The face of Big Brother faded away again and instead the three slogans of the party stood out – War is peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength.
– George Orwell, English novelist
Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is in a place few politicians will want to be for now.
The Umno president and deputy prime minister can be said to be in a cesspool and can go down under any time. Although Zahid has been known to bounce back from his political misfortunes in the past, only time will tell whether he could do so this time.
In the aftermath of the six state elections, the night of Aug 12 was one which Zahid would probably want to forget. Umno was trounced by its Perikatan Nasional (PN) opponents, particularly for the Malay votes, which was not totally unexpected.
The state elections saw Umno securing only 19 state seats in Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, Penang, and Kelantan. It was the party’s worst performance by failing to capture or retain any seats it contested in Terengganu and Kedah.
The results showed that the Pakatan Harapan-BN pact was only successful in Negeri Sembilan, where a two-thirds majority could be won with BN contributing 14 out of 31 seats for the state government.
It is crystal clear that Umno could not claim that the majority of the Malays are with the party now. No, most of the Malays are solidly behind PN, its Islamic party PAS in particular. The results do not lie.
Already, knives are out for Zahid’s head. If I were an Umno member, I would probably be holding a ‘knife’ as well. The results were a monumental disaster – a total train wreck.
Many Umno people want Zahid’s head to roll and this time, they have valid reasons to protest against their party president. It pays for Zahid to sit up and listen attentively to the barrage of criticisms. He can no longer pretend that “semua okay” in Umno under his leadership.
Blaming the party leader after a disastrous electoral outing is a common phenomenon in politics but the wrath of Umno grassroots against their party leadership is no longer something that should be taken lightly or swept under the carpet.
There were several senior Umno stalwarts who had commented that the problem in Umno stemmed from the party president who is no longer relevant despite being the deputy prime minister.
Voices from within the party believe it is time for Umno to have a change of leadership.
Former Terengganu Umno chief Tan Sri Idris Jusoh did not mince his words and suggested that Zahid resign as Umno president. So did ex-Johore MP Tan Sri Shahrir Samad.
Both believed the deputy prime minister should take responsibility for the electoral drubbing.
Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh also subtly called for party reform to regain the people’s trust, stating that “the responsibility for Umno leaders now is to gain back the people’s trust in Umno and we need to prioritise being the voice of the people instead of fighting for any leader”.
Wise words indeed, Akmal.
What I find most interesting is the allegation by Terengganu PH chief Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah that it was the “big brother” attitude dominating seat negotiations before the elections which caused the clean sweep by PN in Terengganu.
Although Raja Kamarul did not mention who was “big brother”, it is understood that he was referring to Umno. In the glory decades of BN, Umno was always known as the “big brother”.
Raja Kamarul explained that during seat negotiations with BN, it was acknowledged that PH’s strengths lie in urban-voter areas that also encompass mixed constituencies.
“For a successful strategy, it is important to set aside the dominant ‘big brother’ attitude and be open to recognising the strengths of newer or smaller coalition partners.
“An inclusive attitude that respects one another, rather than a ‘big brother’ mentality, needs to be fostered within the BN-PH coalition in Terengganu”, he added.
I agree with Raja Kamarul. The Umno leadership, president Zahid in particular, must concede that their party is no longer the “big brother” of the PH-BN coalition.
Those glory days are over! Zahid and his cohorts in Umno have to learn to live with that!
I choose to be on the side of Raja Kamarul on this matter as his assessment was correct. Even two former Terengganu menteri besar from Umno who contested in the state polls were defeated.
While other Umno leaders like former party secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Mazlan have emerged to defend their party president, declaring that it was unfair to blame Zahid alone for the electoral debacle, I feel it’s really high time for this current crop of Umno leaders to swallow humble pie and discard their “big brother” attitude.
Let me repeat. Those “big brother” days of Umno are over! There are no longer “little brothers” for “big brother” to bully. Faham tak! Live with it!
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
