Malay unity - too late for Dr M

Malay unity - too late for Dr M

TUN Dr Mahathir's 'invitation' for Umno members to join Bersatu sounds desperate. If he is not, he wouldn't have made that call. Intriguing, with a lot of pros and cons.

In Ipoh on Sunday, Umno president Zahid Hamidi avowed loudly that Umno will not succumbed to such situation and there is no way for Umno to be dissolved. Umno, with 3.5 million members is much bigger than Bersatu, and the move must be vice versa instead.

Many leaders, including an Umno MP described it as 'positive' while others are adamant that it is Bersatu that must be disbanded and all of its members should join Umno. If you talk about Malay unity, and if Dr M is sincere, why start with Umno and not PKR and Amanah?

Let PKR and Amanah be dissolved first if the Malays are to be united. Why Umno?

And this Umno MP - seen by many as waiting the right time to jump ship although he had said many times that he will stay on with Umno - was not seen as talking on behalf of the party but rather for himself. Trying to be different, maybe but his direction is drifting away from the majority. Perhaps the voice of 'minority rules' is part of his political agenda.

But why now? Only after Umno and Barisan Nasional lost the 14th general election, the issue of Malay unity is brought up? Why not before DAP became the main vocal for the Cabinet?

All this doesn't make sense. Dr M sincerity should be put on doubt. After tormenting the Malay unity with the formation of Semangat 46 on June 3, 1989 and PKR on April 4, 1999, Dr M should realise then that it was the beginning of Malay segmentation in Malaysia.

With Tengku Razaleigh defeat for presidency and Umno declared illegal in 1988, he should be seen as a savior during that time but he chose to be on the sideline. After his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim' sacking, also in 1998 over accusation of power abuse - which saw him sent to jail - Dr M simply failed to calculate the political scenario years on.

All this happened during his time, and he himself was at the center of it. His main rival then was DAP, which share the same bed with him now.

Will Anwar Ibrahim and Mohamad Sabu willing to dissolve their respective party now and usher their members to join Bersatu? These two strongly support Dr M's call. Why didn't they do it first?

Maybe the pressure is mounting on Dr M, especially after realising how the Malays have lost their political grip to the DAP Chinese. Economic wise, they are nowhere to be seen in the Chinese-dominated turf.

So, what's next for Dr M?

Will he consider dissolving the tiny Bersatu and re-join Umno? Will Umno members accept them? After all, Bersatu is established by former Umno disgruntled members!

As Zahid puts it, no way that Umno will fall into Dr M's political trap. Umno is coming on stronger after GE14 and with new political collaboration with Islamic party Pas, they are forming a new formidable team.

As for now, Dr M can forget his Malay Unity concept. Let's Umno and Pas start it. After all, his calls was not 'very sincere' as it contains elements of vested-interest for Bersatu.

He took too long to realise the damage that he has done. Its up to the Malays to mend the patches again. And may he rules for another 22 years!

Posted 4 days ago by bujai