'Najib wrong, Umno more like Mandela's foe'

The world is mourning the demise of an iconic figure who had risked his life and spent more than two decades in prison for struggling against a racist regime.

In Malaysia, a grieving Umno president Najib Abdul Razak has equated his party's struggle to the battle Mandela had fought to end apartheid in South Africa.

Commenting on this, a bewildered PKR vice-president N Surendran said it was nothing short of "shameless" for the Umno president to make such a comparison.

He pointed out that Najib has his facts mixed up since Umno's struggle more accurately mirrors that of the white National Party that had enforced racial segregation in South Africa.

"Where do I even begin?" asked Surendran, struggling to contain his laughter.

"I am actually surprised that Najib made the comparison. It does not do him or Umno any favours. On the contrary, it exposes the massive weaknesses in Umno's position.

"We all know about Mandela's struggles. In fact, Mandela himself said that his greatest work had been the fight against racism," he told Malaysiakini yesterday.

'Najib's most ridiculous statement'

In contrast to that, Surendran (below, centre) said Umno, especially since the era of its former president Dr Mahathir Mohamad, "has been all about racism, pure and simple."

According to the PKR leader, Umno practices a form of "calculated racism", which is intended to be used as a front to enrich party leaders, their cronies and selected businessmen.

"Comparing this to Mandela's struggle is the most ridiculous statement Najib has ever made.

"And the mockery of it is you have delegate after delegate (at the Umno assembly) talking about Malay supremacy... how does this accord with what Mandela stood for?

"I would call this a complete insult and desecration of Mandela's beliefs. This is not what Mandela risked his life and liberty for," he said.

The irony, Surendran said, is Najib has opened up a clear parallel between Umno and the white supremacist National Party that governed during the apartheid era.

"The crux of it is... Umno's struggle is the same as the apartheid party... Najib got it upside down.. Umno is more like the opponent of Mandela," he added.

Surendran also noted that the last two general elections showed that Malaysians are no longer interested in Umno and BN's racial struggle.

"They want a united Malaysia and that is why multiracial parties are so successful," he added.

'Anwar more like Mandela'

Responding to a question, Surendran agreed that if a Mandela parallel is to be drawn with Malaysian political figures, then the best candidate is opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

"Anwar was the first major political Malay leader who broke down the racial barrier and created a political coming together of all races.

"For the first time, in Anwar, we had a Malay politician of national standing, who repeatedly said "do not look at the colour of people's skins, but look at their needs".

"This has been the essence of Anwar's message over the years," he said.
          
Surendran said this message has been successful on the political front, with regard to breaking down the racial stranglehold of Umno and BN.

"In that context, Anwar's struggle parallels Nelson Mandela's (right) fight to end racial politics.

"Another parallel is that Anwar has also repeatedly said there will be no witch-hunt should Pakatan Rakyat form the federal government.

 "There will be a truth and reconciliation commission similar to South Africa. This struggle is not about exacting revenge or vendettas, but to rescue the nation," he said.

Like Mandela, Anwar too was incarcerated for what the latter claimed were trumped up charges in a political conspiracy to end his political career.

However, the government has denied this.