Watershed Event

The election of Khairy Jamaluddin as the new UMNO Youth boss could be regarded as a watershed event for Malaysia for many reasons. One, his predecessor was, and is, still regarded as a leader who failed to win the confidence of the non-Malay minorities in the country. Khairy, although being called 'Super Mat Rempit' (motorcycle rowdies' king) by some, is seen by observers as a man who is much less willing to play to the gallery compared to his predecessor. Longstanding traditions could possibly be broken for good. Khairy might need to be careful not to allow himself to get carried away by emotional sentiments, especially the type which are often regurgitated by race extremists inside and outside UMNO. Khairy's win could usher in the maturity so badly missing in UMNO Youth all this while. As the new head of UMNO Youth, he needs to set a good example to the rest of the movement by not overly emphasising the use of the words 'race' & 'religion'. In the past, these two words were often used at the UMNO party assemblies to paint a false picture or story about Malays supposedly getting marginalised 'in their own country' and also to disparage and run down the country's minority communities in the same breath. (As a sidenote, all the three candidates who got elected to the posts of vice-presidents have been known to have uttered antiminority statements in public in the not-too-recent past). Also, Khairy being the son-in-law of the outgoing PM, has every reason to maintain an image as a moderate politician, otherwise his family ties might get him into trouble. He is most likely to break with tradition, and become an UMNO Youth boss that would not follow previous Youth bosses in 'waving' knives or whatelse merely to excite the members of the Youth movement. He, however, needs to go further than this. As a pressure group within the main UMNO, the movement must be careful not to be continued to be seen by outsiders as a racist setup. Khairy must lead the movement to start distancing itself from other far right-wing movements in the country and most of all, avoid participating in street marches organised by such groups. Khairy, compared to his predecessor is much less politically ambitious, and as such, he is more likely to succeed in working together with the youth components of other parties within the BN. He is also much less likely to project himself as someone who is racially superior and we could finally end up with a situation where there are less unneccessary polemics swirling around and less finger pointing. He should try to reconcile the aspirations of his group with the wants and wishes of the nation. If anyone could do that at all, it could only be the new boss, as almost all the others are not even half as good as him. The new UMNO Youth boss needs to confidently lead the movement to get through all credibility tests that might come his way from now on. He has the ability to do so and he should use it. Compared to the other two unsuccessful contestants in Wednesday's election, he was the one with the best credentials. One of the unsuccessful contestants was the son of a former PM known for his racist views,

and the other was known for his poor performance as an MB. Khairy should pay more attention to the problems faced by many Malay youths. Don't waste time indulging in useless polemics and shifting the blame on innocent shoulders, a practice favoured by his predecessor(s). He needs to focus on the disciplinary problems common among Malay schoolchildren. He needs to work closely with the law enforcement agencies to curtail truancy, drug abuse, motorcycle-stealing and other numerous problems so common today. More on the groundwork and less with the propaganda. And Khairy has the ability to deliver if he sets his mind to do it. The UMNO Youth movement has lost a lot of years chasing shadows and missing the right paths but it is still not to late to reverse the trend. Khairy must not fail in his mission otherwise he could get damned for a long, long time. At 33, he is quite young and he should be in no hurry to climb up the political ladder and therefore he must use his time to do a good job as Youth boss. The earlier ones before him merely employed the position to climb up the next rung and it is no surprise that the country is now facing so many youth-related problems like drug abuse, wayside robberies, snatch thefts and wanton vandalism, just to name a few. Khairy could just be the right person to lead UMNO Youth into a new era and part ways with the bad past. No more kris-waving or kriskissing and putting up pretentious displays imitating royalty. And dispense with the false tears or 'crocodile' tears, please. People are still watching even if they are just keeping quiet. Khairy is smart enough to know it. Just hope he is smart enough to always keep himself and UMNO Youth above public disdain. There is, however, one small worry for Khairy. His win on Wednesday was not well received by certain people. Shortly after the results were announced they caused a brief commotion which rattled quite a few people. Khairy has to be careful of internal dangermen within the movement itself. Thus, he cannot afford to take things easy.