COMMENT | Harvard University's famous political scientist Samuel Huntington, who wrote his seminal book ‘Political development or political decay’, said that not all developing countries would have the luxury to march in the direction of political development. Political decay is also a possibility.

Similarly, the term ‘Janus-faced politics’ refers to a situation where we pretend to look towards the future, but in actual fact we are regressing back to a situation of chaos and disorder.

As the 14th general election is drawing closer, Umno politicians are getting quite desperate. They are beginning to believe that victory might not be that easy. In their desperation, they are saying things that they would not have said earlier.

Earlier Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak launched straight salvos at former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohammed, the man helming the newly-formed party called Bersatu. There is fear in the Umno circles that Malay votes cannot be taken for granted any longer, that there is a possibility that Bersatu might make inroads into Umno areas.

The below the belt punch was delivered by none other than Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi against Mahathir two days ago. In his speech, Zahid accused Mahathir of using the Malay agenda to promote his own political ends over the past 22 years. That having realised this, Mahathir discarded Umno to form Bersatu last year to challenge Umno.

Zahid said how could Mahathir call himself a Malay when his identity card showed that he was born to an Indian father, Iskander Kutty. His name in the identity card was Mahathir Mohammed anak lelaki Iskander Kutty. While Malays use ‘bin’, it is only Indians who use the term "anak lelaki".

The fact that Mahathir's father was of Indian origin is not a secret in the country. The whole country knows that Mahathir's origins could be traced back to the state of Kerala, in South India. So, the revelation by Zahid is nothing new; Mahathir's origins are being revived again merely for political purposes. Zahid wants to tell the Malays not to support Mahathir because as an "Indian" he is incapable of defending the rights of Malays.

If Zahid wants to take on Mahathir, there are so many substantive issues that he could focus on. He could criticise him on his policies, to what extent they were beneficial to the people, in what ways the rakyat suffered and what were the major scandals during the period of Mahathir's rule.

So, who are the 'pure Malay' leaders?

As they say, ‘people in glass houses should not throw stones’. Zahid should remember that his own ‘Malayness’ is something in question. He cannot say that he is ‘pure Malay’ simply because his origins go back to Indonesia.

Neither can Najib say that he is in the same category too, given his Bugis origins. What about earlier prime ministers like Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, Abdul Razak Hussein and Hussein Onn? Can they be called ‘pure Malays’? Anyway, how many Umno leaders at present can be considered as ‘pure Malays’, if at all there is any meaning attached to the term?

To determine the ‘ethnic pureness’ of race is an exercise in futility simply because we cannot trace back our ancestry beyond a few generations.

Even if we do trace our history or origins, the results would be surprising or perhaps even damaging to our commonly held myths and distorted views of ourselves, and our relationship with others, especially in an environment in Malaysia where there is so much ethnic and religious polarisation.

It is not so much Zahid's ‘below the belt’ attack against Mahathir, but rather the character and calibre of a man who is considered as number two in the country. That he can stoop so low to undermine a former leader, whatever his role was in the past, speaks volumes not only about him, but also about other leaders in the ruling regime. If racist attacks are needed to allow Umno to remain in power, then the future of the country will be a big question mark.

Sad to say, we have reached a critical point in history where our politics is Janus-faced. While we should be giving hope to the future generations, some countervailing forces are indeed pulling us in the backward direction.

P RAMASAMY is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang and the state assemblyperson for Perai.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.