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All is not well in 'united' UMNO

AT THE MAY MEETING of the UMNO supreme council, the cabinet minister, Dato' Seri Nazri Aziz, made an astounding proposal. He proposed Dato' Hishamuddin Hussein and the Prime Minister's son-in-law, Mr Khairy Jamaludin, be returned unopposed as UMNO youth chief and deputy. Dato' Hishamuddin, the UMNO youth chief, had earlier opted out to stand for one of the three UMNO vice-presidential slots, but is not allowed to. Mr Khairy is a nominated UMNO youth supreme council meeting but with no visible political links apart from who he is. As quickly, he was seconded by Dato' Zaid Hamidi and Dato' Shafiee Apdal.

The meeting's embarrassment at this move was clear, even if the acting UMNO president, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, looked on the proceedings with a cherubic face. There was little or no discussion. The acting deputy president, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, summarised the proceedings. There was no vote, nor dissenting voices. In the culture that pervades now, that was an unanimous decision. Yet it is not announced. Dato' Seri Nazri alluded to it in an interview with a local paper, but that is not the same thing.

It raises pertinent questions. Why should the UMNO top posts be unchallenged? In UMNO, a candidate must be nominated by 30 per cent and 15 per cent of divisions must to be in the race for the two top posts. That is hurdle enough. No more than three and six candidates in can contest, but in practice it is no more than two each. But the divisions within UMNO are so wide and diverse, and central control of the ground slackens, that in fractious divisional meetings - and we are no where near it - it is possible for no one to qualify. This was not looked into when the rule was imposed: what mattered was that the president must be elected at any cost.

But that meeting laid the ground work for the UMNO secretary-general, Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob, to insist the June UMNO supreme council agreed on a similar plan for Pak Lah and Dato' Seri Najib to be elected UMNO president and deputy president without contest. It has gone further. All state liaison committees are informed by UMNO headquarters that nominations for the two must be total; no one else must be nominated. The acclaimed UMNO unity is a myth. Pak Lah struggles to keep the party together. The warlords are on the rampage. Even Puteri UMNO now insists on contest for all positions, including the top two.

UMNO Youth however has said nothing. That this Hishamuddin-Khairy line-up is orchestrated is clear enough. Before the supreme council decision, four UMNO youth leaders - Dato' Azimi Daim, Mr Norza Zakaria, Mr Ikmal Hashim Abdul Aziz, Dato' A. Hamid Nazahar - are forced to back out, with a little help from loaded questions asked of them by the New Straits Times reporters. More than Dato' Hishamuddin, it is Mr Khairy Jamaludin who is the more important in this contest. The reasoning is simple: Dato' Hishamuddin would be otherwise occupied with his ministerial duties. So the young man would be in effective charge. There are persistent rumours that his wife, Pak Lah's daughter, vies for a position in Puteri UMNO. The present UMNO Puteri chief, Datin Azalina Othman, and a Pak Lah family friend, is expected to vie for a senior position in UMNO Wanita en route, if all goes to plan, to be de facto Wanita leader.

These are not the only moves planned. Pak Lah wants Dato' Mustapha Mohamed, the minister in the Prime Minister's department, to be the first vice-president in UMNO in September. If he succeeds, he would be the first finance minister in the reshuffle after, and positioned to challenge Dato' Seri Najib three years down the road.

Pak Lah and Dato' Seri Najib play games. Each is at pains to strip and trip the other, but it is done the usual Malay way: Public cordiality and inner private enmity. Pak Lah's boys privately complain that this is all Dato' Seri Najib's ploy. Although both are agreed they should not be challenged, and be allowed a free ride. Why they had to go to this extent, annoying and upsetting the traditional UMNO ground, is inexplicable. They did not see the writing on the wall: that Pak Lah on succeeding Dr Mahathir took over the office, not his iron-fisted power. And pays the price.

The two men need each other. But the ground is clouded by an inner anger, compounded by the inept and unwise moves to prevent contest. One old UMNO hand, watching these distasteful manouevres, said UMNO gives the incumbents, however tenuous, face that it would be difficult for a challenger. But when the two men did not want to be challenged, and took steps to ensure it, it annoyed many. The inherent split became a fact, and today it is probable that both would be challenged in September. It does not matter then if the challengers are defeated. That they could not insist on no-contest is proof that as UMNO leaders they are flawed. That carries with it its own dangers: even if they win, they have lost.

The chairman of the BN Back Benchers' Club, Dato' Shahrir Samad, understood this dilemma only too well. In a recent meeting with Pak Lah, he asked him bluntly what his plans are: if he wants to be prime minister until September, for the duration of an UMNO presidency or a full five-year term. He got, I am told, a vague response. He is aligned to his cousin, Dato' Seri Najib. But he is also the protege of the former deputy prime minister, Tan Sri Musa Hitam. But he is a shrewd political operator, a most principled man in UMNO politics. He has paid dearly for it. But he does not care. Pak Lah was wrong to sideline him.

It is probably too late for Pak Lah to change course. He must rise of fall by his actions since he has been Prime Minister. In making it clear he wants to be returned, by hook or by crook, to office uncontested, he attracts a fight. Several are on the wings, waiting for the UMNO divisions next month. He and Dato' Najib realises it, and diverts attention with irrelevant comment and fake crisis. The reality is hard to ignore. More UMNO leaders than would have dared a month ago are ready to throw their hat in the wing. He has no option but to grit his way through. It is a case of damned if he does, damned if he does not. Which is a pity.

[An edited version of this was my Chiaroscuro column in malaysiakini (www.malaysiakini.com) today, 21 June 2004.]

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