Umno on track to lose Putrajaya
Alex (Source: Harakahdaily)
Sep 29, 04 3:22pm

The only slogan Umno leaders repeat year after year is, ‘The National Economic Policy must be continued for as long as the bumiputeras have not achieved their target or else they will forever lag behind the others’.

This slogan is a mirror reflection of the inferiority complex and weakness of the Umno leadership; it is also a strong indication of their insecure, unconfident and unprepared position in facing the dynamic changes of the world order.

The NEP slogan has also deprived the Malay race of their dignity and integrity. There are millions of Malays who have excelled in their professional roles. Many are already successful in foreign countries and have gained international recognition.

Nazir Razak, a rising star in merchant banking, is deprived of the rightful recognition of his abilities because he is often linked to his powerful elder brother in Umno. Tengku Nor Zakiah Tengku Ismail of K&N Kenaga gained her stripes from one of the world biggest investment bankers, Morgan Stanley.

Azman Hashim of AM Bank is well-known for his business integrity. These professionals may have had their careers helped along by the NEP, but they also earned their merit and monies through endurance and hardship in competing against global players in the business arena.

Malaysia economic history has already recorded the failure of politically-linked crony business empires. These involve the bailouts involving Renong, Technology Resources Industries (TRI), MAS and the Malaysian International Shipping Corporation (MISC).

And yet at the 2004 Umno general assembly last week, Umno Youth again repeated the old slogan of the NEP. It had no slogans that carried any positive paradigm of self-reliance or the continuous pursuit for excellence.

They only demand but fail to improve themselves to gain merit and recognition.

Umno Youth’s leadership lacks the vision and wisdom to challenge its members on the consequences of the impact of globalisation and the possibility of economic oppression. They remain in their Dreamland of high goals and are reluctant to pay the price of hard work and preserved integrity to get the top prizes.

The bumiputera allocation of shares in publicly-listed companies continues to be a source of easy money for the elite Umnoputras and emerging party leaders. The official 30 percent allocation of shares often change hands within three months after a company is listed on the Bursa Saham Malaysia.

Many Umno-linked companies fights among themselves to get rich quick on Initial Public Offers (IPOs).

The get-rich-quick Umnoputra culture is the root cause for the low bumiputera participation in the Malaysian equity market. This negative culture also brought about the cancerous money politics into Umno.

National bumiputera investment institutions and pension funds such as Lembaga Urusan Tabung Haji (LUTH), Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM), Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) are at risk under an ‘Umno supreme’ political culture where the Anti-Corruption Agency is completely dependent on the prime minister.

And Umno’s ‘no-contest rule’ will prove to be a stumbling block for democracy within the party. It will cultivate immaturity among the leadership while an unlimited tenure for the party president’s will lead to absolute power corruption.

Umno will decay further if its members fail to recognise the urgency of self-reliance in wake of the economic impact of globalisation. The future generations in the Youth and Puteri wings are refusing to recognise the need to grow up and to start taking responsibility with accountability.

Umno leaders are afraid of change; they do not even dare admit non-bumiputera students into UiTM to promote academic excellence through open competition. They fail to recognise that such racist policies would only jeopardise the branding of UiTM graduates in the job market. And thus, narrow-minded Umno leaders deprive UiTM graduates of their pride and integrity in the market place.

Umno cannot simply rely on its narrow racist agenda to champion the Malay struggle. If it continues to do so, it will just be a matter of time before Putrajaya falls into the hands of others.