Seven deadly sins of Umno
Sloth, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony and pride plague us all but seems difficult for Umno to eradicate or change.
COMMENT
All of us have within us varying
measures of laziness, greed and wrath. Sloth – a reluctance to work or make an
effort – is a perceived bane of the bumiputeras.
Too lazy to do anything for
themselves, they require Umno’s spoon-feeding, discounts to put a roof over
their heads, education privileges for their children and Ketuanan Melayu
conferred upon them so they do not have to work as hard as ‘others’ to earn a
living.
Greed, so they say, personifies
the Chinese community. They are not bothered about where the money comes
from…be it from prostitution, gangsterism, cheating or gambling… as long as it
finds its way into their pockets.
Wrath is now owned by the Indian
community. After years of neglect and being marginalised, the community has
taken up ‘arms’ and is on the ‘warpath’ to claim what they perceive their share
of the nation’s wealth for their betterment.
The Dayaks and Kadazans too are
filled with wrath and rightly angered over how they have been treated as the ‘anak
tiri’ (step-child) in this coalition known as Malaysia.
No effort to
change
Umno is burdened not only with the
afflictions we all have – laziness, greed and wrath but also lust, gluttony,
envy and misplaced pride – all the seven deadly sins God bestowed on us.
Within Umno there is sloth – shown
by its reluctance to work towards change within the party in meeting the
people’s aspirations.
No effort has been made by Umno
leaders to be the change that Malays and Malaysians demand of them – even as
the people they govern are already changing.
Umno is abound with greed. Their
personal, public and political life is ruled by materialistic needs and gains.
Wrath is unleashed by them on
those who are against them with the connivance of all the agents at their
disposal.
Lust is rite of passage they
consider their own, despite Islamic teachings – an affliction visited more by
Umno first tier leaders.
Gluttony is exhibited by the girth
of leaders and followers indulging in the ‘good things in life’ that money can
buy.
Envy is the catalyst that drives
Umno leaders to outdo each other in their personal pursuit of materialistic
gains and political power.
Pride…misplaced pride actually,
sees Umno portraying themselves as the champion of the Malays and the savior of
all Malaysians – a perception already discarded by Malaysians if the results of
the last two elections are to be regarded as a reality barometer.
Umno sees itself as the protector
and champion of Malay supremacy – a sentiment relevant and necessary decades
ago but no longer. Today, respect for individual rights is the universal norm
of any responsible government!
Pakatan Rakyat too is afflicted by
these burdens but where they differ from Umno is that they are not in denial.
They understand the people’s aspiration
and they know what they have to do…the devil is in the details…they are streets
ahead of Umno when it comes to being the change catalyst that we all want.
CT Ali is a reformist who
believes in Pakatan Rakyat’s ideologies. He is a FMT columnist.
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