Written by Maclean Patrick,
If there is blue blood in UMNO, then a prime candidate to lead the party would surely be Hishamuddin Hussein Onn.
His great grandfather was Dato’ Jaffar, Prime Minister to Sultan Abu Bakar - the great-grandfather of the present Johor ruler, while his grandfather Dato’ Sir Onn Jaafar had founded UMNO and his father Tun Hussain Onn was the prime minister of Malaysia before Mahathir Mohamed.
As for the 50-year old Hisham, he has been the Minister of Youth and Sports, Minister of Education, former UMNO Youth Chief and is currently a vice president of UMNO and Minister of Home Affairs.
Dubious Decisions Have Marred His Career
Hishamuddin is also cousin to Prime Minister Najib Razak.
With such pedigree, a lot has been expected of Hishamuddin when he made the obvious step into Malaysian politics. Yet, pedigree alone does not determine if one is suited for public office. Being street smart and intelligent are criteria that separate mere followers from leaders.
A law graduate with a masters degree from the London School of Economics, Hisham has certainly made some rather dubious decisions in recent years, leaving some to question if he has the real 'smarts' to lead or not.
But Hisham is certainly not dumb. For better or worse, he has chosen a political stance that he believes will help him to tide through the current stormy seas UMNO is sailing through.
During the 2005 UMNO General Assembly, it was Hishamuddin who as UMNO Youth Chief had waved the kerisand casually explained it away as merely meant to “motivate the Malays”. He denied it was a symbol of Malay supremacy or Ketuanan Melayu.
Vice-president Muhyidden Yassin had said that, "Although some sides were a bit extreme, it is quite normal to voice feelings during the [UMNO] assembly."
The Deputy Chief of the Youth wing then, Khairy Jamaluddin, had insisted that "while there is nothing extraordinary about this year’s congress and that similar sentiments have been raised in the past, these feelings have never compromised the ultimate manifestation of governance in this country through BN’s power-sharing formula."
But to those these explanations were owed and directed to, it was not convincing. To show his sincerity, Hisham called together all concerned Chinese politicians within the Barisan Nasional and managed to “explain” himself to them.
After The Keris, There Was The Cow-Head
In 2009, Hishamuddin found himself in the lime-light again. This time, he defended the actions of a group of demonstrators who were demonstrating the relocation of a Hindu temple.
The 50-plus protestors marched whilst carrying the decapitated head of a cow, an animal sacred to Hindus. This protest was promptly captured on film and the video clip made its way online, much to the horror of the Malaysian public. Not surprisingly, the Selangor Umno-sparked protest met with nation-wide condemnation all round.
As Minister of Home Affairs, Hishamuddin then invited the protesters for a meeting and what followed defied logical thinking.
He defended the protesters actions citing several reasons. Although the demonstration was illegal and held without a government permit, the protesters had limited the size of their demonstration.
Hisham further 'reasoned' that it was the Pakatan Rakyat state government that had made the poor decision in relocating the Hindu temple. As such, the people should be allowed space to voice their opinions and that similar incidents have happened before, such as pig heads being thrown into UMNO grounds.
His statements created even more shock than the actual protest. To further add to the already ridiculous turn of events, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission demanded that all media remove the video of both the protest and Hisham's embarrassing press conference from their websites and You Tube, in a bid to damage-control for the Malaysian government.
But perhaps Information minister Rais Yatim shouldn't have wasted his time. Hishamuddin has continued to dumbfound the public.
Then The Church Arsons And The Christian Conspiracy
In 2010, the Home Minister and his cousin the PM were blamed for a series of church vandalism and torchings after they gave their tacit green light to Umno members to protest a court ruling that allowed non-Muslims to use the word Allah.
The situation went out of control and it damaged Malaysia
Fast-forward to 2011, Hisham refused to take action against Utusan Malaysia
The Home Minister's excuse of a reason - that leeway needed to given to Utusan Malaysia for reporting news in Malaysia
Hishamuddin’s ability to embarass himself and the government goes all the way back to 1997 when he had also assiduously attacked the foreign press' coverage of sacked deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.
A Follower, Not A Leader
But to many of the older generation, Hisham wasn't really like this always. Many saw him as a good-natured liberal who tried his best rather than the half-baked right-wing hothead that he is now perceived to be.
To Hisham and his coterie of advisers, he has no option because UMNO is still dominated by a right wing. led by former premier Mahathir Mohamad, which holds powerful sway over the rest of the party.
To fulfil his pedigree and to finally be able to sit in the Prime Minister's chair - whether after current Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin gets a turn, or bypassing Muhyiddin and directly receiving the baton from Najib - Hisham has to blow with the prevailing winds.
Yes, he has to be a hypocrite. But really, does he need to need? Would not a true leader take a principled stand and convince others to emulate his greatness?
Whichever, this is Hishamuddin's decsion - for better or worse. But it also exposes his profile. He is made of the stuff of a follower and not a leader. How can he steer the nation to greater heights when he can't even move the party founded by his grandfather to healthier and safer shores?
This is the Prime Minister’s cousin and very similar to him in more ways than one. - Malaysia
No comments:
Post a Comment