The Politics of Sincerity

Yesterday, our Prime Minister talked about starting a merit-based scholarship next year. Of course they are many political rewards Barisan Nasional stands to gain if this move is implemented, and although they might be a political backlash from the Malay community, in the current political landscape obviously the Malays has no where else to go as both side of the political divide are offering the same promise, therefore the backlash is expected to be minor in nature.

Now we go to the sincerity expect of politics, that is, the same party that promise to upheld the Malay rights till their last drop of blood seems to be abandoning that very cause with it's Presidents latest offering. What happen to the the spirit of Ketuanan Melayu that that they shout and scream and promise to fight for since UMNO was founded back in 1946. Apparently the political context has changed since the March8 General Election and the values of the nation are also shifting. Remaining with the old ideology might speed their downfall so they have adopted a more liberal approach by introducing the 1Malaysia concept and of course this merit-based scholarship further reinforce that UMNO has indeed abandon their old ideology.

So as the above paragraph shows, indeed in times of crisis, a political party will indeed abandon it's ideology for their survival, however how about the trust that the voters had given to UMNO to protect the interest of Malays since independence, are they betrayed by the very party that their trust was given, the rural- older generation Malays that put UMNO in their hearts and minds, the many grassroots that worked tirelessly for the party, are they betrayed, well the answer is yes they are betrayed and they have it coming.

As we are all aware, UMNO like any other institution or organization will have to change with the demand of the time so they can't be what they are Pre- Malayan Union today as they demands of time is different. Pre -March8, there is no viable opposition to UMNO and Barisan Nasional but since the rise of Pakatan Rakyat, Barisan Nasional must now compete with a pact that had broken their winning formula time and time again, so change is mandatory if they want to remain relevant.

The Malays,which is the core voters of UMNO and now even BN, are facing different problems then that of the past and the many problems seem to be universal rather than racial in nature such as corruption, education and the people's welfare that requires concrete solution no just abstract Malay nationalistic slogans to solve and unfortunately for UMNO and BN Pakatan seems to offer the concrete solutions such as open tender for projects and welfare aid for the needy.

As for those who have been putting their trust blindly on UMNO they have been warned, the Malays must change themselves and not depend on any political party entirely as the main objective of a political party is to win elections and not fight for you till the end of time as once the cause is not profitable to pursue, they will abandon the cause and those reliant on the cause will either move on and fight their way to free themselves from the reliance or perish.

So on a final note, Malaysians especially Malays must now learn to stand independently without any help from whoever or whatever so that we can be truly independent from any form of colonisation be it the colonisation of the mind,body and soul whether from foreign bodies or the local ones.