Screenshots: The Spirit of Dato' Onn Jaafar

Tomorrow, there will be a public rally to rekindle the Spirit of Dato' Onn Jaafar at his birthplace, Batu Pahat, Johor.

I remember Dato' Onn, largely through the history books, as a visionary Bangsa Malaysia who was ahead of his time. During the founding years of Malaya, he used to settle his squabbles with the late Tan Cheng Lock, who was a monumental leader for the Chinese community, through exchanges of pantun into late nights, and they would, without fail, patch up after both were drained of the pantun juices.

Though law and order was evident during the British colonial rule, never was police intimidation used to settle their personal scores as Dato' Onn and Tan Cheng Lock wanted to work for the larger good of the country.

That was five decades ago, when commercial life was less complicated, powerplay was gentlemanly and civil, and the system was much less corrupt in all walks of life.

Dato' Onn founded Umno, but he had to leave the party, and was plunged into political oblivion, when his proposal to open Umno to all races in the country was rejected. Dato' Onn died a noble man, but revelled by generations of younger Malaysians for his broad-based political struggles. He struggled for all Malaysians, not just the Malays.

Neverthless, five decades after the passing of Dato' Onn, Umno has remained communal till this day.

But the concept of Bariasan Nasional, with Umno as the power backbone in a multi-partied coalition, seems to have sustained the test of time. It even went on to win over 95% of electorate's mandate in the 2004 General Election.

Lately, rumblings have gathered accent at the Umno grassroots. Screenshots collated some of these unsettling noise within Umno and sent out an alert several days ago. I hope the PM and the DPM are reading my blog, for once.

The link is available here.

We must teach our children that Dato' Onn was a monument in Malaysian history. He stood for good virtue and humility. And he was a good Muslim who lived up to every facade of Islam Hadhari that Pak Lah introduced five decades later as the leader of the very party that Dato' Onn founded. This part of history needs highlight repeatedly lest we forget.

At a time of global cultural clashings, at the local level, it's indeed the opportune time to rekindle the Spirit of Dato' Onn Jaafar and benefit from it, Umno and non-Umno members alike.

Republished. Originally posted at 08:56 AM

Comments

the bestest people come from batu pahat.. ahem.. hint hint...

Posted by: suanie | February 25, 2006 10:58 AM

what is the different between Hishamuddin Hussien, Hussien Onn and Onn Jaafar...one still a member, one never joined (UMNO Baru that is) and one quit UMNO ....

Posted by: atanjamil | February 25, 2006 11:34 AM

While Dato' Onn be considered as a great visionary leader ahead of his times, his grandson doesn't seem so judging from the incident last year wielding keris in the air as if other races is the enemy. If that is so, how will UMNO rekindle the spirit of Dato' Onn struggles? Or will UMNO continue to corrupt and taint Dato' Onn's noble struggle for it's own political gain?

Posted by: Quest | February 25, 2006 11:36 AM

If using another subject with same logic and analyse from different angle, Hang Jebat should have been peoples' hero and not Hang Tuah as history has been making him out to be.

Posted by: Ghim | February 25, 2006 11:42 AM

Yes, I do wish his ghost would return and slap his grandson around a bit and teach him some sense.

Posted by: Viceice | February 25, 2006 11:55 AM

UMNO once proposed that the country set up sekolah wawasan, where all race study in the same school compound, but then when DAP counter-proposed parti-wawasan, they kept quiet.

I say walk the talk. Come on, set up the parti wawasan, lets run this country together.

MCA and MIC back then should back Dato Onn's parti negara, maybe things would be different by now.

Posted by: calvin_fernandez | February 25, 2006 12:12 PM

parti wawasan ... BN ..is a parti wawasan ...UMNO (malay), MCA (chinese), MIC (india), and many more even the one-man PPP ... what more wawasan do you want Cal?

Posted by: atanjamil | February 25, 2006 12:25 PM

Dato Onn Jaafar, first generation with vision and ideas ahead of his time, struggled and went through rejection and hardship. Dato Hussein Onn, second generation, continued with father's vision continued to struggle learned from example of his elder. Unfortunately, he chose the vehicle different from his father. The result present day UMNO and an UMNO youth chief, the grandson, third generation. As popularly proven, third generation is where the lineage fray and struggle truncated, and legacy of the family die.

Posted by: kgboy | February 25, 2006 12:30 PM

Parti Negara was a communal party, and advocated limited forms of ketuanan Melayu despite its open membership to all Malayans. Its predecessor, the Independence of Malaya Party, is the non-communal one.

Posted by: johnleemk | February 25, 2006 06:00 PM

A great man, not afraid to stand up for what he believed in, and suffered the consequences for it. Sound familiar? Nothing much has changed. Hishammudein is a poor example of the Dato Onn lineage. Used to think he was a gentleman, but that perspective changed at last year's UMNO assembly.

Posted by: hann | February 25, 2006 08:02 PM

>parti wawasan ... BN ..is a parti wawasan ...UMNO (malay), MCA (chinese), MIC (india), and many more even the one-man PPP ... what more wawasan do you want Cal?

Read: IMP. BN is not so 'wawasan' as they say

Real master visionary and idealist this guy. His ideas were amazingly apt in these modern times and the fact that he left the UMNO juggernaut just adds to my respect as it seems he didn't just want to be elected but wanted to be elected AND to actually work for the nation.

Hats Off. UMNO please stop hijacking his legacy.

Posted by: oster | February 25, 2006 08:21 PM

dear atanjamil
my vision of parti wawasan is just like Dato Onn's vision, where the application of members are open up to all malaysian, all races. not like current situation, UMNO for Malays, MCA for Chinese, and MIC for Indians.

Why can't it be like DAP or Gerakan, although it a chinese majority parti but its members consist of all races. even PAS open up its membership for everyone, not to mention Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

we should learn from Dato Onn's great vision.

Posted by: calvin_fernandez | February 25, 2006 11:04 PM

Dato' Onn is a noble man. He is so great that any politikus try to

calvin_fernandez : don't start your irrelevant topics to relate sekolah wawasan craps to Dato' Onn vision. Dato's Onn never bring out a plan to suppress others ethnics mother tongue teaching. Now go to the corner blow youself some cool air.

Posted by: moo_t | February 26, 2006 03:26 PM

Sorry, just to continue the previus comments.

Dato' Onn is a noble man. He is so great that no politikus can find any agenda to attack him. He vision stand the challenge of the time.

Unfortunately, some of his "ahead of time" visions are still a dream in year 2006.

Posted by: moo_t | February 26, 2006 03:31 PM

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