An almighty question for Umno
Jay TeePublished: Nov 13, 2007 4:48 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
The annual Umno general assembly, from the time Dr Mahathir Mohamad led the party from 1981, has become a national barometer of sorts, pundits and ordinary soothsayers reading a plethora of interpretations into it.
One of the reasons for the mlange is that the party has no political ideology against which to vet interpretations of what is said at the annual talkfest.
Founded on a need to defend the interests of a race, Umno had to be rather indifferent to political ideology, the better to weld an ethnically diverse people into a unified whole.
In recent decades, Islam has provided ideological glue to unite what could have been a fissiparous political entity. But Umno's projection of religion stops short of Islam's juridical imperatives.
The annual Umno general assembly, from the time Dr Mahathir Mohamad led the party from 1981, has become a national barometer of sorts, pundits and ordinary soothsayers reading a plethora of interpretations into it.
One of the reasons for the mlange is that the party has no political ideology against which to vet interpretations of what is said at the annual talkfest.
Founded on a need to defend the interests of a race, Umno had to be rather indifferent to political ideology, the better to weld an ethnically diverse people into a unified whole.
In recent decades, Islam has provided ideological glue to unite what could have been a fissiparous political entity. But Umno's projection of religion stops short of Islam's juridical imperatives.
The Islamic state, with its syariah concomitant, is a compulsion Umno astutely allowed its rival, Pas, be saddled with.
The wonder is that a party without a sustaining political ideology has stayed in power for over half a century, even if that achievement has to be seen in the context of a polity that is only a nominal democracy that affords the incumbent enormous advantages.
If Umno endures in office for another two decades, it will overtake the Institutional Revolution Party (PRI) for governmental longevity.
The PRI ruled Mexico under one name or the other for an unbroken 70 years, between 1929 and 2000.
If Umno surpasses this historic milestone, it will be astounding for reason of its lack of political ideology.
Absent of an ideology, a political party is like a desert traveler without a compass: it is hard to find true north when the dust blows.
Poor timing
Incoherence arising from the lack of a sustaining ideology was evident at Umno's just concluded meeting. The timing of the assembly was poor, and not just for reason of it being held smack in the week of the main religious festival of a racial minority.
The party supremo's presidential address, normally treated to banner headlines in all the major vernacular and English language dailies the following morning, fell into a print void this time.
Save for a couple of high circulation dailies, most newspapers shut down on the day of the speech, which happened to be one of four days in a year when most publishers call a timeout, to allow vendors a break from their sleep interrupted round early the next morning, a respite anyone with an appreciation for the monotony and insomnia of their labour would understand.
A speech that is usually played to the hilt by both the electronic and print media this year landed on the collective consciousness two mornings later, by which time it had the taste of coffee that has been left overly long on the burner.
How the party's choreographers, in their lead-up planning, could have missed out on this nuance was the subject of wry comment - and not just by Deepavali celebrants rankling at the perceived slight to them by Umno scheduling their annual meeting for the time of the year when Hindus commemorate the triumph of good over evil.
Not that the annual policy address by the Umno president is anticipated as a notable piece of oratory.
Are any of the 23 consecutive speeches delivered by former party president Mahathir, the man mainly responsible for converting the annual assembly into political theatre, pungent to the memory?
Still, Abdullah Badawi's fourth consecutive policy address was notable for its defence of the country's need for multiculturalism, notwithstanding the fact that his party's timing of its assembly stood as ironic counterpoint to the president's rhetoric.
There's a moral here
A measure of how well that defence of the need for multiculturalism went down among his audience can be gauged from his son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin's suggestion that had more Malays broken into the economic supply chain, the party president's speech would not have fallen into a print void because there would have been no newspaper shutdown day: the newspaper vending chain would not have been dominated by a single race.
The callow young man ought to be updated on a little publishing arcana. Some years ago, a leading English language daily decided to go ahead and publish on Deepavali day, prompting a boycott from Hindu vendors.
Unfazed, the publisher encouraged another set of vendors as substitute. This arrangement had only a short life as the neophytes soon cried off, complaining that their sleep and prayer time patterns were adversely affected.
Moral: some jobs are best left to those with a predisposition for it, like Gurkhas for sentry duties.
From these shards of memorabilia one can dredge up the regnant question for Umno: how long before its void of ideology, which engenders a sometimes embarrassing incoherence, proves fatal to its prospects for longevity?
JAY TEE is a freelance journalist.
One of the reasons for the mlange is that the party has no political ideology against which to vet interpretations of what is said at the annual talkfest.
Founded on a need to defend the interests of a race, Umno had to be rather indifferent to political ideology, the better to weld an ethnically diverse people into a unified whole.
In recent decades, Islam has provided ideological glue to unite what could have been a fissiparous political entity. But Umno's projection of religion stops short of Islam's juridical imperatives.
The Islamic state, with its syariah concomitant, is a compulsion Umno astutely allowed its rival, Pas, be saddled with.
The wonder is that a party without a sustaining political ideology has stayed in power for over half a century, even if that achievement has to be seen in the context of a polity that is only a nominal democracy that affords the incumbent enormous advantages.
If Umno endures in office for another two decades, it will overtake the Institutional Revolution Party (PRI) for governmental longevity. The PRI ruled Mexico under one name or the other for an unbroken 70 years, between 1929 and 2000.
If Umno surpasses this historic milestone, it will be astounding for reason of its lack of political ideology.
Absent of an ideology, a political party is like a desert traveler without a compass: it is hard to find true north when the dust blows.
Poor timing
Incoherence arising from the lack of a sustaining ideology was evident at Umno's just concluded meeting. The timing of the assembly was poor, and not just for reason of it being held smack in the week of the main religious festival of a racial minority.
The party supremo's presidential address, normally treated to banner headlines in all the major vernacular and English language dailies the following morning, fell into a print void this time. Save for a couple of high circulation dailies, most newspapers shut down on the day of the speech, which happened to be one of four days in a year when most publishers call a timeout, to allow vendors a break from their sleep interrupted round early the next morning, a respite anyone with an appreciation for the monotony and insomnia of their labour would understand.
A speech that is usually played to the hilt by both the electronic and print media this year landed on the collective consciousness two mornings later, by which time it had the taste of coffee that has been left overly long on the burner.
How the party's choreographers, in their lead-up planning, could have missed out on this nuance was the subject of wry comment - and not just by Deepavali celebrants rankling at the perceived slight to them by Umno scheduling their annual meeting for the time of the year when Hindus commemorate the triumph of good over evil.
Not that the annual policy address by the Umno president is anticipated as a notable piece of oratory.
Are any of the 23 consecutive speeches delivered by former party president Mahathir, the man mainly responsible for converting the annual assembly into political theatre, pungent to the memory?
Still, Abdullah Badawi's fourth consecutive policy address was notable for its defence of the country's need for multiculturalism, notwithstanding the fact that his party's timing of its assembly stood as ironic counterpoint to the president's rhetoric.
There's a moral here
A measure of how well that defence of the need for multiculturalism went down among his audience can be gauged from his son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin's suggestion that had more Malays broken into the economic supply chain, the party president's speech would not have fallen into a print void because there would have been no newspaper shutdown day: the newspaper vending chain would not have been dominated by a single race.
The callow young man ought to be updated on a little publishing arcana. Some years ago, a leading English language daily decided to go ahead and publish on Deepavali day, prompting a boycott from Hindu vendors. Unfazed, the publisher encouraged another set of vendors as substitute. This arrangement had only a short life as the neophytes soon cried off, complaining that their sleep and prayer time patterns were adversely affected.
Moral: some jobs are best left to those with a predisposition for it, like Gurkhas for sentry duties.
From these shards of memorabilia one can dredge up the regnant question for Umno: how long before its void of ideology, which engenders a sometimes embarrassing incoherence, proves fatal to its prospects for longevity?
JAY TEE is a freelance journalist.
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