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In one corner is Tun Dr Mahathir, as vitriolic as ever, lambasting the Malays for their backwardness. But judging by his recent rhetoric, he remains the most powerful and unambiguous advocate of the Ketuanan Melayu agenda. ??In the other corner is Datuk Seri Anwar, an elegant though intellectually fluid man. His Barack Obama-like oratory reaches for the heavens, but tends to leave people confused as to what he intends to convey. Still, his vision for Malaysia does offer a degree of hope to those disillusioned with the old order. He envisages a nation governed not by racial antagonisms but genuine socio-economic concerns. But this won't be easy to bring about: How would he manage the ethnically segregated civil service and security forces? How would he resolve East Malaysian grievances? How would he tackle Malay rights as enshrined in the Constitution? Sadly, Umno is missing from this debate. Having ruled unchallenged for so long, it now lacks the intellectual capability, the courage and the energy to lead. Tun Dr Mahathir understands this. Like Shakespeare's King Lear, he bemoans the faithlessness of his wayward children in Umno. He knows how weak and indecisive they are and he knows the extent to which they fear change and the loss of their privileges. His surprise resignation from the party was not unlike Lear's angry exit from the safe confines of his palace to the open heath in the midst of a tumultuous thunderstorm. Whose vision is best suited to Malaysia? And who can win over those blockheads in Umno? Last month, as I watched Tun Dr Mahathir on the BBC programme Hardtalk, I couldn't help thinking that he wasn't the man he used to be. He looked physically weaker, but more seriously, the relentlessness of his attacks on Datuk Seri Abdullah has diminished him. One couldn't help but draw parallels with his Zimbabwean compatriot, Mr Robert Mugabe. Moreover, it's by no means clear that his obsession with the Malay agenda to the exclusion of all else - essentially, all other Malaysians, including non-Muslim bumiputeras in East Malaysia - is a wise strategy for the long run. Can Umno afford to alienate non-Malays? The March8 elections demonstrated that it does so at its own peril. Tun Dr Mahathir cannot comprehend that the articulation of Malay rights has been debased by those who were tasked to lead the community. With every new ill-conceived mansion built by an Umno division head, the party's credibility sank further. Who in his right mind now believes the pro-Malay rhetoric of Umno's leadership? Which brings us back to Datuk Seri Anwar and Datuk Seri Abdullah's hopes of survival. Datuk Seri Anwar is offering something different. Implementation details aside, many Malaysians recognise that the nation has to move in a more multiracial direction in order to develop. A return to the primordial world of Malay dominance is doomed to failure. Electoral trends suggest many young Malays are sceptical of Umno's self-aggrandising rhetoric. For Datuk Seri Anwar, he must prove he will be a Nelson Mandela-like figure, a force for reconciliation, not for vengeance. For Datuk Seri Abdullah and Umno, the only viable option is to appropriate the reform agenda and 'steal' Datuk Seri Anwar's policies. The Prime Minister's visit to the Maha Vihara, a Buddhist temple, over the weekend was a crucial gesture. If he can hold the party together and steer the country (and the Malay community) away from the harsh ugliness of the Malay supremacy rhetoric spouted by Tun Dr Mahathir, he may survive. If he fails to follow through on the reform agenda, Datuk Seri Anwar's position will be strengthened. As Tun Dr Mahathir and Datuk Seri Anwar fight for the soul of the Malay community, the man who has lingered in their shadows for so long may well come into his own.
The writer is a Malaysian columnist.
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