions decided by MPM are:
* Resolutions must be based on facts and documents tabled at lawful MPM meetings;
* MPM members who disagree with the resolutions must accept the decision of the majority and be prepared to sign the agreed resolutions;
* MPM members who refuse or abstain from resolutions or decisions can choose not to sign off without affecting their membership; and
* If any MPM member opposes any of its resolutions or decisions, they will automatically cease to be members.
More importantly, how does this new development affect UMNO?
Does it do much for the image of the PM and his team?
Who is the one masterminding the formation of this organization and what is the ultimate aim?
How then can 1Malaysia continue with the existence of this new group which implies the lack of unity within one particular group?
Should there not be an official statement from UMNO and the PM about this issue? The PM has to nip the problem in the bud as soon as possible to prevent the chasms from widening further.
Does the current silence imply a cold war? If so, who are the generals who are calling the shots? The PM has to blow the whistle and restore some semblance of unity and order without which there could be negative repercussions.
So many unanswered questions which should never have arisen in the first place. What the country needs now - more than ever before- is unity, reforms and specific measures to put our country back on track in the right direction for the collective good of this nation. But will we see that?
I hope so, I really do.
But with such worrying trends, how can this be achieved?
Anonymous The whole roiling claptrap is about asserting blatant bumno fascist hegemony based on bullying "majoriti-ism".
Besides, how orang asli people has been badly treated and neglected, all along, negates any claim to any principled social justice in their racist soul.
This duplicity, dichotomy get more glaringly noticed world wide today unlike the old bad days without the Net when censorship was effective for suppression purpose.
Who would choose to invest here when it well known also that the business climate and judiciary is also completely farked up besides the increase in crime situation and corruption?!
~wits0~