Last Friday, former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad led top opposition leaders along with some senior Umno leaders and political activists in signing a declaration to push for the resignation of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The press conference was approved by opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim in what many claimed was a show of strong solidarity towards their hopes for our Prime Minister to step down.
Ironically for me, the press conference was loomed by a big poster at the back of the room with the words: “Selamatkan Malaysia”.
Let’s take a step back and point to the elephant in the room.
Beyond the usual argument that what Tun and his allies are doing is undemocratic, many have claimed that what this allegiance really emphasizes is a typical “an enemy of my enemy” circumstance. Each and all those present at that press conference have their own agenda. But as circumstances have it, they have latched onto one another, to use one another to foresee a stepping stone towards their very different views of Malaysia’s future.
An outcome such as last Friday is dangerous on many fronts, namely what happens if they do succeed in toppling the Prime Minister? Will they still cooperate with one another or will there be anarchy amongst those individuals to see through what they want?
They are only sitting together because, for once, they all agree on one thing. They all agree that they hate the Prime Minister. But therein lies the problem, they only agree on one thing, and this quite evidently is the short sightedness that is detrimental to the stability of our nation. The opposition are using Tun to divert attention from their inner bickering.
Tun is using the opposition after he failed to topple the Prime Minister as an Umno veteran. There is no long term plan, no solid ground for us to believe the motherhood statements they preached will be pursued. This is just the coming together of personal ambitions and personal conveniences.
More crucially disturbing however, is the fact that what happened last Friday lays the groundwork for a harmful belief amongst our youth today: the belief that democracy is a clear water stream of always getting what you want, the belief that fighting for what you want comes without having to consider the pillars that hold up our nation. What Tun and his partners are promoting is a planned anarchy, not a democratic process for reform. What last Friday’s press conference demonstrated is a Malaysia that is immature towards engaging with the proper channels of nation shaping.
As Pemuda Umno, we believe that all thinkers should be under the Umno umbrella, that all and everyone despite their differences of opinion should be able to express on our platform, but with this comes a set of rules, a guideline that allows for an orderly and mature process of deliberation and fair space.
For as much as you can express your wants and opinions, you must also listen to others and follow the traditions set to make sure everyone gets a fair chance. Frustrations of not seeing your particular ideals met should not warrant you to burn the bridge of this vital cooperation.
What the youth must comprehend and actually guard against is the wrong perception that supporting your party president equates to yes-manning mindlessly. There are values of being apart of a party, values of loyalty and the sincerity of respect to leaders.
As unattractive as these aspects sound, I plead for the youth to understand that these values are what have kept our country stable. As youths, we can easily jump at things that excite us. This is natural and we’ve all been there before. But look hard at your so-called heroes. Analyze them, their intentions. If they can jump ship today, how honestly can you believe that they will maintain their so-called noble course when influencers stride in their favor?
What is happening and what Tun demonstrated last Friday was detrimental towards our youths understanding this concept of mature dialogue. For them, seeing their beloved Tun speak out and calling for the PM to step down misleads them into thinking that such rash and short minded planning deserves praise. Here in Pemuda, that is not the youth we aim to develop.
Khairul Azwan Harun is is deputy Umno Youth chief and Umno Supreme Council member.