Global uncertainty looms but for Malaysians, it's another 5 years of Umno-led MADNESS

It's no secret that UMNO was very worried and fearful it would be defeated in the recently-concluded 13th general election because all the signs were there that it could lose and its only hope laid in a successful cheating spree that the Election Commission has been accused of choreographing and executing.

When the results were announced, some UMNO leaders expressed disappointment that BN was not able to win the two-thirds majority that Prime Minister Najib Razak had promised. However, they then realized that UMNO had won 88 parliamentary seats, which is a historic win for the party. So there was an opportunity to salvage some hurt pride.

Emotion confusion

In a trice, some of the UMNO elite swung to the opposite end of the emotion pendulum and became euphoric, boasting that UMNO had 'single-handedly' won the GE-13 for BN! Some of these top UMNO leaders got so excited, they simply could not think straight and began talking nonsense! A clear example is of course Home Minister Zahid Hamidi, who till now is still acting like a 'headless chicken' and causing ruckus after ruckus in Parliament. If Zahid is not careful, he will soon overtake his predecessor Hishammuddin Hussein as the daftest and worst-ever Home Minister.

Whether UMNO leaders were really so naive or merely putting on a show of exuberance because the next hurdle for Najib and his UMNO colleagues is the party election in September, the fact is their party suffered further loss of support from Malay voters.

Yes, the big 88 number is purely from gerrymandering and the thanks for that goes to Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister who pushed through most of the re-delineation of constituency boundaries. As far as the electorate is concerned, across the racial barriers including the Malays and very pointedly for UMNO because it rates itself as the defender of the Malays, Najib and his cohorts lost ground.

Najib led the 'panic binge'

In the immediate aftermath of the GE result, Najib had initially panicked. He was desperate to cling onto his UMNO presidency and needed a quick excuse to explain why he failed to win the two-thirds majority (of the 222 seats in Parliament) that he had promised to deliver.

Cravenly, he blamed the Chinese for supporting the Pakatan Rakyat led by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim. Then he got so mad that he fired all five of his special advisers. But that still wasn't enough to make Najib come to his senses.

Mahathir too was very angry with the Chinese especially DAP and blamed them for the UMNO-BN’s failures when in fact it was his own failure that he failed to reverse the tide of the stronger Opposition, which won 51% of the total votes despite UMNO-BN winning 133 seats to their 89. The imperfections in the Malaysian model was laid bare for the whole world to see and to scorn.

At 88, Mahathir cannot be faulted for showing a rather confused mind; he has not been consistent in his stance on whether Najib is good enough or not to continue as the UMNO president.

Revoke citizenship threats

Other UMNO leaders reacted by attacking Anwar accusing him of being a traitor. Some even asked for the citizenship of the Opposition leaders to be revoked, displaying blatant disrespect and ignorance of the Constitution.

Najib also seemed unsure whether to allow the ‘Black 505’ peaceful gatherings to protest the GE13 fraud to proceed or to order an all-out crackdown. He simply did not know what to do, and allowed Zahid to put the responsibility entirely on the police led by the fawning Khalid Abu Bakar.

Tengku Adnan, the newly-minted Minister of the Federal Territories, also wavered. He blew hot and cold on the KL City Hall, one day allowing it to be 'nice' and the next day making it retract all its assurances to the Opposition and their supporters.

Minister in charge of Islamic Affairs, Jamil Khir Baharom, too wanted to get into the limelight. Stealthily, he tried to push through the conversion bill which stirred up so much public anger that Muhyiddin decided to intervene - and without referring  his boss Najib!

Muhyiddin's move sparked off another round of disunity and instability in UMNO as factions began to seriously contemplate if they should continue to support Najib or to give Muhyiddin a chance to be the next UMNO president.

In an undeniable state of denial, UMNO leaders began pointing their fingers not only at the Opposition but at each other without realizing that in the end, their fingers always pointed back at themselves! Who really has confidence in UMNO now?

Mental health in UMNO now at its lowest

So what is the actual state of the mental health in UMNO post GE13?

Have their leaders really lost their minds even though temporarily? It is clear they are still shell-shocked and unable to accept the realty that their glory days are numbered. Hence, the defensive mode over their loss of the two-thirds majority for another 5 years because the empty boast of winning 88 seats cannot last. The surveys and hard figures are coming out and cannot be denied, although Najib may try his best to delay the worst of the harsh facts until the UMNO election is over.

It does not help that instead of providing leadership and keeping the ship on an even keel, Najib dashed off overseas on 2 short working trips, which typically were followed by an extended holiday in Europe.

Like it or not, and with or without him,  UMNO members will have to grapple and come to terms with the results of the GE13 and what they should do to get their party back in shape. Otherwise, they will completely lose the next general election.

At the moment, the majority of UMNO grassroots are still unable to analyze the large amount of data coming in simultaneously and instantaneously. They are like a slow and low capacity computer trying to compute the huge amount of data flooding in within a few milliseconds. Their leaders are in the same boat. Indeed, the UMNO computer can either crash or go haywire!

But unlike the computer which can be either repaired or the CPU replaced, the human brain cannot be so easily repaired. Symptoms of grievous stress have already appeared with Zahid shouting in Parliament at DAP's Gobind Singh that he was an even worse 'kaki-pukul' while Tengku Adnan seems to have resorted to coarse parlance, describing the Opposition - which mind you holds the support of 51% of the voters in this country - "shit stirrers".

5 years of madness ahead

Najib has finally returned from his vacation but this phenomenon of outrageous behaviour from the UMNO elite will continue and may even worsen. Malaysians are facing uncertainties and they need sane and responsible leaders, not those whose brains have become damaged somewhat.

So beware, when a government consists of 'lunatic' leaders unable to keep their feet on the ground after finding themselves in uncharted territory,  it is detrimental not only to the political landscape but to all sectors in Malaysia. And this at a time, when the world economy may have begun its long-delayed downswing.

Yes, the well-being of Malaysia is at stake but her citizens are being held ransom for the next 5 years by leaders who can go berserk at any moment!

Malaysia Chronicle