LETTER | From the strongest ruling party in Malaysia to the kingmaker that was ditched by its own supporters, Umno has surely gone through a lot of ups and downs throughout its history.
It is somehow mind-boggling that when people could grow from the experiences they encounter, Umno is now seemingly descending despite all the challenges it had gone through.
When the opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN) is actively strengthening its racial and religious brand, Umno has chosen to open fire at its own ally by demanding an apology from DAP.
Though its president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has called for his members to move on from past rivalries, prominent leaders like Isham Jalil and Akmah Salleh have doubled down on their stance that DAP must admit their past “faulty accusations” towards Umno. Even Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan has supported the call.
This shows the immaturity of these leaders who prefer to play politics, which is solely based on interests and benefits, to the realm of love and hatred.
It is even more ridiculous when Akmah compared DAP’s apology to the East Malaysian political coalitions right after GE15 with his call for DAP to apologise to Umno.
DAP apologised to East Malaysian coalitions to appeal to them to support Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister so that PN doesn’t return to power. This is a strategic move to settle their past rivalry, which is politically mature.
At its core, Umno wouldn’t even be the ruling party and hold various key cabinet positions today if it was not for DAP’s humility.
Umno’s current call for DAP to apologise to them is reverting the whole process, as they have already put down their past enmity when they form the unity government together.
They are now stirring up DAP and Umno’s acrimonious past again, which is counter-productive when state elections are approaching.
On the other hand, when Isham stated that there is no need for Umno members, including himself, to vote for DAP in the state elections as that would damage Umno’s Malay base, he is basically suggesting that DAP and Umno should contest against each other in the upcoming state elections.
BN and Pakatan Harapan have already agreed to work together in facing the state elections. This means that they will allocate their seats carefully to not overlap each other, which indicates that DAP and Umno would never contest for the same seat.
Most of the constituencies in Malaysia, no matter Parliament or state, are Malay majority. Therefore, is Isham suggesting the government just gift the seats where only DAP is contesting to PN by calling the Malay Umno comrades to not support them?
When the choice is only between DAP and PN, and Umno members cannot support DAP, they would most probably refrain from voting or vote for PN, which would ultimately turn the constituency green.
Umno, as the oldest political party in Malaysia, should grow up to be politically mature. It surely is odd for Umno members to vote for DAP in the state elections, but that’s the only way the government could retain the state power that they currently hold from being snatched away by the surging PN.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
