UMNO had merely suffered a minor setback in the 14th general election, and is now back in full force with Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the country’s ninth prime minister, former attorney-general Tommy Thomas said.

Speaking at a webinar entitled Umno Redux: What Next for Malaysia? he said those who underestimate Umno do so at their peril.

“Umno only suffered a temporary setback in GE14, it is back in full harness.

“Umno is successful, durable and resilient. Any politician or political party that underestimates Umno does so at its peril,” Thomas said.

Umno’s dominance in the national landscape is so overpowering that it has convinced thousands of civil servants that the party is synonymous with Malaysia, he added.

“What is Umno’s interest is in the nation’s interest. This interchangeability between Umno and the nation state was best demonstrated by the way Umno attacked the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government within weeks of it losing political power for the first time in May 2018.

“Umno effectively used the race and religion card, culminating in the Sheraton Move in February 2020,” the PH-appointed attorney-general said.

The defections by about a dozen PKR MPs and the pull-out by Bersatu from PH has been dubbed the Sheraton Move, and was aimed at forming a new Malay-majority government with Umno, PAS and other parties.

Thomas said Umno believed it was entitled to be the ruling party and once again clinched this position when the current prime minister, Ismail Sabri, took office.

Another webinar speaker, UCSI professor Tajuddin Rasdi, predicted that Umno will sweep GE15 with its cooperation with PAS.

“Umno may not have vision, leaders and credibility, but my money is on them to sweep GE15 with PAS. Especially now with Ketuanan Melayu and Ketuanan Islam at the fore,” he said, referring to the ideology of Malays and Islam as having supreme positions in the country.

Tajuddin added that while Umno peddles racial and religious rhetoric to win votes, he said it does so in response to society.

“Islamic extremism is coming to the fore but the blame is not only on the politicians. They are pandering to what is already existent among the people. Real change can only come when we ourselves change,” said Tajuddin.

What next for Malaysia?

Professor James Chin of the University of Tasmania, who also spoke at the webinar, said “something radical” had to happen in order for Malaysia’s political landscape undergo real change.

“If you want a profound change, we need to go through a traumatic event where we can’t carry on anymore and we need to reset. Until you reach a crisis point, things will remain the same,” he said.

He also said that although Malaysia regularly holds elections, it is not a true democracy.

“Malaysia has never been a true democracy, though elections are held regularly, they are rigged (gerrymandering) and the party in power stays in power. Up to 2008, you can argue that before the first vote was cast, they had 40% of the votes in the pocket,” he claimed.

Democracy cannot really take root in Malaysia because of the political culture, he added.

“What we are seeing now is the rise of political Islam, which is not compatible with democratic norms.

“What you have now is a minority group highly committed to make Malaysia into an Islamic state. Not the sort in the Middle East, but a Malay Islamic state. This has never been attempted.

“We can hope for some sort of multiracial government where the minority is given a seat,” he said.

Chin said Malaysia needs to look to the younger generation for its next leader.

“If you look at contemporary history, there were many nations on the brink of failing, but if you get the right leader, you can turn around. In Malaysia, you scan the horizon, there is no leader and that is why people are getting pessimistic.

“We need to skip one or two generations. The current generation has failed, all these people came from specific periods of Malaysia’s development, they won’t change.”

To those who say that the younger generation may not be cut out for the job, Chin added that the young could not do any more damage than what is already being done. – September 9, 2021.