I think we are witnessing nothing less than the struggle between being mired in outdated racial politics, and moving forward into more holistic, progressive visions for Malaysia.
Let’s start by analysing Muhyiddin’s interest in all this. What stunt was he trying to pull?
My view is that Muhyiddin’s impatience and greediness is starting to become startlingly apparent.
This PM-DPM relationship seems to more closely resemble Dr. M – Anwar (back in the day), which is essentially the exact opposite of Abdullah – Najib.
Najib was the quiet good boy, who bided his time even when people clamoured for Abdullah’s throat.
Muhyiddin? He seems to have his daggers out even before his boss has warmed his seat.
Now let’s examine the game he’s trying to play. Seeing Najib take a risky position with 1Malaysia, he decides to swing to the right, and pander to the Perkasa crowd – looking to differentiate himself from Najib any way he can.
I find him a man of low principle. I remember while Abdullah was PM, Muhyiddin was Mr. Multi-racial (one day I’ll dig up that news article). Now, when it suits him better, he’s Mr. Malay 1st in opposition to Najib’s Mr. 1M’sia.
This is lame. As is Najib tripping over himself to say that Muhyiddin’s position is consistent with 1Malaysia – which a donkey could see is a lie. I think this paints Najib as weak, liable to be bullied by his deputy.
Najib’s defensiveness of “not extreme” Perkasa also betrays his deep insecurity. Clearly he has no intent on taking a stance against racist hardliners like Ibrahim Ali – demonstrating time and again that for Najib, principle falls sacrifice to political expediency.
I have argued one very simple point in this blog, almost since I started it: genuine ideological reform within Umno is pretty much impossible, because of the way it has shaped itself over time.
After decades of building itself around the idea of Ketuanan Melayu, they are essentially trapped – victims of the race-obsessed mindsets they have worked so hard to create.
(I can’t help repeating: Perkasa and Umno always says the Malays have yet to achieve their full potential. I agree. But after decades of being ruled by Umno and no one else – exactly who is to blame for that state of affairs? Oh I don’t know, maybe the Umno ‘flers who stole everything that was meant for the bumiputeras?)
Especially in the last quarter of the last century, Umno has indoctrinated so many race-mongers (think BTN) and attracted so many sycophants, that they now find they can’t shake them loose – even if they wanted to (which is itself doubtful).
In mathematics, the sign “≡” means “always equals to” or “is defined as”.
My contention is that Umno ≡ racism (and corruption) ≡ Perkasa.
As for Najib’s attempts to cover Umno (or himself, seeing as he can now pretend he is more popular than Umno itself) with 1Malaysia, NEM, GTP, etc etc, all I can say is: you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.
05/10/10
Let’s start by analysing Muhyiddin’s interest in all this. What stunt was he trying to pull?
My view is that Muhyiddin’s impatience and greediness is starting to become startlingly apparent.
This PM-DPM relationship seems to more closely resemble Dr. M – Anwar (back in the day), which is essentially the exact opposite of Abdullah – Najib.
Najib was the quiet good boy, who bided his time even when people clamoured for Abdullah’s throat.
Muhyiddin? He seems to have his daggers out even before his boss has warmed his seat.
Now let’s examine the game he’s trying to play. Seeing Najib take a risky position with 1Malaysia, he decides to swing to the right, and pander to the Perkasa crowd – looking to differentiate himself from Najib any way he can.
I find him a man of low principle. I remember while Abdullah was PM, Muhyiddin was Mr. Multi-racial (one day I’ll dig up that news article). Now, when it suits him better, he’s Mr. Malay 1st in opposition to Najib’s Mr. 1M’sia.
This is lame. As is Najib tripping over himself to say that Muhyiddin’s position is consistent with 1Malaysia – which a donkey could see is a lie. I think this paints Najib as weak, liable to be bullied by his deputy.
Najib’s defensiveness of “not extreme” Perkasa also betrays his deep insecurity. Clearly he has no intent on taking a stance against racist hardliners like Ibrahim Ali – demonstrating time and again that for Najib, principle falls sacrifice to political expediency.
I have argued one very simple point in this blog, almost since I started it: genuine ideological reform within Umno is pretty much impossible, because of the way it has shaped itself over time.
After decades of building itself around the idea of Ketuanan Melayu, they are essentially trapped – victims of the race-obsessed mindsets they have worked so hard to create.
(I can’t help repeating: Perkasa and Umno always says the Malays have yet to achieve their full potential. I agree. But after decades of being ruled by Umno and no one else – exactly who is to blame for that state of affairs? Oh I don’t know, maybe the Umno ‘flers who stole everything that was meant for the bumiputeras?)
Especially in the last quarter of the last century, Umno has indoctrinated so many race-mongers (think BTN) and attracted so many sycophants, that they now find they can’t shake them loose – even if they wanted to (which is itself doubtful).
In mathematics, the sign “≡” means “always equals to” or “is defined as”.
My contention is that Umno ≡ racism (and corruption) ≡ Perkasa.
As for Najib’s attempts to cover Umno (or himself, seeing as he can now pretend he is more popular than Umno itself) with 1Malaysia, NEM, GTP, etc etc, all I can say is: you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.
05/10/10
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