The Whole is the Sum of its Parts
Technorati tags: Humor, Editorial, Politics, BN, Direct Entry Entity, Botero, Gore, Goregoyle
Things have gotten a tad bit strange of late.
Stranger, since Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, future ex-PM, announced that he's stepping down much earlier than the 2010 deadline he'd stated before. Which, he now says, he planned to do, anyway... It's one retrospective thought nobody buys, but nevermind.
Take for instance this talk lately about the BN component parties merging into one multi-racial party, something that has been mooted by Gerakan.
You know why some in the BN leadership are even considering thinking about this? Because their butts got kicked big time on March 8. And the ass kicking got done by a coalition that is NOT the sum of race-based parts.
And now that's what BN thinks it needs to be to get back into the political groove of relevancy. Just because the other guys are multi-ethnic. Or, at least some folks within the ruling coalition think so.
Is it a serious idea they're toying with, or are they just jerking our chain? Hard to say. And the nature of what form this idea will take is equally perplexing, going by what Mr. Future Ex said last week.
A few days back, Pak Lah clarified that the parts that make up BN aren't going to be dissolved. So, what he meant was a separate grouping where folks can join directly without first being a member of the BN parts - simply that. But as The Dandelions have rightly asked, would this be more of a BN Fan Club, rather than a more meaningful collective? Like, one which could eventually provide representation in the executive?
(the whole, the parts, their sum, and more, in the full post)
Somehow, Walski thinks not.
The parts simply won't have it. One major part, in particular - UMNO. Dissolving and becoming part of the greater BN collective, without (in theory) the right of claiming superiority of some kind, will probably not go down too well with these UMNO fellers. UMNO, like the male sex partner who thinks the missionary position is the only morally correct one, has to be on top. Somehow, some way.
But don't take Walski's word for it. Future Ex-PM wannabe, Najib Abdul Razak pretty much thinks the same way (via Bernama, emphasis by myAsylum).
Now is not the time for Barisan Nasional to become a single multiracial party, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Friday.
The deputy prime minister said such a proposal was a big step which needed a mandate from all the BN component parties.
"This is a very big step and needs to be discussed with all the BN components parties and we have not that level for discussion," told reporters after attending the joint meeting of federal department heads and community leaders organised by the state Umno here.
The proposal of a merged multiracial party of BN components was made by Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon.
(source: Bernama)
In other words, deciphering the political doublespeak, as long as UMNO has something to say about it, it'll never happen. The other components may be receptive to it, but not UMNO.
And yet, within UMNO, there are voices of hope. Or at the very least, voices of hope hoping that they are indeed voices of hope. They hope.
Like Mukhriz Mahathir, for instance (via Malaysiakini, subscription required, emphasis by myAsylum).
With 40 nominations in hand to back his bid to contest the Umno Youth chief’s post, Mukhriz Mahathir regards it as a ‘clear sign’ that the grassroots want change.
Met at the Parliament lobby today, the son of former premier and Umno president Dr Mahathir Mohamad said “they see that I represent (change)”.
(source: Malaysiakini)
Change... and Walski insists that this question be answered: Change to what? Look, put it this way - you may change the filter, and you may even change the brand of beans, but at the end of it all, you're still gonna get coffee. And Mukhriz really needs to wake up and smell the percolator.
Long story short, as long as each component of BN still represents the dying paradigm of championing race (with a few exceptions), BN will still represent that - a coalition of race-based political entities, even though BN, as a whole, uses "unity" as their mantra. And as mantras go, it's more of blabber-mouthing-off, rather than a spiritual embodiment of the idea.
And that, unfortunately, is the reality of the pudding. A non-partisan BN-direct entity open to all, at the end of the day, things being the way they are, is either going to:
- be just a supporters' club, or
- be a just-for-show thingamajig, or
- be a total waste of time and resources, or
- all of the above
And like the Goregoyle - a mythical beast made up of incongruous parts, plus Al Gore's head, a direct-entry BN component will be nothing more than a fifth wheel, serving no other purpose than a useless appendage for the sake of appearances.
