Dr M returns to his roots as ruling party wavers
But Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who composed his confrontational and hard-hitting keynote party address during a sea cruise, has made it clear he has no intention of changing tack.
Instead he returned to his political roots with a speech which he acknowledged could have been entitled "The Malay Dilemma II".
"The Malay Dilemma", a book which Mahathir published in 1970 after his temporary expulsion from UMNO, highlighted the perceived shortcomings of his own Malay race.
Mahathir, in his speech last Thursday, castigated Malays for laziness, greed, ingratitude towards UMNO and squandering opportunies under an 30-year affirmative action programme.
The premier, who marks 20 years in power next month, accepted no responsibility for UMNO's declining fortunes.
In comments to reporters he professed indifference about how his attack would influence uncommitted voters. It was his duty as a leader to tell the truth, he said.
"It's too bad if they don't want to vote for me. What can I do? Some people want to live on cloud nine."
Mahathir softened his message somewhat yesterday in a 90-minute off-the-cuff closing speech -- which earned him a standing vation and demonstrated all his political and rhetorical skills.
"My view is that the Malays are on par with the other races. But what caused us to be left behind ... is because we do not put in enough effort," he said.
Win back voters
Delegates said his keynote message was brave and necessary but some analysts said it was unlikely to go down well with young voters.
More than 650,000 new voters will be on the rolls at the next election, which must be held by 2004.
One analyst who declined to be identified said Mahathir made valid points about Malay underachievement compared to the minority Chinese.
"He's very unhappy that the Malays are moving away from UMNO, I think he is just trying to make a point ... it may not bring them back immediately but there are about three more years to the general election."
Another analyst disagreed.
"Malays are a lot more confident today than before, they don't need the kind of protector like they did in UMNO before," said P. Ramasamy, political science professor at Universiti Malaya.
Ramasamy told AFP Mahathir was "very angry and upset" that Malays are leaving UMNO but the speech was unlikely to do the party any good.
"The more UMNO harps on history, the more it might be history."
The three-day UMNO assembly was in some ways noteworthy more for what was left unsaid than for what was said.
There was little or no mention of the sudden resignation in May of Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin, one of Mahathir's oldest confidants, nor of a series of unpopular bailouts of politically connected businesses.
Wrong image
Robert Broadfoot, of the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy in Hong Kong, said there had been speculation Mahathir would try to distance himself from some controversial policies and win back middle-ground Malay support.
"Rather than taking the opportunity to rebuild bridges, he just keeps on attacking, he's just following the same line and I don't think it will win back middle-ground Malay support," Broadfoot said.
"His type of rhetoric doesn't heal the wounds in the Malay community and is likely to alienate the community.
"I think Dr Mahathir is out of tune with the younger generation."
Mahathir's keynote speech also contained a fierce attack on unspecified Western powers whom he said were siding with the opposition to bring down his government and recolonise Malaysia economically.
Analysts agree the rhetoric is different from the reality, with Malaysia welcoming both foreign investment and foreigners personally.
But Broadfoot said Mahathir was painting the wrong image of Malaysia, especially with China becoming an ever-stronger competitor for foreign investment.
"It (Malaysia) is not doing what's required to position itself ... it's just yelling at the world."
