COMMENT | Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, while debating the king’s address attempted to frame our current turmoil – “race relations, religious tolerance, economic issues and political instability” – as Umno losing its raison d'etre as a movement, as opposed to the 'crime syndicate' it has become as exemplified by the creation of Umno Baru.

The old Umno, the one before 1988, is the Umno Razaleigh (above) believes will save Malaysia and is worth reviving and he publicly claimed that the then judiciary did former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad a favour.

He said: "It is now clear Umno was declared unlawful and then deregistered for the ulterior purpose of capturing its leadership undemocratically and against the law. It was a decision without any legitimacy whatsoever and an abuse of political power."

Razaleigh, who is fondly known as Ku Li, of course, always nurtured the perception that he was the last honest man in Umno, a prince who reluctantly found himself consorting with thieves.

Resigning as Umno advisory council member may elicit guffaws and remarks like that of former minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz who claimed that Ku Li was hurt that he was not named prime minister, but the reality is that Umno can now wage war on behalf of kleptocrats without any hassle from any quarters within the party.

Razaleigh has the remarkable ability to engender goodwill from certain sections of the general public by disassociating himself from the excesses of Umno even though he contributed to the very culture he claims to despise. 

Remember when 1Malaysia was a thing, and then deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin went on about how he was "Malay first and Malaysian second", Ku Li publicly stated (without naming names of course): "The statement comes as a severe blow not just to the concept of 1Malaysia, but also as a nullification of Jiwa Malaysia or the National Spirit that (first prime minister) Tunku Abdul Rahman was trying hard to inculcate." 

This was said during a Paddy Schubert Sdn Bhd organised event, which should tell us something about the nature and agenda of the event.

Ku Li believes that Umno Baru needs to get back to its roots as some sort of ethnoreligious moderate movement based on transparency and good governance attracting, as he claims, the best people, meaning Malays, as opposed to the openly corrupt cesspool it has become.

Anyway, this idea of Umno going back to its roots, is actually, a reminder of how the democratic guardrails of good governance were dismantled by successive Umno governments, all of which Ku Li was party to. 

It is not that Ku Li is conflating political parties and systems of governance, it is actually the reality that reforms are needed but which can only come about if the mainstream Malay and non-Malay political establishment are willing to carry them out.

The demographics have changed since 1988, especially with the influx of foreigners and constitutionally-created bumiputeras. The civil service is a beast of its own beholden to Umno yes, but with petty fiefdoms linked to individual warlords or their proxies. 

We are dealing with a toxic ecosystem that came to life before Umno Baru but was nurtured by cabals from the new Umno.

It is cold comfort, but when it comes to political operatives, they are only as honest as the system allows them to be. It is like that all over the world. And what the mainstream political establishment did for political gain, either by acts of omission or collusion,  was to dismantle the guardrails. 

This is why those reforms in the government-Pakatan Harapan memorandum of understanding (MOU) are so important. This is the slow process of rebuilding those guardrails which fuel Ku Li’s nostalgia.

Meanwhile, former prime minister Najib, convicted of corruption, has been relentlessly attacking opposing power structures within Umno, positioning his faction as key players in the "musical chairs" that is the de facto system in place until we have an election, to determine which bunch of screw-ups is going to be able to form a coalition to run this country.

Because of social media, Najib gets to say his piece and rehabilitate his image as a convicted felon. Reading his social media posts, you would understand that Najib is using his insider knowledge of the way the government works to destabilise any regime, which is viewed as an impediment to his playing a role in running this country, not to mention, keeping him out of an orange or purple jumpsuit.

The fact is that corruption has been normalised. The Malay establishment is on edge now because one of their own was convicted of corruption and nobody wants to be part of actually jailing a former prime minister. 

I mean jailing opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for ridiculous charges is okay but actually jailing a scion of the Malay establishment would set a precedent, that would really upend the Malay establishment.

This normalisation of corruption is even more apparent when Anwar was having his cosy chats with elements of the court cluster. 

As a young Malay civil servant asked me recently, if corruption is so bad, then why is it that politicians have no problems attempting to make deals with people who are under investigation, charged or currently defending themselves in corruption cases. I answered, “Um… to save Malaysia?”

If Harapan had gone after the big fish, and everyone in the government knows who they are, I believe that Najib would not have the platform he has now. The civil and security services and the political elites would be in serious trouble.

While some younger Umno political operatives and activists want to get back to that equilibrium where there was some sort of transparency and accountability and a power-sharing formula in this country, the split in Umno now reflects that the party is hanging its fortunes of the stratagems of the court cluster and Islamists.