from Asia Times

Embittered Malays turn on themselves

By Anil Netto

Last Sunday's Malay solidarity gathering, led by a band of prominent former leaders of the United Malays National Organization (Umno), appears to have sent a signal to Umno president Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. The proceedings of the gathering, aimed at asserting ethnic Malay supremacy in multi-ethnic Malaysia, surprised observers when speakers lashed out at the party leadership for failing to listen to the grass roots and neglecting the economic plight of the Malays.

Some 3,000 Malays turned up at the gathering, held at Umno's plush Putra World Trade Center in Kuala Lumpur. Analysts had feared that the gathering, organized by an ad hoc group calling itself the Malay Action Front (MAF), would target Chinese Malaysians. Publicity posters for the gathering had depicted a raised hand holding an unsheathed kris (traditional Malay dagger) against a blood-red backdrop.

In recent months, controversy had flared after the youth wing of Umno strongly responded to Suqiu, a grouping of Chinese associations, that had issued a 17-point memorandum calling for wide-ranging reforms and the abolition of race-based quotas. Umno, facing eroding support among Malays, stepped up its rhetoric, asserting that the "special rights" of Malays should not be questioned.

But instead of the expected outburst of anti-Chinese sentiment, it was the thinly disguised criticism of Mahathir and the party leadership that raised eyebrows. Mid-way through the speeches, some among the audience walked out of the hall. For veteran opposition leader Lim Kit Siang, the gathering was "the strongest and most open challenge to the ... Umno leadership [of Mahathir and Deputy Premier Adbullah Badawi] ffrom inside Umno" since a leadership challenge against Mahathir split the party in 1987.

Among Umno veterans present at last Sunday's gathering were former deputy premier Ghafar Baba, two current deputy cabinet ministers, a former deputy minister in the prime minister's department, a former state chief minister, and a former home minister. Speakers criticized the implementation of the New Economic Policy for having failed to achieve its target of raising Malay ownership of corporate equity to 30 percent by 1990.

Malays, who make up just over half the population, were said to own only 19 percent of corporate equity at the onset of the recent economic crisis. That level was now in danger of slipping to 15 percent and below, speakers said. The gathering then proposed a task force committee to draft a fresh economic blueprint.

The national leadership was also urged to ponder on whether it was worthwhile to bail out favored tycoons. Also questioned was the wisdom of awarding huge contracts to a small coterie of firms.

"Forty-three years after independence, where are our rights?" asked one speaker, a veteran Umno leader. "If the government can spend millions and billions of ringgit to build Putrajaya [the new administrative city], the MSC [Multimedia Super Corridor] and all these grand buildings, surely it can also create development which can benefit the Malays. But there are still poor Malay farmers and fishermen. Instead, the government is more concerned with helping selected companies and people."

Another speaker highlighted the fact they many Malays had deserted the party. "We want to remind the leaders that the Malays would not desert Umno without reason," said a former member of parliament from Kedah, Mahathir's home state. "Umno leaders should do some soul-searching as to why Malays had rejected the party in the 1999 elections. If a house is in a poor state, then we should not demolish it. If it is the pillar that is faulty, then we can replace that part."

The question is: Who or what is the "pillar"?

Other speakers were a bit more explicit. "Dr Mahathir has done a lot for the country, but it is now time for him to listen to the grass roots," said MAF chairperson Mazlan Harun. "The grass roots' opinion is also that the cabinet must be cleaned up. The present cabinet does not enjoy credibility among the Malays."

The gathering reflects increasing awareness within Umno that support for the party has declined over the last two years since the sacking of ousted deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim. For many within Umno, that means their own political survival is in jeopardy. This is the first time since Anwar's ouster that there has been such outspoken collective disenchantment expressed against the party leadership. It comes just a little more than two months after the ruling coalition lost a key by-election in a seat it had held since independence. One of the factors that led to that defeat was Mahathir's criticism of Suqiu that alienated a segment of the Chinese electorate.

Ironically, the Suqiu controversy was one of the factors that led to the staging of the Malay solidarity gathering with the theme, "The Malays will never perish from the earth". Few would have guessed the meeting would in turn criticize the Umno leadership. Some observers recall how Mahathir himself was critical of Malaysia's first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman in the late 1960s and they see some parallels with the way Mahathir has himself come under fire now.

For opposition leader Lim though, the gathering should have been titled "Umno will never perish from the earth". Malay survival, he argued, was never in jeopardy as they had merely shifted their support to the opposition and the "reformasi" movement.

The big question now is how long Mahathir can hang on to the helm in the face of what may develop into a groundswell of criticism of the party leadership. Asked in an Internet poll when Mahathir would leave office, some 35 percent of more than 400 respondents replied he would leave this year. But perhaps reflecting cynical recognition of the 75-year-old premier's survival instincts, another 30 percent said he would only leave in 2020.

That confidence in his staying power, however, is unlikely to provide much comfort to the increasingly isolated premier.