Categories
| Season's Greetings |
| Features | |||
| Written by Abdullah Ahmad | |||
| Tuesday, 20 January 2009 16:34 | |||
|
March approaches; expectations around the Umno triennial elections grow. I am prepared to wager a dinner for two at KL’s trendiest restaurant that you think exactly as I do about who will be the next Wanita Umno chief. You might ask, why not wager on the next Ketua Pemuda Umno? Malaysians who assiduously follow politics know that Wanita Umno has always been the backbone of the ruling party, not Youth.
Shahrizat will, of course, be terrible but Rafidah will be worse, confided a former senior Umno chieftain to me (adding, perhaps indelicately and certainly impolitically correctly, that ‘Wanita Umno is going through the anguish of post-menopausal life’). Unless Shahrizat transforms herself radically and displays leadership, she is doomed to be an also-ran Wanita Umno leader. She is able, diligent with a slightly above-average mind. It is all right to be a meek follower as number two. Now, Shahrizat must become a unifying and an effective leader. In a way, she is lucky there are several previous Ketua Wanita Umno on whose experiences she can draw: the likes of Ibu Zain Sulaiman, Khatijah Sidek, Fatimah Hashim, Aishah Ghani – even the original Rafidah! Shahrizat must become a strong and ethical leader that all Malaysian women look up to in the twenty-first century. She should be what I would call a lady in Prada: effective, elegant and clean – as reasonably as she can possibly be. If she merely emulates the present Rafidah, I shall be disappointed. That said, Rafidah is very competent: she is a workaholic, golfer and successful minister with an abrasive manner and a bit of a swagger in her stride. She is a great credit to Malaysian women; few are as confident or outspoken and know their brief as well. And because of all this, she is labelled a bitch – by men, in particular. But Nuclear Rafidah can’t be as bad as what people tell me. Now that she is no longer a minister and may lose in the March election, she is considered by many on her way out. Well, I can tell you this – Rafidah is no pushover. Rafidah – the one I knew long time ago – is not frosty; just assertive and direct. For a man, that’s called being the boss. I have known the two women pretty well. They can work, and take to their jobs with gusto. I always find that a sign of deep enmity is when people exaggerate their responses to you: extreme courtesy (and loyalty?) for instance, often hides enmity. I wonder how Shahrizat has managed to be serene about someone like Rafidah all these years and how Rafidah must have pretended to get on with the person who didn’t invite her to her Hari Raya open house! (I once asked a friend why he did not invite so-and-so to his Hari Raya party. ‘Because I don’t like her/him,’ was the quick reply.)
Far from beating a retreat from Shahrizat’s failure of judgment, Rafidah is digging her heels in. She, not unlike Margaret Thatcher, is not turning back. Obviously, she is unprepared to lose face by abandoning her post. Yet at every level, Rafidah’s decision to defend her post seems like a disastrous error – and it is Wanita Umno that already looks most damaged. But this is not quite true. The do-or-die battle is a cause for celebration, and should not cause the wing or the party discomfort; it would have been potentially much worse if there had been no contest. It is a healthy sign of growing democracy and the re-opening of Umno. That said, whoever wins, there will be hardly any change because Shahrizat is not an agent of change. (But I shall be generous; perhaps there will be a hint of an improvement.) The protagonists merely represent experience, not change that the voters clamoured for on March 8, 2008 (Rafidah won her seat despite neglecting to sign her nomination papers; Shahrizat lost hers to Nurul Izzah Anwar). Rafidah has previously survived more serious threats in her long career, but it is not her future Wanita Umno should be worrying about; it is their own, and that of Umno’s. Ideally, Wanita should not be led by either – it should be helmed by a fresh face, an Obama-like candidate. Alas, none exists. (I use Obama as a metaphor for change.) In practical terms, Wanita Umno and indeed Umno itself, lacks talent because there has been an institutional bias against talent since the Eighties. Umno always talks about the general idea of recruiting talent and advocating the cause of this crucial minority in the party. However, no-one is willing to or cannot break the establishment’s stranglehold on power. So, in practice, Umno continues to recruit those it thinks are not going to rock the boat or challenge its vested interests. Given that its organisational culture is such, Umno – whether mainstream, Wanita, Pemuda, even Puteri – has built its power (in the main) on stale racial fears, resentments and class divisions. Umno cooperates and compromises with all and sundry only when absolutely necessary. The challenger for Ketua Wanita Umno, like the defender, is much maligned. In any event, Shahrizat’s determination to oust Rafidah should be applauded. It is not hard to think of the causes: the silent enmity caused by Rafidah’s bullying; frosty relations, she wants to move up and the claim that she has Wanita’s long-term interests at heart; that she has a clearer vision for Malay women than Rafidah, who has had a long innings; perhaps too long. The gelanggang (arena) will be very bloody because the contest will be ruthless. The Umno culture of winner-takes-all will have this round more direct ramifications for Malaysian women. The incumbent, sans ministerial power and patronage, will find it difficult to look after the needs of the delegates, unlike the time she was able to use her controversial dual role as Wanita chief and Minister of International Trade and Industry to sustain and enhance her position. For sure, the incumbent and her challenger have lost much influence since March 8, though Shahrizat still enjoys the salary and perks of a minister in her job (which critics say is a sinecure, courtesy of the departing leader from her home-state of Penang). If Shahrizat wins, as her Penang mentor desires, it may just be the beginning for Shahrizat – it will not be easy for her, balancing conflicting demands from a president-elect who wants undivided loyalty; and from the rank and file, who may often feel they have been exploited and not adequately rewarded. Rafidah and Shahrizat were born into middle class families. They did well through tertiary education, prospered and ennobled by politics. Both are good politicians; Shahrizat clever of stagecraft and timing. I know for sure Rafidah writes her own speeches by hand or at least drafts the really important ones. I am less familiar with Shahrizat’s modus operandi, but I believe most of her statements are written by ghost writers. The high-stakes contest will see the political demise of the loser. The run-up to March will be fiercely acrimonious, the adversaries lively and no-holds barred. Long suppressed mistrust and mutual contempt will spill into the open. Things will get beastly. The stakes are indeed very high, at least for as long as Umno remains in power, which may or may not be the case following the next general election. The results in March will winnow the field of contenders for the next general election and future Umno polls. The Wanita Umno wing has always been strong – and it must remain strong, especially since many Malay women are increasingly online daily looking for what they think is reliable news. The opposition has successfully developed the new media to exploit online advocacy with good results. The next polls will critically depend on the government reformation and the time and energy that Umno, Wanita and government leadership spend on the new media. The mainstream media has – for all intents and purposes – killed the credibility of the government, the ruling party, and its other component parties. Rafidah is eagerly looking forward to her titanic battle with Shahrizat, the battle of vengeance. But, be that as it may, Najib, having won uncontested, will ultimately determine who wins. Najib, of course, doesn’t command this outcome; he merely has to ask. His trusted operatives will indicate who the Master wants. A change in Wanita leadership bodes well for a future in which there will be events and personalities that test the new administration and Najib himself. He needs good counsel, friends and a Wanita chief who will tell him the truth. I hope a new style of kepimpinan emerges to take these battle-hardened and dynamic Umno amazons to a higher level of accomplishment. I was last in London in November 2007. The pound’s slump to record lows against foreign currencies has been a great boon. I arrived at Heathrow’s Terminal 3 for pre-Christmas 2008 hols to cheer up British friends responding to Gordon Brown’s appeals to buy with confidence and to enjoy themselves, never mind the recession and that UK is drowning in debt. The level of personal debt here is the highest in the EU. Zut! France has leapfrogged the UK in the Economic League table and Britannia could even fall behind Italy next year. As Whitehall struggles to get the British economy back on track, it is the savers who are bearing the brunt. After an early-December cut in interest rates, they wondered where they could get a decent return on their money and where they could go for holidays. As a good friend, I have come earlier than usual, to demonstrate to my suffering British pals what dependable friends we Malaysians are, nevermind that I too am drowning in debt. I’m a typical bumiputra, loyal to a fault and ever-looking for an excuse to travel; despite not having had a proper job since my expulsion from the New Straits Times five years ago. Even at seventysomething, I am in good health, so it is very painful for me to be without work. Work is a hobby; unusual for a bumiputra. The Malaysia Airlines MH001 was almost full on Nov 29: just two empty First Class seats, and two in Business and in Economy, respectively. The sight of many Malaysians on board made me feel less guilty. The impression I got was that if they did not spend this Christmas in London or in Buckinghamshire, they might not see another Christmas! ‘What with one fatwa after another,’ groaned one nouveau riche as she drained a half-full glass of champagne in one gulp. Indeed, in KL, there is a growing feeling that Christmas is becoming different every year. Before leaving, I had called on Dr Mahathir Mohamad to wish him, ‘Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.’ ‘It’s haram to utter that!’ he said, before adding in a tone laden with sarcasm, ‘It’s the fatwa don’t you know?’ As I walked towards the door, his lame afterthought was, ‘Selamat Hari Natal and Happy New Year!’ Like our balik kampung tradition, the great Christmas getaway in the UK begins a week or two before the festival, when millions board planes, trains and automobiles to visit family and friends. Traffic has been heavy and the weather very cold. How to enjoy holidays during a recession? I tell friends: in places outside the Euro zone because they represent good value for money, such as Malaysia, other Asean countries, Turkey, Egypt, India and Pakistan. Who said ‘terrorist’? One invitation to lunch or dinner followed another, eventually seven altogether: one in Cambridge, one in Kent and one in Hampshire; the others all in London. Sometimes it has rained dark and cold; other times, it’s been sunny and cold. There’s no snow yet, no reindeer, but at each party there is good cheer, even fun among the guests, family and friends from all over the world. One event I attended was to celebrate the marriage of a friend’s youngest daughter whom I know personally. They are Malaysians of the World; at ease in London as at home or anywhere else. Marriage is a wonderful invention; I am very traditional. My host and hostess have been married longer than I. In February, I celebrate my fortieth wedding anniversary. It has been two scores of much happiness despite enforced separation from 1976 to 1981, courtesy of the Internal Security Act during Hussein Onn’s premiership. As a political scapegoat and a target for retribution, I lost five years in the prime of life. Between parties and visits, I have telephoned old teachers and friends, among whom is a former teacher at MCKK, Michael Hughes, who subsequently became the last expatriate headmaster of Penang Free School. He is now 91 years old and lives in Exeter, Devon with his wife, Jean. I last saw them at their home late last year. Michael and Jean are in good health for their age. I also spoke with Mona Howell, wife of my headmaster at MCKK, the late Jimmy Howell. Mona, 81, is also in good health. I read at random, watch TV, eat, drink, sleep or do absolutely useless things or nothing. It makes me very happy; therapy, as far as I’m concerned. On BBC 2 I watched a moving documentary, A Woman in Love and War: Vera Brittain. The narrator, Jo Brand, is superb. I still haven’t been able to get hold of a copy of the book. However, I have bought, among others, DVDs of Pride and Prejudice, Anna Karenina, Brideshead Revisited, Doctor Zhivago, Macbeth, A Tale of Two Cities, 39 Steps and If You Like It – to see, literally, the differences between the book and the DVD versions. Of course, I realise that even the most faithful adaptation cannot include everything in the book. Omissions and embellishments are necessary to appeal to the younger generation so crucial to commercial success. I was greatly thrilled by what I watched on TV, but I still want to grab the books so that I can trace on the page what I have seen on the screen.I hope that seeing Julius Caesar, Little Dorrit, Puteri Gunung Ledang and Hang Tuah on television should be enough to make some viewers seek to read or reread the books. My favourite read now is unbelievably called My Grammar and I (or should that be me?). It’s an old school Mind Your Language. My English teachers despaired at my grammar and English remains a personal minefield. I continue to mispronounce words, according to my wife, because my spelling is wobbly: letters in the wrong places! English continues to simultaneously fascinate and frustrate me.Nevermind. It seems that English grammar only began to be taught in schools here in the 1920s. That’s according to a British government report in 1921 which reads: ‘It’s impossible at the present juncture to teach English grammar in the schools for the simple reason that no one knows exactly what it is.’ English has always been a pleasant struggle for me, though sometimes it was and still is very difficult. I was taken to White’s (the alpha male of all gentlemen’s clubs in the UK; no women allowed) by a retired diplomat, who also brought me there last year. We covered an enormous range of conversation subjects, from social history and the ‘credit crunch’ to the education of grandchildren and the pleasures of Paris, New York, Shanghai, Bangkok (before the airports shut down) and Bombay/Mumbai (before the attacks), and studying in Oxbridge and Harvard. Surprise, surprise, we also talked about cash for honours. It’s extraordinary how much there has been to talk about during lunch/dinner, and each time I tear myself away reluctantly despite strong allurement to stay. The Brits, like Malaysians, make much of titles. Many buy them. But after the Queen awarded an honorary knighthood to the diabolical Robert Mugabe and peerages to the unsavoury, I can understand if in certain quarters people are reluctant to use their titles in their names, or even want to be honoured or ennobled. Those who pay cash for honours not only demand to be addressed Sir, Tan Seli (Tan Sri) or Lato’ (Dato’) – some even display state crests on their cars. Of course, there are many more who keep insisting on just being Dollah, Dr Mahathir, Anwar or Razaleigh. I sometimes address Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali as Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali instead of the usual Kak Hasmah, but only in the presence of strangers, officials and servants. She never demands it. In contrast, one Tun has indeed asked to be addressed as Tun, and many Puan Sri call their husbands Tan Sri and vice versa. How ridiculous people can sometimes be. London is like a village. I bump into Malaysians everywhere. There are indeed a few places here where I have never seen a single Malaysian soul in thirty years, but I’m keeping them secret. Two years ago, I took two Malaysian elitists to one such sanctuary because they wanted to avoid Malaysians and needed some peace. We wandered around the area and then repaired to an unpretentious but excellent restaurant. They begged me to keep it hidden! For many Malaysians, anglophiles in particular, KL has more affinity with London than Singapore, Jakarta and Bangkok. Fifty-one years after Merdeka, the pendulum has not swung. Indeed the number of Malaysians visiting, studying, working and living in the UK has increased a thousand-fold. London remains a favourite with Malaysians of all races. The British capital continues to seduce with its charms of liveliness, smartness and diversity, but unlike New York (another favourite of mine), London taxi drivers remain virtually all-white and male. In the Big Apple where I lived for four years (from 1996), taxi drivers came from every continent. There were many Pakistani taxi drivers during my time. I find travel irresistible if now cumbersome, because I remain an old-school type in the modern age. I have no idea how to use an iPod or a Blackberry. I have a simple, vintage Nokia to communicate with loved ones and close friends. Please don’t get me wrong. I do believe in technology and change. Despite being warned (repeatedly) about the high-tech door at our hotel - Crash! Bang! Wallop! (To my daughter’s horror I once asked a stranger to help open it). I am ashamed I do not know to email, SMS, use tools that modern people, my children and grandchildren, need. But believe me, I’m not going to beat myself up over them. London is full of tourists. Americans, in particular, despite the credit-crunched US, now in recession. In a reversal of roles, thousands of Americans flew here to snap up Christmas and New Year bargains following the collapse in the value of the pound. Two Christmases ago, thousands of Britons had flown to New York and LA to take advantage of the fact that a pound was worth around two dollars. Now, the sterling has fallen by some 25 percent, and prices of designer labels such as Bvlgari, Chanel, Tiffany and Cartier are down by 30 percent compared to a few months ago. Waterstone’s, the book store, nearest to where I lodge, has gone. I now travel to the store in Piccadilly, or to Borders in Queensway to browse for hours, or to Harrods. I sometimes purchase books that I can’t get in KL and travel free to these stores using my Freedom Pass (for persons above 70 years old) by bus, tube, tram (around London only) and get a discount on Thames river services. I only use the black cabs when absolutely necessary. The number of people on benefits in the UK is burgeoning. What do you expect? Liberal opinion refuses to condemn this culture of dependency on welfarism. At home, Dr Mahathir condemns those who exploit NEP crutches while simultaneously wanting the policy to continue. Either way, the bumiputra lose. I feel powerless, I really do; to see hard work (no longer a virtue), self-esteem (gone) and harga diri (non-existent) being replaced by a culture of crutches or whatever name it is called. I shall soon say goodbye to the cold wind, hat, overcoat, scarf, roses and red carnations. Sad to leave London; so good to return home, hoping Najib Razak, the prime minister-in-waiting (or should I say PM-elect?) will grow a sense of purpose and hope in the New Year. People in London are showing remarkable spirit despite, or perhaps because of the economic downturn, whether by going visiting, just staying in, or even in being unusually thrifty. The Brits, Americans and Malaysians are making the best of hard times. This is not the time to be singing the praises of Malaysian politics nor the time to condemn it. Over to you fellow patriots. Happy New Season to all.
|
|||
|
|
Shahrizat Jalil, deputy head of Wanita Umno, once tried hard to be all things to all people. At last, she has summoned enough courage to take on her long-time boss Rafidah Aziz. This is not quite the historic breakthrough for Wanita Umno politics; Shahrizat is the second woman to oppose Rafidah for the top job. That this is happening is clearly Shahrizat’s and friends’ revenge on Rafidah for taking them for granted since the latter regained her office from Dr Siti Zaharah Sulaiman six years ago. Were Shahrizat and friends to have followed Rafidah’s dictates, she would have got what she wanted: extension of leadership until June that she plainly does not deserve. After all, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi himself has agreed to quit in March.
It is increasingly clear that Wanita Umno is poised in a unique moment to choose a new leader, even if a not-so ‘refreshingly fresh’ one in the person of Shahrizat, who seems to always treat people with a coy smile of familiarity and even friendship. The Shahrizat of late wears a scarf (mini-tudung) in practised modesty and to appear to conform. Generations may pass before Wanita Umno elects another ‘anak Mummy’ as its Ketua – another lawyer; another Ketua who resembles a liberal as previous leaders were: Ibu Zain Sulaiman, (prescient teacher), Khatijah Sidek (nationalist through-and-through, and Indonesian-born rabble rouser), Fatimah Hashim (exemplary housewife, well-liked, Malaysia’s first cabinet minister), Aishah Ghani (journalist), and Rafidah (University Malaya economics lecturer–turned–politician). I know all of them, Fatimah and Aishah better than the others. Rafidah is more formidable than Shahrizat but she is kinder and gentler than the MP for Kuala Kangsar.