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A Much Diminished Prime Minister Returns

UMNO leaders planned for a crowd of 10,000 from all over the country to greet their "beloved leader", Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, back from a ten-day holiday in the Meditteranean; two days ago, it was revised to 50,000. He arrived yesterday morning (03 July 2002) to a crowd of 5,000. The makebelieve world of Malaysian politics, where what you see is what is not, the "sandiwara" (play-acting) of a wayward leader in full control is played out in exquisite detail, but with none, including Dr Mahathir, believing what it portrays. He wanted to resign in 1998, he wanted to resign at the UMNO general assembly on 22 June 2002, he wants the deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, to succeed him, he wants his deputy to be chosen without contest, he would be an eminence grise, while his successor willingly extended his apprenticeship from 36 to 50 months. His press conference on his return showed not the Mahathir of old but a Mahathir in office on sufferance. A feeble attempt it was to justify why he broke down, and convince himself, he is still who he is. The UMNO infighting now is focussed on him: he gets the crown who can force him out as soon. It does not matter who he is.

He leaves for Thailand tomorrow for an official visit. He should have sent Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi instead. But he is too much in love with power to want to give it up. He showed that in full measure when he went on his holiday, and returned, in the government executive jet, since extensively modified for what it cost -- RM200 million -- so it could fly non-stop to London and with a highly sophisticated camera to enable him to view the ground as he flies. But it is a perk of his office he would not give up. For four years, since the Anwar Ibrahim affair, he governed on autopilot, rushing to the four corners of the world for no rhyme or reason, not sitting still long enough to guide. And plunged the country into unrepayable debt, all hidden from both Parliament and the people.

When he arrived yesterday, even he knew the game was up. UMNO leaders masking their Macbethian regicide with a sandiwara all is well, Dr Mahathir is strong as ever, he chooses the candidates for Pendang and Anak Bukit, which UMNO would win as he is in absolutely in control. But beneath the surface, the plotters are in full swing. The more the public notions of normalcy, the more the shifting alliances. The essence of politics is conflict and intrigue. It does not matter if it is a social club or a political party. But Malaysians are seduced to believe that the National Front's unity is proof of the superior leadership of whoever is in power. That this skullduggery takes place in the opposition parties because they do not have the wherewithal to government. So, Dr Mahathir wants Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, to succeed him; the new deputy should be chosen without contest. To prove UMNO and the National Front is as relevant as ever.

Dato' Seri Abdullah so wants this. But would the vice-president-who-wants-to-be-president, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, agree? Already his supporters threaten if he is not the new deputy prime minister, they would back the Hermit of Langgak Golf, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, for UMNO president when elections are next held. Dato' Seri Abdullah has forged an alliance with another vice-president, Tan Sri Muhiyuddin Yassin, and is in a dilemma: he loses ground whomsoever he chooses. Infighting within UMNO is so deadly, in ever-rising stakes, that Dr Mahathir could well find himself in the centre of open warfare amongst his lieutenants. One group wants him where he is, the other wants him out.

He should have had a hint of that. In such matters as crowds, UMNO delivers. Yesterday it did not. Why? Even a 10,000 crowd would have created a mammoth traffic jam. There was none. Could darker forces have stymied it, to tell Dr Mahathir and the leaders-in-waiting the time for sandiwara is past, blood must flow before UMNO returns to the mainstream of Malay cultural politics, that nothing short of open political skullduggery could ensure it? For UMNO is caught in its cultural and political irrelevance, a legacy of the Mahathir years, with time against it to correct it. It fights this alone. The Malay sits on the sidelines, to back the winner whoever he is, but involved, as he once was not, in that struggle. Panic-stricken UMNO leaders, unused to this indifference, fight alone, with no help but from acolytes and vested interests to grab what they can.

When UMNO scheduled its general assembly last month to coincide with the World Cup matches, it was on the assumption that what it said and discussed would dominate even football. When reporters in the UMNO press room switched to football instead, and delegates rushed to where they could watch the game, UMNO had to reschedule its final day to work around the matches, and got a shock it has yet to recover from. Could it at a PAS muktamar? First, no one, not eve the Press, would have switched channels to watch football instead. Second, PAS would not have had its muktamar amidst football. So, Dr Mahathir in telling the world he wants to resign reveals his, and UMNO's, impotent to convince the Malay they are relevant in their world view. The scenes at the Royal Malaysian Air Force (TUDM) base at Subang reinforced it.

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