Abdullah and Anwar — flip sides with the same thinking

The Bukit Bendera Umno division chief reminded Malaysian Chinese that they are immigrants and assigned them second-class status. He has not apologised for his comments which have upset the MCA and Gerakan, many of whom want him to be suspended or hung out to dry by Abdullah and the Umno leadership.

The Malaysian Insider Commentary

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim share several similarities. They both call Penang home. They both have managed to get on the wrong side of their former mentor, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

And it seems they both will go the extra mile to protect their own political comrades, sometimes even sacrificing their principles and convictions about Malaysia, and tenets of the Federal Constitution.

No?

Let’s consider the facts. When Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s Zulkifli Nordin led the mob against the Bar Council for organising a forum on conversion to Islam, he was slammed by many from his own party for his thuggish behaviour. Except Anwar.

The Bandar Baru Kulim MP went into hiding after the incident and emerged more than a week later, defiant and unrepentant. He said that he had explained his actions at the forum to Anwar and had been cleared. He then lashed out enemies of Islam and said that he would reprise his role in breaking up the forum if necessary.

The silence from Anwar was deafening. Incidentally, no action has been taken against Zulkifli, despite threatening noises from Dr Syed Husin Ali, Sivarasa Rasiah and Tian Chua who were upset at the force and language used by protestors to disrupt the forum. Among other things, the demonstrators told the Chinese in not so polite terms to return to the land of their ancestors.

On hindsight, it is easy to understand why Anwar did not come out strong against Zukilfi.

He knew that though the MP’s actions were slammed by the chattering class and non-Muslims, they were hugely popular with Muslims who felt that Zulkifli and the protestors were standing up for Islam and its special position in Malaysia. He also had his eye on the Permatang Pauh by-election where ground reports suggested that he had the full backing of Chinese and Indian voters but had yet to win over a significant portion of the Malay vote.

So the best solution: stay clear of the Zulkifli controversy and hope that the controversy goes away.

Political consideration was also pretty much on Abdullah’s mind when he responded meekly to the controversy surrounding Datuk Ahmad Ismail’s comments about the Chinese at a political rally on the eve of the by-election.

The Bukit Bendera Umno division chief reminded Malaysian Chinese that they are immigrants and assigned them second-class status. He has not apologised for his comments which have upset the MCA and Gerakan, many of whom want him to be suspended or hung out to dry by Abdullah and the Umno leadership.

Abdullah has attempted to diffuse the situation by saying that Ahmad did not mean to offend anyone, adding that the he would tell the division chief not to repeat those words. This assurance is akin to applying. minyak angin on an open sore — it just worsened the situation.

On the face of it, it is difficult to understand why Abdullah is going out on a limb for Ahmad. Ahmad was a staunch Anwar soldier in the old days and enjoyed rubbishing the prime minister when he was not elected as one of Umno’s vice-presidents in 1993.

Abdullah’s loyalists still remember Ahmad’s choice words against Abdullah when the PM was a political nobody.

So why is Abdullah not prepared to chastise this man whose arrogant comments only serve to entrench the antipathy that non-Malays feel towards Umno and the Barisan Nasional?

Put it another way. Why is Abdullah prepared to stand by and watch the stature of the MCA and Gerakan sink further among Chinese? Every time an Umno leader makes a stinging comment about non-Malays or their religious practices and it goes unpunished, stronger is the view among Chinese and Indians that the MCA, Gerakan and MIC are political weaklings, and not worth supporting.

Abdullah knows this very well. But the fact is between now and December only one thing matters to him — obtaining the bulk of nominations from 191 Umno divisions and being re-elected as the party president.

Everything else is a distant second. And that includes pushing through legislation for a Judicial Appointment Commission (which incidentally is also unpopular with the Umno crowd). Or disciplining a party warlord, who comments about the status of Chinese just happens to be the majority view in the ruling party.

It is an open secret that many Umno politicians feel “betrayed’’ byChinese and Indian voters and want to punish them for supporting Pakatan Rakyat in Election 2008. They also believe that the non-Malays have become too vocal since March 8 and need to be put in their place.

So Ahmad Ismail’s comments are not isolated thinking. It is the majority view in a party that will not accept that non-Malays also have an ownership stake in the country.

Abdullah is not prepared to challenge this view and risk upsetting the support of party warlords like Ahmad Ismail. His survival comes before anything else. Between now and December, political consideration trumps everything else.

So maybe Abdullah and Anwar have got more in common than they wish to acknowledge. They both are prepared to leave their ideals of a Malaysia for all by the wayside if it means keeping the support of their home constituency.

Sad but true. -RPK (author of Malaysia Today blog)