People Power for Malaysia?

February 12, 2009

By steadyaku47

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.”

—Gandhi

What is holding our country and our people together while this UMNO Government led by Najib lurches from one disaster to another? From one atrocity to another? From one audacious scandal to another? Each scandal amply exhibiting the twisted ingenuity of its perpetuators in their never-ending quest to defraud the Rakyat of their money.

The F1 Team Malaysia comes to mind. Is it not an ingenious and brazen scam cooked up at the highest level and endorsed by our Prime Minister Najib? The Eye on Malaysia scam, enthusiastically endorsed and funded by the Ministry of Tourism and later by the State Government of Melaka, manages to not only enrich the scammers but also embarrasses our country globally when our own courts ruled that a Belgium company, Fitraco NV, could take back their wheel because it has not been paid for! Let us not forget that our Government even cites National Interest in promoting that scam to its own people.

The sheer size of the amount of money taken from the Rakyat for the pockets of UMNO political elites and their cronies is breathtaking. How much money do they need to satisfy their greed? Each manipulative promise they make and each oath they take to assure the people of their commitment to righteousness and the promise to cease past excesses is announced with a “hand on my heart and hope to die” earnestness – and then all this is conveniently forgotten once the money is in their pockets.

Malaysia's Inspiration

The depths to which these UMNO leaders will sink is surely an abyss that future generations will find impossible to replicate – simply because once UMNO is gone we will no longer have politicians able to replicate Team UMNO and their excesses again – we will not allow them to hold office! Surely our future generations will know what NOT to do if history teaches us anything at all! What UMNO does to promote their hold on power knows no limits – race, religion, family values, good manners, decency are abused and all pretense of a civilized society abandoned. Look no further then Najib and Rosmah  – a sad vindication of a family without decent Family Values and a misplaced sense of priorities to excuse Najib’s political principals – or the lack of it!

How much more of these abuses will the people take? Time and time again the people have been asked to pay more for their food, for their expenses, for their essentials in life while their income diminishes day by day. What little they earn are then taken away from them by the very people sworn to protect them – by the Police and other Government bodies in bribes. The people become aware of failed projects and outright failures of the government to protect the interests of the Rakyat. There are one sided power purchase agreements with IPP and Toll Concession companies – all cloaked in secrecy and laughably kept away from our prying eyes under the OSA. EPF money being used to prop up “sure to fail” businesses, Petronas money used to save Mahathir’s son’s business – and the list goes on.

And then we see the excesses of UMNO’s Politicians. Their perverse need to display their hideous hoard of ill-gotten gains – as in the palatial Toyo’s mansion. How do you make this guy understand that even car thieves do not drive around using the car they have just stolen? They would have enough sense to sell it to someone across the border or dismantle the car for parts. Common sense would tell the car thief that that is the “smart” thing to do in order to not get arrested by the Police – but then this Toyo guy is not too smart and the local Police are not in the “arresting” mode. So all is well that ends well – at least under UMNO’s rule it does.

How much more can the people take? We are confronted with the deaths of people in Police custody, deaths of people under MACC custody, and a Judiciary that does not bite the hand that feeds it – a convenient arrangement when what it wants from its master is more than what it needs.

Sometimes it just gets too much. Overload. And yet we know we have to take upon our shoulders the burden of trying to earn a living, take care of our family and putting up with a corrupt government more intent in continuing to suck what it can from its own people because they believe that they can get blood from stone.

So where do we go from here? How much more should we take? Is Anwar’s Sodomy Two the straw that breaks the camel’s back? Or will the ongoing Altantuya revelation push us over the edge? What about the Submarines that will not dive – after $500 million is paid out for “services rendered” to Razak Baginda? Legalizing the act of taking Perak from its elected Government, talking about the “possibility” of making changes to the ISA and doing nothing about it, taking Hassan Merican out of PETRONAS just because you can, and always … always doing damage to our country’s credibility by promoting the interests of the Rakyat last! All this hammers at our consciousness and our thoughts with a regularity that will surely result in an explosion of anger from the people seeking retribution.

Are we past the stage where we have taken all we can? Is the quietness and silence of the people now a lull before the storm? A prelude to the outbreak of a political cleansing of all things UMNO? I believe that the floodgates will soon open to allow an outpouring of frustration and angst that have backed up all these years against an UMNO bereft of any understanding of the situations that they themselves have created – that they are in now. Awareness by those within UMNO will probably come when push comes to shove. When the physical act of saying enough to UMNO manifests itself through an overt display of People’s Power as they did in the Philippines.

It would do Najib good if he will take a minute to consider what Marcos and Suharto went through before they started their fall from grace.

Marcos’s presidency saw widespread graft and corruption. He suppressed the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press and many other civil liberties. He ordered the arrests of his political opponents and critics. He embezzled money from the government. He ordered the shutdown and takeovers of businesses in the country, and then put these businesses either under government control, or under the control of his cronies. All this we know Mahathir did. UMNO did and Najib continues to do now.

But in the end what toppled Marcos was People Power – the people of the Philippines. An estimated two to three million of them were mobilized in a matter of hours to come out in the streets to make a stand against the might of the army, against Marcos. This mass support of the people was the critical factor that led to the removal of Marcos. The Rakyat in Malaysia should take note of this too.

In 1998, the Peoples Consultative Assembly of Indonesia re-elected Suharto for the seventh time as its President. Yet, two months later, Suharto announced his resignation. In those two months, everyone abandoned Suharto. The parliament, although completely dominated by the government party, Golkar, threatened to remove him from office if he did not resign. Golkar’s chairman asked him to step down, as did the representatives of the two other authorized parties that, two months previously, had designated him as their only candidate. His ministers abandoned him. Corruption and nepotism that had been endemic under him ultimately ended his thirty-year reign.

This situation is not unlike that faced by Mahathir and Pak Lah once their time to go had come. It does not take much to marshal UMNO’s forces behind the next man who would be King. Just ask Pak Lah. No more the adoring crowds of hangers on around him, no more the fanatical “sahabats” to do his bidding.

In the manner of their going, Marcos and Suharto erringly reflects Najib’s current position just before their fall. When they want to do so Mahathir and Muhyiddin can move the Rakyat against Najib. What is left is merely the manner of how Najib will leave and its timing. Just think – all it takes is for the Police to arrest him for his involvement in the Alatantuya’s case and for the AG to prosecute. And what would make that happen? A Prime Minister designate – one waiting in the wings! And we know who that is! And if the AG and the IGP want a job – do as told!

What will trigger People Power in Malaysia? Will it be racially focused on any race? No! Will it transcend race and religion? Yes it will. Will it herald the dawn of a brand new day for all Malaysians? For sure it will … for sure it will … and then we will take our place back in the civilized world.