There is definite incongruence between subjective perceptions and structural developments. While the former seem to indicate that Umno is relevant and will be relevant to the needs of the Malays, structural and more objective developments, however, seem to indicate that the party is in for serious trouble in the future.

At the recent two-day general assembly marked by some hard-hitting speeches against Malays in general and the opposition in particular, there was a marked failure to answer one very important question - whether Umno is relevant to the larger requirements of the Malaysian public.

Umno's relevancy to Malaysian politics seems to be a big question mark. Too much infighting for posts and the role of opposition parties such as PAS have made the party's relevancy quite problematical.

According to the president, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Umno has no choice but to take on the opposition and the 'notorious' PAS head-on to ensure that Malays will stick with Umno through thick and thin.

Whether this will materialise to ensure Umno's longevity and relevance in Malaysian politics remains to be seen. However, from a more analytical level, going on the basis of the changing Malaysian political landscape, Umno seems to have reached a very critical political juncture that sees little prospects for advancement and instead a more likelihood of political decay.

Infamous model

Perceptions and wishful thinking aside, how the party is going to resurrect its capability and moral legitimacy to be a important force in the political arena remains unclear. While the party leadership would want to go back to the days when the party had good measure of support from the Malays, the objective and subjective conditions seem non-existent to revive or to reconstruct a reality which existed in the past.

So in other words, the party leadership is basically caught in a time-entrapment, totally oblivious to the fundamental changes that have thrown asunder the magic of its infamous ethnic model of politics.

Three decades of material growth, growth of the Malay middle-class, growing rifts within Umno leadership over material and cultural aspects, changing political perceptions of the Malay population, the role of PAS in providing a moral political alternative and others have changed the way Malays think and act.

The ouster of Anwar Ibrahim from Umno, his subsequent arrest and imprisonment have wrought much changes within the realm of the Malay society.

Malays who once looked at Umno as their protector and saviour, are not willing to do the same and more importantly, there are sections within the Malay community particularly the youths, who are more keen to look for political alternatives.

Dire consequences

Umno's entrapment is not so much caused by leadership, but something caused by political, social and economic developments in the last three decades or so. In other words, the failure of Umno in providing a sensible and progressive model to Malaysians is reflective of the failure of the ethnic model of governance.

Resurrection of Umno as a relevant political outfit depends not upon embarking on internal political changes, but on whether the party is capable of abandoning a paradigm that is rooted in racism and Malay hegemony.

Malay political parties opposed to Umno might not have totally abandoned some aspects of Malay hegemony, but certainly they have rejected the notion of ethnicity as the governing element of politics.

And for many middle-class Malays socialised in the discourse of progressive politics, Umno's continued reliance on an outmoded model is an intellectual affront; not to speak of the dire consequences of the imposition of this model on an ethnically diverse society like Malaysia.

Umno's future relevancy to politics must be sought in the larger domain of the demands of the people for more democratic and cultural rights. Umno's brand of authoritarian politics is a big damper on the rise of politics that optimises democratic, social and economic rights.

Slavish adherence

In this context, the need to go beyond this authoritarian model means, among others, the rejection of political parties that are very much bent on perpetuating racial politics. In other words, the new political, social and economic requirements of Malaysians must be met by political parties that are prepared to reject outmoded ideas and philosophies that stand in the way of democratisation of the Malaysian civil society.

It is not that some quarters within Umno do not realise the party's own predicament in not providing a political model that is progressive and democratic. But vested interests and the slavish adherence to old ideas and views prevents the party leadership from realising that its present political advocacy is simply not good enough for political governance.

It is not that the opposition has perfected a superior model, but its insistence on going beyond the formula of Umno augurs well for the political future of Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Malaysians are continuing to benefit politically from the debate within the country between those forces seeking to sustain the status quo and those forces bent on providing a new political vision for Malaysians.

P RAMASAMY is a professor of political economy at the Political Science Department, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and has academic interests in Malaysian politics and labour. He has written quite extensively and is currently focusing on conflict management in Sri Lanka.