Umno’s threats and calls to change (back to the good old days, that is)

by Nathaniel Tan

Conspicuously present as at almost all Umno meetings: threats, threats, threats.

There are calls to go after online writers, warnings against ‘overly brave’ non-Malays, talk of the methods used by Najib’s father post-1969 to ‘restore order,’ and in Hisham’s outgoing speech, plenty of allusions that foreshadow an arrest of Anwar.

For all the Obama/KeADILan talk of change (did you see The Star headline? “Time for change” - eh! macam pernah dengar ni :P :) , the mood suggested that many in Umno wanted a change yes, but a change BACK to the good old days where they freely and gleefully tyrannised the rest of Malaysia.

Will Najib succumb to the temptation of ridding himself of the opposition the easy way? Amidst all his scandals and the devastating amount of bad press he has been getting overseas, will he seek to detract attention by doing exactly what Mahathir did, both in the late 80s and the late 90s? Will we be changing back to that definition of ’strength?’

Nobody knows what the future brings, but there are some signs out there pointing to a crackdown. Should they decide to take it big guns, medium guns, little guns or all of the above, preparations still need to be made early - no matter how illogical such actions might appear to us.

As for whether Umno will reclaim its powers of tyranny - I guess that’s really up to you and me, and how hard we’re willing to work to get the message out to all Malaysians that this party has been bad for Malays, and bad for the rest of Malaysia. In the end, it will be the rakyat that determines how much power Umno holds over us; not Najib, not any one man.

Otherwise? I suppose the only ‘interesting’ result was Khairy. Perhaps Najib is all about keeping his friends close, but his enemies closer; especially after having done away with so many of Abdullah’s man, perhaps he feared taking Khairy out would push the old man and whatever was left of his faction out of the edge.

Oh well, I suppose Khairy would make a marginally more interesting opponent than a dimwit or a thief.

Next to come: Behind the scenes - a look at the lower profile voting results.