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UMNO can criticise but not be criticised

The UMNO vice president, Tan Sri Mohamed Taib, is livid. PAS, he thunders, wants UMNO unstable, pits UMNO leaders against each other, split it. "PAS is jealous and afraid as they see that UMNO is getting stronger and more united," he said. What did PAS do? Its party organ, Harakah, had an online poll on who should suceed Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed as prime minister. This, in his view, cheap, mischievous political nastiness reveals PAS's immaturity, and make UMNO flounder. It does not want UMNO to continue in power. It unnerves UMNO flounder. So, it should shut up. UMNO is a national treasure led by leaders made of rare porcelain PAS has no right to break it or them. That is Tan Sri Mohamed's message.

A day later, the Johore mentri besar, Dato' Abdul Ghani Othman, demands the Keadilan president, Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, come clean about the party's tiff with its former deputy president, Dr Chandra Muzaffar. "When is Datin Seri Wan Azizah going to take up Chandra's challenge to come clean and what the party's struggles are?" He told an UMNO political gathering that for Keadilan, the end justifies the means. As if it does not for UMNO? It did not strike him or UMNO leaders that UMNO presumes the unfettered right to criticise is its, and no one else's. UMNO leaders, from the president down, are quick to drive a wedge into opposition ranks, with its newspapers lending a hand. The only time Malaysians know of developments in the opposition ranks is when UMNO leaders criticise it. They do not know how weary Malaysians are of these one-sided attacks, and how it has begun to wean support for the parties UMNO and the BN chastise in its newspapers.

But that option is not the opposition's. For if they did what UMNO does often, it would destroy UMNO. So says Tan Sri Mohamed. Would it? Well, if he thinks so, it must be. What caused his outburst? The Harakah online poll on who should succeed Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed as prime minister preferred the defence minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, followed by the domestic trade and consumer affairs minisster, Tan Sri Muhiyuddin Yassin. Then came UMNO's heir presumptive and deputy president, Malaysian deputy prime minister Dato' Seri Abdullah, followed by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Tan Sri Mohamed. If you take a rough poll of UMNO members who they want as the next prime minister, you would have this list, although Tengku Razaleigh might rank higher and Tan Sri Mohamed may not make the grade.

Who would succeed Dr Mahathir, in today's uncertain political mood, is not finite. If it goes to plan, Dato' Seri Abdullah it is. Would it go to plan? In 1982, it was Dato' (now Tan Sri) Musa Hitam; in 1988, it was Mr (now Tun) Abdul Ghafar Baba; in 1996, it was Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim; in 2002, it is Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Who would be in 2004? Does UMNO know? Does Dr Mahathir? Does anyone know? What frightens UMNO is the political infighting, hidden and unreported until now, fought in public. Even branch meetings are so volatile these days that police are called in to restore order. So, we can understand why Tan Sri Mohamed is nervous. But it is more.

UMNO politics centres on winning the next elections, but to ensure it, it may have to borrow Dr Robert Mugabe's election handbook. Tan Sri Mohamed is right to be worried at online polls like Harakah's. His worry is not the poll but of UMNO members, who defy the law to read Harakah, who could well believe it, and vote accordingly the next time around. (When UMNO leaders are afraid to go to the ground, this fear is real.) It shows how unsettled strong UMNO leaders are at squeaks from the opposition. But his indelible message is clear: UMNO looks over its shoulders as it prepares for the next general election. When opposition parties ignore UMNO's attacks on it, it annoys UMNO as much as when they, on the odd occasion, repay it in kind. What this shows to the voter is a wobbly, uncertain UMNO and its unwieldy coalition, the National Front (BN) and a focussed though diffused opposition.

What then should UMNO have done? Nothing. Few knew of the Harakah poll until attention was drawn to it. Now UMNO members have another topic to discuss while sipping 'kopi-o' at their favourite 'warong kopi' (coffee stall). Did Harakah conduct this poll to disturb UMNO and its leaders? I doubt it. Those who edit newspapers know that polls like these are circulation gimmicks, and in PAS's case, to tell its leaders that what you see in UMNO is often a mirage. Now, UMNO members and others would rush to buy Harakah, find it reports politics and events of the day much better than the mainstream newspapers, and find out what else it has to say of UMNO and its leaders. It is, in the end, a much ado about nothing but one that is costly for UMNO.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my