Defective argument of supremacy against leadership

Sakmongkol, the former state assemblyman for Pulau Manis turned blogger wrote four postings on the gang of three led attack by UMNO on Perkasa. He made his assumptions and arguments and commited few stands on the issue.

His command of English and the ease he applies German and French terms add sophistication to his writing. Those idiots desperately wanting to read good English should only read his blog and leave me with my bad English in my blog.

The problem with over analysis is that it leads to paralysis. Mentioning this does not imply Sakmongkol's writing has reached a state of paralysis. Heaven's no. Much respect to his ability to comb through the arguements with such precision, elaboration and conviction.

I am simply saying that at the end of any analysis, it must enable one to summarise and bring the issues or questions or suggestions or reactions to two choices. One either say yes or no, true or false, agree or disagree, go or no go, angry or happy, and maybe vote BN or vote PR.

There are two shortcoming with his understanding that I like to touch. First, it is his understanding of PM's words in the recent UMNO Supreme Council Meeting to request UMNO to distance from Perkasa. Second, his repeated use of the term supremacy attached to Perkasa.

Without being clear on these, the choices Sakmongkol had arrived to between Perkasa's Malay supremacy and UMNO leadership is defective.

Distancing asked

Sakmongkol wrote here, below:

There is one BIG problem. The top man is sending ambiguous messages. He has asked his lieutenants to speak against what Perkasa stands for. He has asked his people to distance themselves and UMNO from Perkasa. He has even toyed with the idea, supplied by his pandering dogs of apple polishers no doubt, of setting up rival NGOs to smother the fire of Perkasa.

Then, he repeat again here, below:

Punca utama kegagalan pimpinan UMNO dalam hal ini ialah kesalahan Presiden UMNO sendiri. Jika leftenan dan pahlawan UMNO di suruh berperang dengan Ibrahim Ali dan Perkasa berilah mereka alatan secukupnya. Berilah mereka sokongan 100% yang tidak berbelah bahagi.

Another one here, below:

Lihat sahaja pada contoh bagaimana cara kepimpinan UMNO menangani isu PERKASA. Presiden UMNO memberi isyarat yang bercanggah.

Lastly, here, below:

Pada pandangan saya, jika ada orang yang kita hendak persalahkan kerana pertembungan PERKASA-UMNO ini, orang nya ialah Presiden UMNO sendiri. Kita tidak perlu menggunakan kesamaran 'semantics' untuk kata Najib bukan kata suruh berperang dengan Perksa, dia hanya suruh menjauhi. Jika DS Najib lemah dan salah, tidak tegas dan konsisten, kita katakan halnya yang sebenar. Tidak perlu dolak dalih. Dalam hal manangani Perkasa, punca kekeliruan ialah Najib sendiri.

Isyarat yang Dato Sri keluarkan tidak clear dan precise. Ini macam main selamat punya strateji. You kata tidak mahu ada apa apa dengan PERKASA dan dalam mesyuarat MKT beri mandat kepada orang untuk taruh PERKASA. Tapi perlakuan Dato Sri sebagai presiden tidak menampakkan kesungguhan. Pertama Dato Sri layan PERKASA dengan menghadhiri beberapa program PERKASA. Kedua, Dato Seri hantar Samurai untuk lawan PERKASA tapi tidak memberi pedang.

Dato Sri tidak memerlukan ramai orang dalam pasukan special forces. Cukup ada 15-20 orang di seluruh Negara yang menyuara dan menjuarai wawasan Dato Sri. Yang penting beri mereka 100% sokongan dan bekalkan pedang untuk samurái Dato Sri. Yang duduk diam dan mengaku tidak "kitol' sepatutnya segera di nyahkan oleh Dato Sri. Yang di perlukan ialah sekumpulan yang sefikiran, dedikasi dan berkesungguhan. You perlukan war cabinet bukan cabinet yang di penuhi dengan tokoh ow, ow.

I had the priviledge to sit with someone claiming to be a member of the so-called task force on Thursday.

Unfortunately, his emotional argument against Perkasa was too personal and vengeful. His basis was based on wrong perception. His examples was confined to his own experience and exposure at his UMNO Division.

Not the last it seem, but Sakmongkol again here, below:

UMNO has forfeited its role as spokesman of Malay leadership by default. First because the UMNO president is giving out ambivalent messages. He hasn't given unqualified and absolute support to his foot soldiers. He is asking his people to distance themselves from Perkasa but undercuts this call by saying we are not at war with Perkasa. And what does distancing mean exactly? It's not a question of at war or at odds. It's a case of stating clearly that UMNO doesn't share the same ideals of Perkasa.

Distancing answered?

Sakmongkol may consider it as semantics but this excerpt from the analysis by Jebat Must Die here attempt to answer, below:

Yes, Najib did say during an Umno meeting that Umno need to distance themselves from Perkasa. Yes he said that. But he did not say that Umno MUST ATTACK Perkasa! Umno must distance themselves from Perkasa in the way that they must set themselves apart from the NGO.

They must organise more activities that will make the public endear themselves to the party. They must organise something better than what Perkasa is doing. They must uphold the agenda Agama, Bangsa dan Negara all the time.

That’s how you distance yourself and set higher standard than Perkasa. But alas, the fools have spoken. They have misconstrued the words from the party president and launched themselves in behaving just like how we know they would behave.

The fact that Tengku Adnan pre-empting the party president by saying that Umno will not support Perkasa is the beginning of the end for Umno. That is the apex of his stupidity. Didn’t he know that the party president had never spoke against Perkasa? Through observation that:

1. He attended a Perkasa event;

2. He met Ibrahim Ali quite a few times and they are at ease with each other;

3. He has made no direct remarks against Perkasa all this while whereas if he had wanted to disavow them, he could have done it much sooner;

4. There is no reason for the PM to change his stand now because Perkasa’s stand has not changed since it was formed.

We can see that it does not look like the PM is against Perkasa. Any sane and reasoned man can see that.

But of course, those who are desperate saw it differently. Their expiry date is getting near and they hope by doing this (although they had misconstrued it), they can gain some brownie points from the PM.

Reading JMD further only made one realised how shallow upstairs were UMNO's barking dogs of Khairy, Ku Nan and Nazri.

Malay supremacy

Sakmongkol argues that Perkasa is propagating racial supremacy since Ibrahim Ali loves to shout Ketuanan Melayu.

He described "konsep ketuanan bersandarkan hak semula jadi atau hak yang di laksanakan oleh undang undang atau melalui instruments paksaan (coercive instruments)." By that argument, he believed his better alternative for UMNO leadership implies responsibility and can be absorbed via confidence and trust.

That is being overdramatic although I for one, hate to use the term because of it's ambiguous meaning and the ease it can be misinterpreted or spinned.

Since attending a forum held at the Perdana Leadership Foundation few years back on the subject, I come to appreciate the term but still remain reluctant to use it. In that forum, Dr KJ John and an unknown I described as so-called Malaysiakini "spokesman" was obliterated by Dr Chandra Muzaffar and Prof Shamsul Amri before they could start. [Search in this blog.]

The term Ketuanan Melayu was widely thrown around during Tun Dol's regime without appropriate understanding. Guess who used it then? Yes, Khairy himself.

Ketuanan is derived by the word tuan. Which tuan does everyone mean? The tuan as in tuan puteri means respect, or tuan as in tuan rumah mean ownership and hospitality or tuan as relate to hamba abdi between some British colonial and his Malay bully boy means subserviance?

In case these Melayu liberals forgotten by their British history (not expecting these western centrics to know Malayan or Malaysian history), the Brit left Malaya in 1957 and Sabah and Sarawak in 1963. That is half a century ago.

Why do many read the term as though we are in Anthony Burgess days teaching at MCKK?

NEP and reality

If the dramatic racial supremacy argument is not enough, Sakmongkol is arguing against Perkasa by repeating for the upteenth time his critique of NEP here.

He felt Ibrahim Ali wants to return to the good old days of NEP. Another wrong conclusion to derive to his misled dual choice. Sakmongkol is not to blame because Majlis Perundingan Melayu had requested listed demands without thinking through, thus it seems the impression Perkasa wants to return to the NEP days.

This is another excerpt from JMD:

By the way, when an amateurish analysis in The Malaysian Insider stated that Perkasa is undermining Najib’s reforms, it only gives the impression that The Malaysian Insider do not know the difference between 1Malaysia and Malaysian Malaysia.

The writer of that article may think that he is helping Najib pursue his reforms. But the opposite effect is happening. Do you think liberalising the economy and imposing total meritocracy while the Malay political standing is on shaky grounds is wise?

You can be liberal all you want when the Malays are strong economically and unified socially. You want to be meritocratic? By all means. But ensure that the playing field is level and your political powers are intact.

Doing so at the current state will only leave you with ‘yang dikejar tak dapat, yang dikendong berciciran’.

Sure the NEP had it's shortcoming and leakages. What policy does not have such problems? Even if Sakmongkol's RM53 billion point is given all the weightage, the stark reality of that Malay proverb is what all the Melayu liberals chose to ignore.

Ask themselves, if these confident man of the world Melayu liberals are really what they claim to believe, why are they not out there working in MNCs, doing crossborder businesses, or the least become a tongkat-less businessman?

My expectation would be for them to compete with the Jew, Chinese, Russian, etc to gobble up their market share of the world?

I see them working in GLCs, hanging around in UMNO, and trying to get positions in Government. Quite a few become consultants with no management experiance, only theories and templates, and inexperienced but talk using big words and giving big ideas. What has the 5-years of Tun Dol's lazy ways produce?

Someone claiming to lead the Melayu liberal is involved in the shameful Oil for Food scandal. Khairy himself has yet to produce a proper explanation for his abuse of influence in the ECM Libra-Avenue merger, MAS giving up profitable air routes to Airasia, etc.

Until the Melayu liberal stop being in denial, cakap tidak serupa bikin, and answer that age old words of wisdom, the quality they severely lack as to quote Anifah Aman, UMNO will continue to be weakened by their presence.

Perkasa will grew stronger and become a political force. They do not have to take up shallow Nazri's challenge to register as political party. But Perkasa can make or break UMNO's candidate.

Those rude BN candidates like Wee Ka Siong will have to suck Perkasa's knee cap to survive little Air Itam, Johor. So calling a snap election to settle the thing once and for all is also not wise but emotional.

Sometimes orang memandai-mandai tend to underestimate the common man's intelligence.

* Edited 9:00 AM