I happened to chanced across an article by Reme Ahmad today and I find it pretty witty of him to write about the UMNO party election this coming March 2009. The most talked about race of the year which is no other than....(circus drum sound effect please).
Reme Ahmad wrote....
IN THE movie Alien vs Predator, the tagline was 'Whoever wins... we lose".
The 'we' refers to the human race, because whether the Aliens or the Predators won, they will next attack the human race.
I am not saying here at all that former International Trade minister Rafidah Aziz is an Alien that spews acid from her mouth. And neither is former Women Affairs minister Shahrizat Jalil the Predator with long braided hair, but minus the scarf.
They are expected to face off in the March Umno elections, which are held every three years.
But to be sure, a bitter fight for the post of Wanita Umno, or the Women's wing of Malaysia's biggest political party, will weaken the wing.
Whoever wins, the women's movement will lose. And it could weaken Umno significantly on the ground.
Let me explain.
Of the party's 3.2 million members, women leaders have often prided themselves that the women members are slightly more than the men, ie about 52 per cent to the men's 48 per cent.
And while the men leaders take up much of the media headlines, believe me, it is the women that keeps Umno supporters and sympathisers loyal on the ground.
The reason is simple.
The guys often meet and work out big strategies and plan big projects. But once things are agreed upon, the day-to-day running of an urban area, or a rural hamlet, is often times done by the network of women worker ants.
The men will gather at kopi tiams and coffeehouses, while the women (many of them housewives) will often gather in the kitchens of their homes to discuss family issues and the latest recipes. And in doing so, party bonds are tightened.
And then there are other ways in which they bond.
For example, there is a senior Umno chieftain in Cheras near my Kuala Lumpur home who organises 'kelas agama' (Islamic religious classes) every Friday evening.
This chieftain carries the title Puan Sri (her late husband was a Tan Sri, a big rank in title-mad Malaysia) and she invites womenfolk in her urban residential area to her bungalow house to this weekly Islam classes taught by a popular woman preacher.
Before, during or after the classes, no one mentions the word Umno at all and there is zero political speeches.
(I know because as a friend of her family, I have attended these classes, seated way at the back).
But come election time, no one will have any doubt about who has helped raise the Umno flag in the neighbourhood.
And come election time too, one will often notice that it is the womenfolk - from Umno and the other opposition parties - who will do more house to house visits to canvass for votes.
The reason, I was told, is simple enough. Even the most hostile voter, or a non-voter, would likely open the door of his or her house if a few women came a-knocking - especially in the rural Malay heartland.
Women, or even men, are less likely to open up their doors if a bunch of men knocked on doors!
And there is another clue of the importance of womenfolk in rural areas.
Both Umno and Parti Islam Semalaysia (PAS) have a system to monitor voter sentiment in EACH village.
Umno calls it Kumpulan 10 (Group of 10) and PAS calls its system Unit Peti Undi (Ballot Box Unit).
Basically, each party worker 'looks after' groups of 10 voters in her area. Since everyone knows everyone in these kampungs (villages), a worker will know whether the three family adult members of the Ahmad house next door, or the five voting members of the Sulaiman house nearby will likely vote for.
If they are not sure, the women workers will knock on their doors and ask, sometimes indirectly like 'What do you think of the government's Policy X?' or 'What do you think of Political Leader Z?'
From these grassroots tallying, the numbers are added up and top leaders (the men!) will know how well the party is doing.
And they will quickly know whether any major issue ("Anwar Ibrahim is accused of sodomy again!") will sway votes on the ground.
These worker ants are mostly women, and they make house visits even during non-election time.
And although the menfolk at the grassroots level of Umno politics (and PAS too) may not always appreciate them, without these women cooking and providing food and drinks during those long days and nights of campaigning, the battle could be lost.
It is with this in mind that I said above: Whoever wins in the looming battle, the Women's movement will lose.
A split at the top, will cleave the women supporters all the way to the bottom between Alien or Predator supporters ... err I mean, between Rafidah or Shahrizat supporters.
If that happens, an already weakened Umno, could only grow weaker.
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