A TRAUMATIZED MAHATHIR AND UMNO’S HYPOCRISY THE ELITE TRYING TO CLING TO POWER CANNOT UNDERSTAND THE CURRENT ARAB REVOLUTION THE POLITICS OF SURPRISE

Only 140,000 members can vote
Over the weekend, Home Minister and Umno vice president Hishammuddin Hussein had announced the party would hold “mock” elections or practise runs in March to prepare for the new system of party polls scheduled to be held next year.Hisham, who is also Najib’s cousin, had said the dry runs were necessary because the internal election process would involve some 140,000 delegates compared to only 2,700 previously.Umno has more than 3 million members but only opened up voting to more delegates last year in a bid to reduce money politics.However, it is still lagging far behind PKR, which is the first political party in Southeast Asia to hold direct elections where all the top national leaders were chosen by the grassroots.Yet, in an apparent jibe at PKR, Hisham had told reporters on Sunday, “we also want as many eligible voters to take part unlike in PKR where only 10% of the members actually voted, although it claims to have thousands of members. And there were tables and chairs flying during the elections”.Another wayang kulit by the Umno elite
His comments provided immediate fodder for his political rivals to attack him with.“Umno should not be afraid to learn from PKR. It should hold direct elections like PKR where it is one-man one-vote. In their system, it is still a two-tier as not everyone is voting,” said Nik Nazmi ,who is also the state assemblyman for Seri Setia.“Only with one-member one-vote can it be regarded as fully democratic. Umno is just instituting this change as an attempt to show to the grassroots that democracy is thriving within itself so as not to lose out to PKR, which has pioneered of democratic party polls.”The PKR leaders also warned Umno the whole country was watching to see how efficiently it could run its polls. During the PKR elections, the mainstream media had rush to attack even the smallest mistake and mishap.
“As they say, what goes around comes around. Let see how competent Tengku Adnan (Umno sec-gen) in getting the process to run smoothly. Imagine, if they cannot even get their party elections right, how can they run the country,” said Nik Nazmi.“Frankly, at the end of the day, Umno is only putting on a facade. It is still the same old Umno, full of excuses. In order to be truly democratic the party polls should be one man one vote. Period.”

The Malaysian government is planning to tighten media regulations. And that’s unnerving many in the country.

The government will put limits on the internet, raising concerns of a crackdown on free speech.Al Jazeera’s Stephanie Scawen reports from the capital Kuala Lumpur.READMORE A traumatized Mahathir and Umno’s hypocrisy the elite trying to cling to power cannot Understand the Current Arab revolution the politics of surprise