Dato' Shahrir Samad hurls a scalded cat amongst the BN and UMNO pigeons
2004-06-07
THE CHAIRMAN OF THE Barisan Backbenchers' Committee, Dato' Shahrir
Samad, did not mince his words. Anyone holding public office should
resign that office, in the federal or state governments, if he or she
fails to get elected to the UMNO supreme council and its youth,
wanita and puteri committees. You had the option of course of not
standing, but if you did stand, you must win or be out of the
government. The scalded reaction is proof it is highly unpopular.
But however you look at it, it is the best suggestion from any one to
cut through the vacuous leadership the National Front and UMNO is
burdened with: it is difficult for new ideas to filter through the
haze and deadwood that shuts out any suggestion of reform or change.
But if they can be forced out by political attrition, there is yet
hope that either or both bodies could survive into the future. But
the shocked unanimity with which it was shot down is proof that the
leaders believe they are more important than the parties they
lead.
The matter has died down. There was no discussion about it in the
mainstream media. It embarrassed the leaders of every BN party
besides UMNO, and where the leaders cling to office at any cost so
what matters is not the organisation he leads but he and he alone.
The Malaysian Indian Congress, for instance, is in terminal decline.
But its president does not think so. He believes that what needs to
be done is change its slogan: from MAIKA (the Tamil initials of the
MIC) cares to Maika hears. A cosmetic change he believes would set it
right. But the same old noise runs it to ground.
It is so in every BN party. The leader is there for his own benefit.
In UMNO, there is at least the give and take of party elections, even
if a back-handed attempt is made to have the president and deputy
president elected unopposed. But the UMNO ground is so incensed at
this proposal, that one should not be surprised if that questionable
edict is challenged. Questionable because the UMNO supreme council,
contrary to what we were told, dis not discuss it. The outgoing
secretary-general and the vice president handling the dutures of the
deputy president, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, concocted it amongst
themselves.
Dato' Shahrir therefore has suggested a way out of the BN and UMNO
dilemma. He was once one of Malaysia's youngest cabinet ministers. He
has been in politics for three decades, is still in his early 50s,
one of the few men in National Front and UMNO politics whose
reputation grew the longer he stayed on the sidelines. There is only
one other man I can think of, the Hermit of Langgak Golf. Pahang-born
but a scion of a distinguished Johore family, he has every times put
his money where his mouth is.
The then prime minister, Tun (then Dato' Seri) Mahathir Mohamed sacked
him more than a decade ago because he was among the few who would
stand up to him, and say his piece. He went into business, made a
moderate success of it, but his heart remained in UMNO and how it
could be reformed. He did not have the traits of a young man in a
hurry, as Dato' Seri Anwar. He calculated his moves with precision,
and acted only when he had a reasonable chance of success. He is not
one for grand gestures, but when he speaks he is listened to with
reason.
The UMNO heirarchy did not like him. He was dropped as candidate for
parliament in 1999, offered a state constituency, and with it the post of
mentri besar. He accepted. But he was dropped at the last minute. It
was to humiliate him. But he is a bigger man than that. He bit his
teeth and continued to rework his way back to national political
life. In the March general election, he was given a parliamentary
constituency and his protege was to be the Johore mentri besar. But
crossed signals prevented it. The protege was given a parliamentary
seat instead. Dato' Ghani Othman continued as mentri besar.
He has enemies aplenty, but he takes it in his stride. He has not
wavered in what he stands for. He is critical, sometimes overly so,
but he believes passionately that UMNO cannot survive unless it
changes drastically from within. But in the euphoria of near absolute
victory, now skewered by the rise of political warlords, and the fear
in the Pak Lah camp of irreparable divisions if he makes a wrong move
complicates matters.
When Tun Mahathir retired, and Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
succeeded him, he was one of the bright figures who would dot the Pak
Lah team. He or his protege would be mentri besar of Johore. In any
case both would have important positions in the Pak Lah world. But
there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip. It was widely
expected that Dato' Shahrir would get a cabinet post, the portfolio
of finance was bandied about. But when the cabinet was appointed, he
was not amongst them. The protege is in the cabinet, his guru is the
chairman of the BBC.
That the BN was returned in 90 per cent of the parliamentary
constituencies gave Pak Lah a big headache. He turned out to be
weaker than he would have if the BN had been returned with a
two-thirds or three quarters of the seats, as even the Opposition had
conceded. The Election Commission, in its desire to ensure a solid BN
victory, threw caution to the winds, played havoc with the rules, and
sidelined Pak Lah in more ways than one. Pak Lah thought the general
election would shoo him in as UMNO president. It does not look so
now. If he is challenged. The rumours of a challenge rises by the
day. An official announcement on that is rumoured next week.
[The is my column in the latest issue of Harakah, 15-30 June 2004,
and now on sale.]
M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com
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