YOURSAY | Unity is skin deep

YOURSAY | ‘They were down but somehow found new life and were resuscitated’.

COMMENT | Harapan has a lousy partner in Umno

BOBBYO: Malaysia had no choice. It was either this government or Bersatu/PAS/Umno/GPS with their Sabah counterparts running the nation.

With Harapan in the driver’s seat, the nation at least got to breathe some fresh air. At the same time hoping that it will take the nation away from the brink of destruction and set it on a safe course. As far as Umno is concerned, it will never change. Unless it is led by a new leader, who has the future interest of Umno as his priority.

Let us face the fact that neither Harapan nor Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has any control over how Umno should be run. The decisions, or as we call manipulation of the grassroots or even the supreme council is all done within the party. The nation is in a better position now. It is not perfect, but at least there is peace and stability.

There is ample time for Harapan to make the changes that will benefit the people and the nation. So what are we complaining about? Umno, if it does not change, will self-destruct in due time. We experienced Umno when it was at its peak. With majority seats under its control. It is now reduced to just surviving with the help of its coalition partner.

Umno cannot blame anybody, but itself. Even with past leaders such as former prime ministers Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Najib Abdul Razak, Ismail Sabri Yaakob and now Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, it has not learned its lesson. The next six state elections will show whether Umno will survive through the next decade.

MS: Does former editor P Gunasegaram expect Umno to act and speak like a member of the Harapan coalition? He should know that “unity” in this case is confined to only positions in exchange for support.

The fact that no other component party in the present government was invited to the assembly should have indicated that it is business as usual for Umno. Unity is only skin deep. So nothing is shocking in what Zahid did or did not do.

He put his interests front and centre of the party agenda and the delegates allowed it. It says everything about him, his party followers …and most importantly the leeway given to him in this “unity” arrangement.

Milshah: There are many in the Harapan crowd that are not happy with Zahid and Umno. Yes, there are murmurs, disgruntled and complaints about Zahid and Umno here and there, not just you Guna, but that's it. The question is what Harapan can do about it. Nothing. Zahid won the MP seat for Bagan Datuk. That gives him 5 years. He won the Umno president seat by having the Umno general assembly pass a no-contest resolution for the top two posts. That gives him another three or four years.

Umno has 30 MP seats, which Zahid controls by being the Umno president. If he takes it out, the unity government will collapse. Let's not forget the Harapan crowd, even though they complain, they fear the green wave. They fear PAS becoming the government more than Umno. The lesser of two evils they say.

The only thing that can affect Umno is the current court charges. That too is not going anywhere with many discharges not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA), and no one has been found guilty since Najib's guilty verdict. It would seem Umno leaders are nice people since no one was found guilty. It would be icing on the cake if Najib is out as well. I'm expecting more antics from the Umno president, and there is nothing Harapan or their supporters can do about it.

Man on the Silver Mountain: It is Umno. What’s new? Realistically, we should expect nothing other than the fact that this is Umno. They are still playing their old game and promoting the same narrative. No contest for two top posts, why is that a surprise? Demonising former attorney-general Tommy Thomas – they have been doing that, and it has not stopped. It was a major political ammunition for them.

Ismail Sabri just did what he had to do, and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Azalina Othman Said merely carried on. Well, give credit to her though – the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) widens its scope. You can go on and on about Umno, but what is clear is that they are not going to transform into something that non-Umno protagonists want them to be. Why should they? They were rich due to years of self-serving politics and they want to keep what they have, tooth and nail.

The only thing that is useful about Umno is that they make the present government possible and in some way, stable. Harapan most likely knew this all along. They cannot have the majority to form a government all on their own.

They already sort of anticipated that when they predicted they could only win some 80 seats or so at the most. They were down but somehow found new life and were resuscitated. A coalition is the only way, Agong’s call notwithstanding. Good politicians and parties can adapt to any possible outcome, and Harapan just capitalised on that. Forget about how bad or how opportunistic Umno are. They are who they are.

Franklyspeaking: Talk is cheap, and having afterthoughts is easy. One must not forget the dark clouds hanging over us right after the 15th general election when it was reported that BN and GPS had joined Perikatan Nasional to form the new government. If Umno is a lousy partner, then the second-best alternative partner (PAS-PBBM) would be a worst-case scenario for the majority of Malaysians.

The days of one single party domineering and lord over the rest are over. This unity government headed by Anwar itself has built-in checks and balances, where partners can work together through collaboration, consultation and consensus.

The formation of the unity government is the first of the many turning points for Malaysia - the acceptance and emergence of strong political coalitions of moderates that can cooperate for the betterment of the citizens, and by extension, for the political survival and relevance of each party.

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