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What happens to young men in a hurry in UMNO

UMNO, THE ONLY POLITICAL party that matters in the governing National Front (BN) coalition, does not like young men in a hurry. It does not matter if he is a protege of the Prime Minister, as the deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, or the son-in-law of the Prime Minister, Mr Khairy Jamaludin. It is a matter of time when the party would unite against them. The last time a young man jumped the queue was in 1976, when the Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak, died, and his son, now the deputy prime minister, was press-ganged to stand for his Pekan parliamentary constituency in the by-election. There was a near-revolt in UMNO over that. The rules were hastily redrawn: henceforth UMNO members must serve an apprenticeship of five years before he could contest in state and parliamentary elections. UMNO, especially after its leaders' virtual coup that led to the 13 May racial riots and the later sidelining of all political parties but UMNO in the ruling heirarcy, had begun to atrophy, as muscles when not exercised. The leaders did not want challenge, and imposed creative rules to prevent it, the most creative under the former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamed. Leaders were told they must await their turn, that Buggins' Turn rules, and any jumping the queue must face the consequences, however unpalatable. The most serious criticism hurled at Dato' Seri Anwar now is that he was a young man in a hurry, and UMNO does not like that.

There is much in common between Dato' Seri Anwar, turned into a common criminal in the usual sleight of hand the authorities the world over are adept at to get rid of inconvenient political opponents, and Mr Khairy, in his estimation, brighter, smarter, better connected than any in UMNO, and that it was time to lord over them. One crashed when the Prime Minister himself decided he was too dangerous for his own good; the other about to for the same reason. It did not therefore surprise that Mr Khairy, after a speedy meteoric rise in five years, has nothing to show but his nepotic links. In both cases, the Prime Ministers are embarrassed. One watched the careers of both with a foreboding of the inevitable; each had their spin doctors; did not take kindly to criticism. The mainstream newspapers sang their praises, ignored the growing opposition, and went after those who told the unpalatable. In Dato' Seri Anwar's case, he was catapaulted into the higher ranks in 1981, even telling a fib that he had been a member of UMNO years before he had become its articulate critic at university in the 1970s, and after, collected enemies galore in high places, and faced a sticky end. Mr Khairy did not hid his immense ambition, as Dato' Seri Anwar, and collected accolades and official positions as a dog collects fleas. This is where their careers diverged. Dato' Seri Anwar had his storm troopers, a sizeable support group which by and large remains intact even after his fall. Mr Khairy had none.

Neither were comfortable with the Buggins' Turn rule in UMNO. Dato' Seri Anwar broke it and reached the top. The UMNO heirarchy brooded, and an anti-Anwar bandwagon began when he became deputy prime minister in 1993. Mr Khairy moved without his own storm troopers, hoping to get it once elected to office. His spin doctors embellished his achievements, painted him to be what he was not, giving the impression that this brilliant young man must be elected to office to shake up the moribund UMNO Youth, and by implication, UMNO, to life. It is now accepted even amongst Dato' Seri Anwar's detractors that it was he who saved Tun Mahathir from defeat for the UMNO presidency in 1997 against Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. But loyalty to the Leader counts for nothing when the party gangs up, and the president himself is frightened of his deputy. In Mr Khairy's case, his father-in-law is not yet UMNO president; and those who oppose the Prime Minister use nepotism and the meteoric rise of his son-in-law as issues. Mr Khairy ruffled too many feathers. His father-in-law had to act to protect his own position. This began with the March general election. He was to stand for parliament in Rembau. Negri Sembilan UMNO disagreed. He did not stand. He resigned from his rarified perch in the the civil service, with his special personal-to-holder Staff III appointment, to be chief executive of Khazanah Holdings. News of that leaked out, it is alleged from his own office. He could not now head a RM150 billion empire and answerable to his father-in-law, who is also minister of finance. Now he will not contest for the UMNO Youth deputy head at the party elections in September. He decides not to contest for it. He had no other choice.

I believe Dato' Seri Anwar was right when he wanted to change UMNO into a fighting political force. As I belief Mr Khairy should have been allowed to test the waters in politics. It should not matter who their backers or protecters are. They should stand on their strength, not on their backers. But that is not how the atrophying UMNO look upon newcomers. When the UMNO Supreme Council decided to eschew challenge for the UMNO presidency and deputy presidency, it undercut Mr Khairy's claim to the UMNO Youth deputy position. For however you look at it, no one is UMNO president. Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is acting president. He is the substantive deputy president. Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak is acting deputy president. The UMNO supreme council meant that Pak Lah and Dato' Seri Najib should be elected without challenge to be UMNO president and deputy president. If the UMNO supreme council diktat is taken seriously, the UMNO presidency is vacant, the deputy presidency is not. This ruling split the party in more ways than it thought possible. And worsened with the March electoral sweep. Pak Lah realised with a shock that he must not only retain the tired, listless, irrelevant cabinet but add a few deadwood of his own. If he had not, an anti-Pak Lah faction would form. In fact, it already has. Mr Khairy's setback - and in one sense, Dato' Seri Anwar's - is the impetiousness and frustration that comes from brilliance, and the belief that this alone should catapault them to fame and high office. Dato' Seri Anwar found out he could not, even with his storm troopers. Mr Khairy did not. Both forgot that politics is the art of the possible. And pay the price.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com