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Do indestructible BN leaders ever retire?

THE NATIONAL FRONT (BN) LEADERS are an indestructible lot. The parties they lead have got fed up of them. But they have a higher calling of serving the nation to their dying breath. Come hell or high water and revolt within the parties, they lead. They are born only to lead and serve the people and fight tooth and nail to not disappoint themselves, their bank balances, their numerous titles, and the widespread support their unselfish motives inspire. This is why BN leaders, once elected party president, revamp the constitution to entrench their right and their solemn duty to serve the people. The BN encourages it by appointing them to the cabinet or high government position to fulfill their onerous political and other duties. This is understood by all and sundry. If they do not, they are promptly sidelined or dismissed. These fellows do not understand why their party presidents invite anger and oppobrium in their name.

This is one reason why the BN exists. Not to serve the people but so its party presidents could. It is reduced to a fine art. In the cabinet, they show their commitment to service by making important policy decisions at the oddest of places. It might be at the opening a creche or a restaurant or a hair dressing saloon. Their thoughts are always with the people and how to improve their lot that they announce these things at the oddest of places. At these gatherings, they would not talk about the shops they open but how to serve the people, pronounce policy. They cannot do this in Parliament, which is peopled by a group of jokers there only to force these worthies to account for their behaviour. How could they when they spend their waking hours on how best to entrench themselves so they could serve the people better?

The exemplar is the UMNO President and Malaysian Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed. He took on these onerous responsibilities in 1981, and remain in office today. He has bankrupted the nation, party and Malaysians with his vision and his deep commitment to the service of the people. He even suffers for us. He is forced to take all these tiring journeys overseas, often for weeks at a time, and the nation gratefully has bought him a couple of state-of-the-art intercontinental executive jets, to ease his way as he suffers for the people. UMNO is fed up with him. The BN is fed up with him. His successor, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is fed up with him. Indeed, all Malaysia is fed up with him. Would he go? Not on your life. He would not be deterred from his solemn task of serving the people. He has set a code of conduct no BN leader would dare defy. He must retire in October, but he shows signs, like the BN leader he is, to see if it could be postponed. He could not. But is there any harm in trying?

So, one is not surprised when the MCA president, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, did not want to step down. He decided he is needed even if his party had no need of him. Dr Mahathir is not about to desert those who, like him, have only service and wealth in mind. So he stayed on. But this fellow has no staying power. He was only president for 17 years. Too short for anyone to make an impact. But he buckled. He is reviled for it. But not in the MCA, which respects his defiance and has made him honorary president, the only one in its 54 years. The Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) president, Dato' Seri Lim Kheng Yaik has been its president longer than Dr Mahathir in UMNO. He informed the Prime Minister in 1999 of his desire to retire, long before Dr Mahathir had the same thought.

But the pull of public service calls. Dr Mahathir told him that since Dr Ling and he retires in 2003, he should stay on since few senior ministers would be left. "If all the senior ministers were to retire at the same time from Pak Lah's cabinet, the only senior minister left would be Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu," Dr Lim quotes the Prime Minister as saying. You must remember, in Dr Mahathir's view, Pak Lah is not a senior minister. Which is why he moves heaven and earth so he does not succeed him. As he did of his three earlier deputy presidents. Junior leaders should not aspire to senior positions, the unalterable condition of BN leaderdom.

Dr Lim's logic is faulty or he is lying, it does not matter which. How did Dr Mahathir tell him in 1999 that he and Dr Ling retires is 2003? One should not worry about rubbish like this. We expect that of our hardworking, selfless leaders. The most important attribute of them is that would rather destroy the country and all it stands for than be denied of their right to serve the people. The MIC president, Dato' Seri Samy Vellu, is the epitome of selfless service even when most would rather see him put to pasture. He is the MIC leader for 24 years and has proudly announced he would not quit until at least until he celebrates his third decades in office. In Sabah, we have heard of Tun Datu Mustapha Datu Harun, who ruled with an iron fist and for decades. But he did not understand the rules, and the BN, regretfully, had to send him packing. In Sarawak, every BN leader in the state holds true to the BN's founding resolution, and stay on in office against all odds.

How do you become a party president in a BN party? First, get elected without an election. Then annoint that as a universal draft of the members. That gives him the legitimacy to be annointed for life. Then select deputies who cannot perform or not politically agile to succeed. And you have a leader who could defy every principle of political organisation and why they are where they are. Sometimes, this is not easy. Look at Dato' M. Kayveas. He cannot win an election. So he is brought into the government as a senator. He is made deputy minister. Now he wants to be a minister. How could a BN party leader be only a deputy minister. He does all he can to make himself unpopular in his party, and work hard to prove himself a buffoon. For that would give him the gravitas he needs to join the cabinet. He does not try hard enough.

It is also important that BN leaders frequently say they want to step down. They do not mean it. It is a safety device to keep they deputy presidents on the straight and narrow and not organise mass protests to throw them out. Which is also why they chose deputy presidents whom they do not want as party presidents when they retire. Dr Mahathir had four, and he hankers for a fifth. Dr Ling did not want Dato' Seri Lim Ah Lek as Dr Lim his deputy president, Dato' Kerk Choo Ting. All had more than one. The man who turned a BN presidency into a fine art is Dato' Seri Samy. He chose Dato' S. Subramaniam as deputy in 1979, when he took office. In 2003, it is still Dato' S. Subramaniam. He does not want him as the new MIC leader. He searches high and low for a new deputy. He has not found one yet. So he must soldier on. You would notice that in every case, the party president gives the party its high profile, but the reverse does not hold. That is the BN way. Could one fault that?

[I wrote this for my column in Seruan KeADILan, the official organ of the Parti KeADILan Nasional, which is on sale from 15 July 2003.]

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