Monday, 20-Oct-2003 7:13 AM

EDITORIAL SERUAN KEADILAN

Power sharing or power monopoly?

Recently, Barisan Nasional (BN), the ruling coalition, celebrated its 50th Anniversary of ‘power sharing’. It was celebrated on 20 September 2003 at the Merdeka Stadium, the site where Merdeka or independence was declared. There are, however, many things wrong with this.

First of all, why the Merdeka Stadium, an antiquated building waiting to be demolished? Why was it not celebrated at the swanky new Bukit Jalil Stadium or Putrajaya, Malaysia’s ‘pride and joy’? Is it because they were trying to insinuate that BN is associated with the struggle for Merdeka? BN was created in 1973, long after Merdeka, so it had nothing to do with Merdeka. So, why the Merdeka Stadium?

Another thing, if BN was created in 1973, then that would make it 30 years old. How come, then, they celebrated 50 years of power sharing? What happened in 1953 that would make it the 50th Anniversary? The first municipal elections were held in 1955, 48 years ago, and the first general elections in 1959, 44 years ago (if you want to consider this as ‘power sharing’; but of the Alliance Party mind you, not BN). Where, then, does this 50th Anniversary come in?

And why 20 September? What has this date got to do with BN that they saw fit to celebrate it at the Merdeka Stadium? What happened on 20 September 1953 that would make this date significant? 20 September is the anniversary of Anwar Ibrahim’s arrest in 1998. Anwar’s supporters celebrated this anniversary at his home recently. Was this why 20 September was chosen, to overshadow the 5th Anniversary of Anwar’s arrest? Nothing good happened to BN on 20 September 1953 that warrants a celebration on that day. (In fact, BN was not even around yet on 20 September 1953).

And what is all this crap about ‘power sharing’ that was worth celebrating? Okay, even if you want to consider BN as a power-sharing coalition, though for only 30 years and not 50 as they have misled us, the first BN Chairman was from Umno, its secretary from MCA, and its treasurer from PAS (it had no deputy chairman then). Today, the BN chairman, deputy chairman (since created), secretary and treasurer are all from Umno. Where does BN then share power? It is a power monopoly, monopolised by Umno. The other 13 component members of BN hold none of the key positions in the coalition.

Another thing to note, the BN is not a coalition (which means partnership, combination, union or merger), but a party. The only thing is, it is a party whose members comprise of political parties and not individuals. Parti Keadilan Rakyat, which is a merger of two parties, is a coalition, as is Barisan Alternatif, a union of parties. It is therefore Parti BN and Pakatan BA.

One lie after another, that is all BN is capable of. And we are not even touching on Umno’s 57th Anniversary yet. Umno, which was registered on 13 February 1988, is only 15 years old. How could they then be celebrating its 57th Anniversary?

Since we are talking about Umno, I should also touch on the history of its name. When the Registrar of Societies deregistered the old Umno, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al Haj and Tun Hussein Onn submitted an application to register a new party called ‘Umno Malaysia’. When Dr Mahathir found out, he instructed his deputy, Tun Ghaffar Baba, to also submit an application, and the name they chose was 'Umno Baru'. The Registrar then rejected the 'Umno Malaysia' application on grounds that someone else had already applied to use the name ‘Umno’, meaning 'Umno Baru'. Umno Baru’s application came two days later but they were considered as earlier than Umno Malaysia and Umno Malaysia was rejected in favour of Umno Baru.

Just like how it hijacked the struggle for Merdeka, Umno also hijacked its name. Is there nothing that Umno does not hijack, other than underage girls and the nation’s money?

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