Megat Junids getek-ness with politics, Part 1
Farish A NoorPublished: Mar 2, 2001 2:11 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
Megat Junid Megat Ayob has to be one of the saddest politicians in the country today. The reader does not have to take my word for it - the man says it himself in his latest book entitled Getek (which we are told means 'sick of it' in Perak dialect).
Megat Junid Megat Ayob has to be one of the saddest politicians in the country today. The reader does not have to take my word for it - the man says it himself in his latest book entitled Getek (which we are told means 'sick of it' in Perak dialect).
Written in 2000 just a few months after his own party Umno was badly mauled at the 1999 general elections, Megat's Getek reads like a long drawn out and bitter diatribe against the members of his own party and his own graceless fall from power.
With his usual flair for the colloquial, Megat sums up his lot thus: "Sekarang kita jatuh terduduk. Dari kerusi Menteri hinggakan taraf YB pun lesap. Tinggal telor dua biji, terhoyong-hayang kesana sini. Orang tak peduli kita, kitapun tak peduli orang" (pp 80-81). To sum up: sedih.
The cover of the book has a picture of Megat paddling away in a canoe all by himself. The photo was taken while Megat was visiting the flooded areas near Kampung Pematang Pelanduk - and it was one of the last duties he performed as a member of parliament and cabinet minister before he lost his seat and his position in the cabinet after the elections.
Finding himself up the creek with no votes, Megat had ample time to reflect upon the factors that led to his rise and fall in the turbulent world of Malay politics.
His own account of his early childhood is just as sad as the rest of the narrative. It is clear that Megat was not one of the fortunate few who happened to be born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
Disappointed man
Born in Kampung Padang near the Perak river to a family that was desperately poor, Megat had a first-hand experience in the realities of rural life from the very beginning. His father was a rubber smallholder who died when he was young and his mother was forced to fend for him and the rest of the family against seemingly insurmountable odds.
Despite these difficulties, he managed to get himself into the local educational system and eventually made his way to University Malaya (UM). After graduating he became a school teacher, and it was there in the field of local vernacular education that he first met the man who would later become his political mentor and patron, Dr Mahathir Mohamad (who was then the education minister).
In 1976, Megat became one of the political secretaries to Mahathir, along with Aziz Shamsuddin. From then on, he worked his way up the political ladder until he eventually became a member of the cabinet himself, holding a portfolio in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
But those who expect a detailed account of the daily process of running the state and managing the government will be disappointed. This is a book written by a disappointed man and Megat is not one to waste his time on trivial details about state-management and government. No, the book is all about how fed up and sick to death he is with life, politics, the lot.
Money politics
Why is Megat so fed up with life? Well, for a start, his major gripe is that the party he has come to know and love has been taken over by a bunch of corporate high-fliers instead. Megat complains again and again about the new corporate culture that has come to infect the party from within, and which has led to the diminishing of its original values and ideals:
"Umno kini dikuasai oleh orang-orang korporat. Orang yang banyak duit. Umno kini dikuasai oleh mereka yang tamak, berlagak sombong dan mementingkan diri sendiri" (pg 63).
Umno, for Megat, has become a party that is intimately linked to the culture of money politics and this he claims has been the case as far back as the 1980s: "Walaupun secepat kilat Umno Baru dilahirkan, yang berlandaskan Umno asal, namun budaya politik wang sudah menjadi amalan ahli-ahli Umno. Keghairahan politik wang ini berturusan" (pg 59).
Fans of the now deposed ex-DPM Anwar Ibrahim may not be too happy to know that Megat's book also exposes the ways in which money politics was used by Anwar's factions in Umno as well:
"Pada 1993 bila Anwar (Ibrahim) nak rebut jawatan Timbalan Presiden dari Pak Ghaffar, wang ringgit yang menjadi penentu. Di masa yang sama team wawasan dicanangkan. Lebih ramai yang main wang. Politik wang bukan sahaja pemberian wang tunai kepada perwakilan. Tetapi dilakukan dalam berbagai-bagai bentuk. Ketua bahagian atau Timbalan Ketua bahagian yang dapat elaun buta dari firma-firma tertentu. Ada yang dibawa melancung keluar negeri. Tempat yang popular adalah Hadnyai dan Medan." (pp 59-60).
Not all the bribes came in the form of free tickets to tourist traps in the region. For the more religiously-inclined members of the party, a more kosher form of bribery was also provided, in the form of a free all-expenses paid trip to Mecca: "Tapi bagi mereka yang hendakkan jawatan yang lebih tinggi, ialah umrah di Mekah Mukarramah" (pg 60).
But what is equally interesting to note is the fact that Megat's own description of his work and activities as an Umno MP seem to suggest that nobody is immune to the ills he decries so: " Selama 17 tahun saya menjadi wakil rakyat, elaun ahli Parlimen saya tak pernah cukup. Tiap-tiap bulan saya kena tambah dengan punca lain" (pg 47).
Just how Megat managed to supplement his own income so that he could appease his constituents remains one of the many unanswered questions in the text.
Feudal mindset
Here we see the main contradiction that has been the weak spot of Umno from the beginning. Critics of Umno's feudal culture are not few and far between. One of the most vocal critics of the Umno system was none other than the PM himself, who attacked the Umno leadership for its abuse of power in his book The Malay Dilemma that was published in 1970.
But the very same Umno leaders have proven unable to break away from this culture of patronage and dominance once they come into power, and Megat seems to be no exception either. The paternalistic culture of Malay feudal politics that he and other Umno leaders embody and practice incurs an economic cost - and more often than not it eventually translates into the form of money politics that they all openly condemn in private.
But the contradictions do not end there. What is also interesting about Megat Junid's book is how it shows the feudal mind set at work and how it lays bare feudalism's own twisted logic.
Megat, like many other Umno leaders, has called on the Malays to break free from their mental chains of bondage and servitude to custom and tradition. Since the 1970s when the new administration of Tun Razak first introduced the so-called 'new way' and 'new realism' ( realisme baru), Umno has been trying to break the traditional mindset of the rural Malays which they blamed for the economic and political backwardness of the race as a whole.
The book Revolusi Mental (which was edited by the then secretary-general of Umno, Senu Abdul Ahmad) became the blueprint for the new Malay that Umno wanted to create. (1) Aggressive economic development policies were used to radically alter the socio-cultural terrain of the Malay countryside as well. (2)
Monday: Part 2
Getek is written by Megat Junid Megat Ayob and is published by Orient Press and currently being sold at all major bookstores for RM10 (paperback).
Endnotes:
(1) The book Revolusi Mental was edited by Senu Abdul Ahmad, then secretary-general of Umno. The Revolusi was a collaborative effort between a number of Malay academics, statesmen and journalists. It consisted of a number of essays which basically diagnosed the condition of the Malay race as being somehow incapable of meeting the demands of development and modernity.
Interestingly, the authors have laid most of the blame of the fundamental nature of Malay culture itself, by arguing that the Malays' traditional agrarian culture was not conducive to economic development and prosperity. (Thereby echoing the distorted image of the Malays as being an indolent and unproductive race as developed during the era of British colonialism).
The Malaysian sociologist Syed Hussein Alatas later criticised the work in his book The Myth of the Lazy Native (1977). He argued that the Revolusi was fundamentally directed towards promoting the ideology of the ruling elite, which was liberal capitalism and the philosophy of individualism (pp 148-149).
He concluded that "the book, which is a chaotic amalgamation of sound common knowledge of no depth, and absolutely ridiculous inferences, is perhaps the most naive, the most simple and the least well-defined philosophy of capitalism, while claiming to represent the modern and indigenous philosophy of the Malays". (pg 149).
(2) For a more thorough analysis of the dynamics of socio-political change and conflict in the setting of the Malay rural interior, see Shamsul A B's From British to Bumiputera Rule (1986).
Shamsul's study examines the complex internal politics of the mukim of Kampung Chempaka in Selangor, which were further intensified thanks to the political in-fighting between the two main Malay political parties that were contesting against each other in the district in the post-colonial years: the conservative ruling party Umno and the Islamic opposition party, PAS.
The antagonism between Umno and PAS in the post-1957 years led to further divisions within the rural community of the district and the villages within it. Shamsul notes that "from the beginning Umno was perceived as the political party which belonged to the official-entrepreneur class" (pg 237) and as such naturally attracted the loyalty of the wealthier landowners and small businessmen of the district.
PAS, on the other hand, won the support of more peasants and farmer-settlers in the area. PAS' success in establishing itself in the district by the late 50s attracted the attention of the Umno-led government which then proceeded to isolate and 'punish' the area by depriving it of funds and investment. The district was "declared a 'black area' and denied rural development projects" (pg 239).
In the end, the federal government managed to win over control of districts such as these by the combined use of force and persuasion: By depriving opposition-controlled areas of development funds they effectively isolated and marginalised such areas, and through the use of Emergency regulations measures (to detain and neutralise opposition leaders) and offering financial inducements to more cooperative members of the communities, the government eventually won over the support of some of the more recalcitrant districts and villages.
Local leaders were also promoted to positions of power and authority via the wakil rakyat (people's representative) system, thereby creating new spaces of political contestation on a local level where the federal government can play a decisive role as patron and protector. [Shamsul A B, From British to Bumiputera Rule: Local Politics and Rural Development in Peninsula Malaysia. Iseas (Institute for Southeast Asian Studies), Singapore, 1986.]
Written in 2000 just a few months after his own party Umno was badly mauled at the 1999 general elections, Megat's Getek reads like a long drawn out and bitter diatribe against the members of his own party and his own graceless fall from power.
With his usual flair for the colloquial, Megat sums up his lot thus: "Sekarang kita jatuh terduduk. Dari kerusi Menteri hinggakan taraf YB pun lesap. Tinggal telor dua biji, terhoyong-hayang kesana sini. Orang tak peduli kita, kitapun tak peduli orang" (pp 80-81). To sum up: sedih.
The cover of the book has a picture of Megat paddling away in a canoe all by himself. The photo was taken while Megat was visiting the flooded areas near Kampung Pematang Pelanduk - and it was one of the last duties he performed as a member of parliament and cabinet minister before he lost his seat and his position in the cabinet after the elections.
Finding himself up the creek with no votes, Megat had ample time to reflect upon the factors that led to his rise and fall in the turbulent world of Malay politics.
His own account of his early childhood is just as sad as the rest of the narrative. It is clear that Megat was not one of the fortunate few who happened to be born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
Disappointed man
Born in Kampung Padang near the Perak river to a family that was desperately poor, Megat had a first-hand experience in the realities of rural life from the very beginning. His father was a rubber smallholder who died when he was young and his mother was forced to fend for him and the rest of the family against seemingly insurmountable odds.
Despite these difficulties, he managed to get himself into the local educational system and eventually made his way to University Malaya (UM). After graduating he became a school teacher, and it was there in the field of local vernacular education that he first met the man who would later become his political mentor and patron, Dr Mahathir Mohamad (who was then the education minister).
In 1976, Megat became one of the political secretaries to Mahathir, along with Aziz Shamsuddin. From then on, he worked his way up the political ladder until he eventually became a member of the cabinet himself, holding a portfolio in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
But those who expect a detailed account of the daily process of running the state and managing the government will be disappointed. This is a book written by a disappointed man and Megat is not one to waste his time on trivial details about state-management and government. No, the book is all about how fed up and sick to death he is with life, politics, the lot.
Money politics
Why is Megat so fed up with life? Well, for a start, his major gripe is that the party he has come to know and love has been taken over by a bunch of corporate high-fliers instead. Megat complains again and again about the new corporate culture that has come to infect the party from within, and which has led to the diminishing of its original values and ideals:
"Umno kini dikuasai oleh orang-orang korporat. Orang yang banyak duit. Umno kini dikuasai oleh mereka yang tamak, berlagak sombong dan mementingkan diri sendiri" (pg 63).
Umno, for Megat, has become a party that is intimately linked to the culture of money politics and this he claims has been the case as far back as the 1980s: "Walaupun secepat kilat Umno Baru dilahirkan, yang berlandaskan Umno asal, namun budaya politik wang sudah menjadi amalan ahli-ahli Umno. Keghairahan politik wang ini berturusan" (pg 59).
"Pada 1993 bila Anwar (Ibrahim) nak rebut jawatan Timbalan Presiden dari Pak Ghaffar, wang ringgit yang menjadi penentu. Di masa yang sama team wawasan dicanangkan. Lebih ramai yang main wang. Politik wang bukan sahaja pemberian wang tunai kepada perwakilan. Tetapi dilakukan dalam berbagai-bagai bentuk. Ketua bahagian atau Timbalan Ketua bahagian yang dapat elaun buta dari firma-firma tertentu. Ada yang dibawa melancung keluar negeri. Tempat yang popular adalah Hadnyai dan Medan." (pp 59-60).
Not all the bribes came in the form of free tickets to tourist traps in the region. For the more religiously-inclined members of the party, a more kosher form of bribery was also provided, in the form of a free all-expenses paid trip to Mecca: "Tapi bagi mereka yang hendakkan jawatan yang lebih tinggi, ialah umrah di Mekah Mukarramah" (pg 60).
But what is equally interesting to note is the fact that Megat's own description of his work and activities as an Umno MP seem to suggest that nobody is immune to the ills he decries so: " Selama 17 tahun saya menjadi wakil rakyat, elaun ahli Parlimen saya tak pernah cukup. Tiap-tiap bulan saya kena tambah dengan punca lain" (pg 47).
Just how Megat managed to supplement his own income so that he could appease his constituents remains one of the many unanswered questions in the text.
Feudal mindset
Here we see the main contradiction that has been the weak spot of Umno from the beginning. Critics of Umno's feudal culture are not few and far between. One of the most vocal critics of the Umno system was none other than the PM himself, who attacked the Umno leadership for its abuse of power in his book The Malay Dilemma that was published in 1970.
But the very same Umno leaders have proven unable to break away from this culture of patronage and dominance once they come into power, and Megat seems to be no exception either. The paternalistic culture of Malay feudal politics that he and other Umno leaders embody and practice incurs an economic cost - and more often than not it eventually translates into the form of money politics that they all openly condemn in private.
But the contradictions do not end there. What is also interesting about Megat Junid's book is how it shows the feudal mind set at work and how it lays bare feudalism's own twisted logic.
Megat, like many other Umno leaders, has called on the Malays to break free from their mental chains of bondage and servitude to custom and tradition. Since the 1970s when the new administration of Tun Razak first introduced the so-called 'new way' and 'new realism' ( realisme baru), Umno has been trying to break the traditional mindset of the rural Malays which they blamed for the economic and political backwardness of the race as a whole.
The book Revolusi Mental (which was edited by the then secretary-general of Umno, Senu Abdul Ahmad) became the blueprint for the new Malay that Umno wanted to create. (1) Aggressive economic development policies were used to radically alter the socio-cultural terrain of the Malay countryside as well. (2)
Monday: Part 2
Getek is written by Megat Junid Megat Ayob and is published by Orient Press and currently being sold at all major bookstores for RM10 (paperback).
Endnotes:
(1) The book Revolusi Mental was edited by Senu Abdul Ahmad, then secretary-general of Umno. The Revolusi was a collaborative effort between a number of Malay academics, statesmen and journalists. It consisted of a number of essays which basically diagnosed the condition of the Malay race as being somehow incapable of meeting the demands of development and modernity.
Interestingly, the authors have laid most of the blame of the fundamental nature of Malay culture itself, by arguing that the Malays' traditional agrarian culture was not conducive to economic development and prosperity. (Thereby echoing the distorted image of the Malays as being an indolent and unproductive race as developed during the era of British colonialism).
The Malaysian sociologist Syed Hussein Alatas later criticised the work in his book The Myth of the Lazy Native (1977). He argued that the Revolusi was fundamentally directed towards promoting the ideology of the ruling elite, which was liberal capitalism and the philosophy of individualism (pp 148-149).
He concluded that "the book, which is a chaotic amalgamation of sound common knowledge of no depth, and absolutely ridiculous inferences, is perhaps the most naive, the most simple and the least well-defined philosophy of capitalism, while claiming to represent the modern and indigenous philosophy of the Malays". (pg 149).
(2) For a more thorough analysis of the dynamics of socio-political change and conflict in the setting of the Malay rural interior, see Shamsul A B's From British to Bumiputera Rule (1986).
Shamsul's study examines the complex internal politics of the mukim of Kampung Chempaka in Selangor, which were further intensified thanks to the political in-fighting between the two main Malay political parties that were contesting against each other in the district in the post-colonial years: the conservative ruling party Umno and the Islamic opposition party, PAS.
The antagonism between Umno and PAS in the post-1957 years led to further divisions within the rural community of the district and the villages within it. Shamsul notes that "from the beginning Umno was perceived as the political party which belonged to the official-entrepreneur class" (pg 237) and as such naturally attracted the loyalty of the wealthier landowners and small businessmen of the district.
PAS, on the other hand, won the support of more peasants and farmer-settlers in the area. PAS' success in establishing itself in the district by the late 50s attracted the attention of the Umno-led government which then proceeded to isolate and 'punish' the area by depriving it of funds and investment. The district was "declared a 'black area' and denied rural development projects" (pg 239).
In the end, the federal government managed to win over control of districts such as these by the combined use of force and persuasion: By depriving opposition-controlled areas of development funds they effectively isolated and marginalised such areas, and through the use of Emergency regulations measures (to detain and neutralise opposition leaders) and offering financial inducements to more cooperative members of the communities, the government eventually won over the support of some of the more recalcitrant districts and villages.
Local leaders were also promoted to positions of power and authority via the wakil rakyat (people's representative) system, thereby creating new spaces of political contestation on a local level where the federal government can play a decisive role as patron and protector. [Shamsul A B, From British to Bumiputera Rule: Local Politics and Rural Development in Peninsula Malaysia. Iseas (Institute for Southeast Asian Studies), Singapore, 1986.]
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