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Puteri UMNO: A marionette as leader

And so, as UMNO Leaders demanded, Ms Azalina Othman is the first elected unelected leader of Puteri UMNO. They pressured the 165 divisions to nominate her, not whomsoever amongst the five candidates they preferred. UMNO leaders deny it. But how could an unpopular leader as Ms Azalina -- and since her first appointment, the dissensions about her rise throughout the movement -- be returned unopposed? The usual subtleties were brought to bear: the UMNO leaders do not hesitate to use whatever means at their disposal to ensure they get what they want. And no divisional leader in her sane mind wants to upset the tranquility of her family with exposures like this. This is how it is done in UMNO divisional elections. It is out of character to suggest Puteri UMNO would be spared the UMNO Leaders' desire for a marionette as a leader.

Puteri UMNO caught on like wild fire when it was formed. The Malay working woman and mother, cut out of mainstream UMNO Wanita by the heavy-handed Datin Rafidah Aziz and her makchiks. Puteri UMNO was formed so this important -- and most active -- segment of Malay society does not seek other avenues, like PAS, if they want to be in politics. Its arrival forced even PAS to revise its own belief that the woman's place is in the home. Ironically, as PAS moves forward to give women an unaccustomed place in its leadership, UMNO denies them. Young working married women and single mothers, cut out of the political mainstream, rushed into Puteri UMNO. They became a force in byelections, upstaged the Wanita makchiks.

But that success ensured UMNO Puteri's irrelevance. They were now a new power group within UMNO, and redounded on the largely moribund UMNO. But they had their own mind, and did not fear to exercise it. In the Pendang and Anak Bukit byelections, UMNO presumed that the large number of Puteri UMNO would automatically vote for the has-been UMNO candidate. They did not. Even Ms Azalina could not help here. UMNO leaders decided enough was enough. And took steps to keep in within its control, and not allow it to echo the modern Malay working women and mothers. They wanted Ms Azalina Othman to continue, come what may. It is another good UMNO idea gone to seed.

If Ms Azaline was challenged, she could well have romped home. But UMNO leaders, so frightened of the delegates, could not take a chance. The delegates, in UMNO, Wanita, youth and puteri, have a mind of their own, often unprepared to take orders on who they should vote for. In a free election, she would have to scrape through. The UMNO President, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed's famous insistence in the 1980s that he is the winner even if by one vote never could sustain in Malay feudal politics. His predecessor, Tun Hussein Onn, was elected with a 70 per cent majority in 1988, and he saw that as a sign he must leave. It was a chance UMNO had to take. But decided not to.

So the runup to the nominations had a fake air of intense political activity. The four challengers were given space, at least to give the impression that all is fair and on the level. But the end of Puteri UMNO was clear when Ms Ummi Hafilda Ali, the siren who sank the political career of a former UMNO deputy president, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and had him off to jail, said she wanted to be UMNO Puteri leader. If there was any seriousness to the elections, she sank it. That she, having failed in her ventures, thought of a rebound by offering her candidacy to Puteri UMNO sank all vestigial claims for it to be considered an important subset of UMNO.

If UMNO Puteri can survive Ms Azalina, it cannot Ms Ummi Hafilda. She triviliased it as no one ever could. She came into the picture to revive her flagging career, and another shot of Warholean fifteen minutes of fame. Especially when UMNO leaders sidestepped her accusations, and of others, of Ms Azalina's alleged lesbianism and corrupt practices. Ms Azalina should have confronted the allegations head on, instead of UMNO protecting her. Complaints sent to the UMNO disciplinary committee were ignored, to ensure she is unchallenged. But the allegations against her were as serious as the one levelled at Dato' Seri Anwar. But Dr Mahathir wanted Dato' Seri Anwar destroyed, so pulled all steps, and whatever straws he could get hold of, to destroy him. As he pulls all stops, and whatever straws he could get hold of, to ensure Ms Azalina is the Puteri UMNO leader.

There is a similarity between UMNO before Dato' Seri Anwar's downfall and Puteri UMNO before it elected its leader. Both had a future. After the events, both are known for what good they did in the past, and their futures hostage to political expediency. This cannot change so long as UMNO shies away from competition, challenge, and debate. Dr Mahathir, in his CNN interview this week, said he would go around the country to rally UMNO to the government. It is a good line. He is so estranged from the UMNO ground that he cannot do it when he is in office. How could he when is out of it? He is not respected as a feudal leader. He fears challenge. He insists he is in control. And confirms it, so he believes, by insisting that his candidates must not be challenged. The ground when it revolts, as it must, can terrify. There is evidence of that. Given the police overreaction whenever a small group meets to discuss an issue of importance. And when UMNO decides the Puteri UMNO leader is unchallenged.

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