E Contrario

Adnan Yaakob was known for behaving like gangster. But still you gotta love the honesty of this guy.

At the Sungai Siput Umno delegates meeting on 9 September, Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan said the kris brought bad feng shui to Umno.

Hishamuddin and his Taming Sari

As a traditional Malay weapon, kris epitomizes fights and skirmishes. His interpretation seems to contradict Koh Tsu Koon’s statement a few weeks ago. in Umno General Assembly last year Pemuda Umno chief Hishamuddin raised a kris to threaten anyone who challenge NEP. In order to exonerate this harebrained performance, Koh did a “hunus kris” ceremony. Acting as an apologist for Hishamuddin, Koh contradicted Adnan and claimed that “kris symbolize national unity”.

Who is Tsu Koon trying to kid? Yes, kris can represent sovereignty that is rested in the traditional Malay monarchy. However Hishamuddin’s kris was drawn out in as a manifestation against an imaginary enemy. In this context he was targeting at those who criticized the NEP. Tsu Koon’s pathetic excuse to cover up a provocative act was totally undignified for a soon-to-be supreme leader of a BN component party.

Adnan could feel the vibes of the kris. He witnessed endless brawls in 60 year of the party’s existence. None of Umno party presidents stepped down gracefully. Almost all of them were outside the party when they died (Mahathir seems to follow this tradition). Despite strong grip onto state power, Umno internally is very fragile and unstable.

Umno grassroots which allegedly numbered 3 millions were surely overjoyed with the suggestion by Adnan when he called to use a coin as Umno icon. “A coin symbolises economy and it shows Umno’s effort to eradicate money politics,” his declaration was straight to the point.

Perhaps Dr Mahathir will be first to agree. Changing symbol shouldn’t be a problem. After all, the current Umno is not really the original one registered in 1946. Dr Mahathir claimed he lost his contest for Kubang Pasu division delegation to the General Assembly due to money politics. To add to the insult, a mere RM200 distributed by Pak Lah’s camp was enough to buy the votes of Umno branch delegates. PM Department Minister Nazri further corroborated this allegation of money politics by telling the press that Dr Mahathir too gave out money.

I think Umno flag needs more than a coin to satisfy all. Maybe the symbol should be a note or a stack of notes. The most appropriate sign is the one-thousand ringgit note, which has been abolished during the 1998 financial crisis. It will bring back the nostalgia of the good old days when milk and honey used to flow freely out of tape.

12-9-2006