Umno paints bleak scenario to cow rivals ahead of polls

Najib’s call for progressiveness failed to make it into the second day of the Umno general assembly. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 ― With polls just around the corner, the Umno general assembly today continued to see more Pakatan Rakyat-bashing as party delegates repeated the old chestnuts that anarchy and racial conflicts would destroy Malaysia should the opposition pact come to power.

Day two of the party’s main general assembly here witnessed delegates taking turns to discredit PR, criticising them for the purported lack of cohesion among their three member parties and accusing them of suppressing the Malays in the states they lead.

Although more reserved compared to the usual chest-thumping rhetoric typical of Umno’s past annual assemblies, debates today offered only a glimpse of the transformation that the party has professed to have undergone.

Instead, delegates focussed on PR’s failures and played the race card again in a bid to drive a wedge among their rivals.

Apart from the repeated calls for unity, the delegates also deviated from president Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s advice to surge forward, and continued to dwell on the past.

In his presidential address at the opening of the assembly yesterday, Najib had reminded Umno members that they were facing a more discerning and forward-thinking Malaysian electorate today.

The country’s sixth prime minister said voters now want to see what their leaders have to offer to better their future.

But, departing from this reminder, Johor delegate Datuk Samsol Bari Jamali laced his debate with accusations that the federal opposition pact’s culture of “extremism” would lead to racial and religious conflicts in Malaysia.

“PAS promotes religious extremism. DAP, on the other hand, preaches equality without respecting the rights of other races, while PKR brings this ideology of liberalism that would only lead to anarchy,” he told the over 2,000 delegates gathered at the Putra World Trade Centre here.

Samsol pointed out that during the country’s first general election, Umno had been willing to share power with MCA and MIC although the country’s Malays made up 80 per cent of the population.

“Is this an apartheid and racist like the opposition claims?

“In truth, they only know how to spew rhetoric here and there and create chaos in this country,” he said.

A Negri Sembilan delegate later expanded on this by claiming that even Umno’s partners, MCA and Gerakan, were aware that only the Malay could protect the Chinese community’s interests.

In his debate, Datuk Jalaludin Alias said the two parties, whose traditional support base is the Chinese voters, are more “practical” than opposition party DAP because of their recognition of the special rights of Malays.

“Gerakan and MCA know only Umno is able to protect the Chinese and not the opposition.

“Compared to DAP, these two parties are more practical and [acknowledge] the special rights of the Malays,” Jalaludin said this morning when debating Najib’s policy speech.

He also criticised the PR parties of DAP, PAS, PKR for their alleged inability to be united due to their different ideologies, a mantra that has been repeated countless times so far during this year’s Umno meet.

“Ignore the opposition’s accusations, (Datuk Seri) Anwar (Ibrahim) with his promises, DAP with its arrogance and racism and PAS with its narrow ideology,” he said.

In Election 2008, Gerakan and MCA both fared badly at the polls, which many attributed to falling support from unhappy Chinese voters.

Chinese education groups have this year held rallies to demand for fair treatment for vernacular education, which contributed to the federal government’s approval of a Chinese independent school in Kuantan earlier this year.

Ahead of the 13th general election, BN has actively campaigned to win back support from the Chinese community.

Najib, who is also the BN chairman, recently urged the Chinese community who liked his leadership to throw in their full support behind Umno and BN if they wanted to see more successes in Malaysia through the country’s transformation plans.

Penang Umno delegate Datuk Abdul Rahim Saibu agreed with his fellow colleagues, adding that Malays have been sidelined under PR’s rule.

He cited Penang as an example, calling its DAP Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng “arrogant” and rude.

“We need to win back Penang for the sake of the Malays there.

“Guan Eng is so arrogant that he is regarded as a deity and he cannot be criticised for whatever he does,” he said.