Who killed Cock Robin – and has the perpetrator been brought to justice?
Who killed Cock Robin and was the perpetrator brought to justice?
This nursery rhyme from my primary schooldays in the early fifties rose from the depths and mists of more than half a century of memory when I read to statement by the former Prime Minister and former UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, telling any umno member who is not “willing to die” for the party to leave the party.
Who killed UMNO, the great party of Onn Jaafar, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein when UMNO was the undisputed party of overwhelming majority of Malays in the country, and brought it down to the present straits when it has become a political party depending on the support of the minority of the Malays with the open question whether it could reform to rise again or is fated to an ignominous end?
Was it Najib with his global kleptocracy of the 1MDB international money-laundering scandal; his GST and capture of state resources for UMNO leaders’ own endsl; and the most toxic, vicious and divisive politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies in Malaysian history who caused the UMNO’s fall from grace or the so-called traitors who are not “willing to die” for UMNO?
It is an extraordinary day indeed when UMNO loyalty is equated with kleptocracy, but what is more remarkable is that such equation was fully supported by the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang who hoped to win 40 PAS parliamentary seats to prop up Najib the kleptocrat to continue as Prime Minister of Malaysia.
The rigmarole about the appointment of former Attorney-Generral Tan Sri Apandi Ali as UMNO Supreme Council member, initially welcomed by Apandi as “a fish returning to its spawning grounds” followed by a U-turn and decline on the ground of possible negative perceptions that would be linked to his time as Attorney-General and judge, followed by the equally astounding replacement by the former Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amar Mulia, who brought the 13th Parliament to international shame in virtually banning parliamentary debate on the 1MDB scandal, could have only come as a directive from Najib!
I believe that if the UMNO President, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi had a choice, he would have kept a great distance from both Apandi and Pandikar.
But Najib is the de facto UMNO President, and Zahid, although the UMNO President, has to do Najib’s bidding.
This was the reason for the seating arrangement for the Barisan Nasional MPs in Parliament – where the second placing for the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak means that Najib has a higher precedence that the newly elected/appointed UMNO leaders like the UMNO Vice President Ismail Sabri, UMNO Secretary-General Annuar Musa or senior UMNO Supreme Council member Mustapha Mohamad.
When Najib said that those not “willing to die” for UMNO should just leave the party, he meant that those who are not “willing to die” for Najib and kleptocracy should just leave the party.
When did UMNO become equated with Najib and kleptocracy?