Jessep (Jack Nicholson) : You want answers?
Kaffee (Tom Cruise) : I want the truth!
Jessep : You can't handle the truth !!
(Quote from the movie, A Few Good Men - 1992)
The coming UMNO General Assembly hopefully marks the watershed in Malay politics. As an outsider, I hope it will divert from the normal business as usual politics and go towards choosing cleaner and moral leaders. Weeding out the corrupt and sleaze that permeates the upper echelons of UMNO hierarchy down to the grassroots.
Wishful thinking indeed if you take a look at some of the candidates. A few should be rejected outright by UMNO members. We have for example Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib whom is contesting for the Umno Deputy President post. He was caught smuggling AUD1.26 million in an Australian airport (you need to declare to the authorities if you have more than AUD5000).
Continuing down the list, the notorious Tan Sri Rahim Thamby Chik for the post of UMNO Vice President. Chills went down my neck, if this character wins.
What about the the former UMNO Vice President, Tan Sri Isa Abdul Samad..? Suspended for 6 years for money politics and now seeking the same position as UMNO Vice President. C’mon is this instigating the public anger or what..?
The topping on the proverbial cake would surely goes to the infamous Khairy Jamaluddin. Found guilty for money politics a few days before the polls and now the new UMNO Youth Chief. Hurray for this fellow who has fast tracked his political career from a nobody during Tun Mahathir tenure as PM to a heavy weight during his in-law’s tenure as PM. It seems the delegates have a short memory, if they have a long memory they would still remember about the ECM Libra scandal a few short years ago. What was the theme again for the UMNO general assembly..? Was it to get rid of corruption..? Was anybody even listening..?
Tun Mahathir was prescient during his speech a week before this UMNO assembly, he spoke about the problems facing the Malays during gathering of the Pribumi Perkasa Negara. I quote..
Rome continue to burn under their watch....26. Kononnya nak jadi Perdana Menteri termuda. Bukan nak
majukan bangsa dan negara, hanya jawatan tertinggi untuk diri sendiri seawal
mungkin. Dengan apa cara sekalipun, halal atau haram, tak mengapa asalkan boleh
jadi Perdana Menteri termuda.27. Jika kita sudah sanggup jual bangsa
kita, kita jual untuk dapat duit sedikit, untuk jawatan kecil dan besar, untuk
isi temolok kita, alamatnya apa? Yang dikejar tidak akan dapat, yang dikilik
akan berciciran. Lepas itu kita tidak ada apa-apa yang boleh diraih lagi.
Semuanya akan dikuasai orang. Pada masa itu kita jadi hamba sahaja, kita akan
meminta-minta sepanjang masa.
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Update : 29.03.2009, Tun Mahathir blog 'Kenapa saya tidak hadir pembukaan mesyuarat Agung UMNO' is here. It's because of KJ's win as ketua pemuda UMNO.
