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Pak Lah's camp in self-doubt and fear as Tengku Razaleigh throws his hat in the ring

THE FRIGHTENING SELF-DOUBT in the Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi camp is now balanced with cringing fear. First, the UMNO supreme council he controlled demanded the divisions nominate only Pak Lah and the deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, for the presidency and deputy presidency. And UMNO youth and puteri nominate only whom it decrees. It was to stop the National Front (BN) MP for Gua Musang, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, from standing against Pak Lah. It failed.

The Pak Lah camp rose in high dudgeon to attack the prince; when that failed, to suggest he ought to stand for deputy president or vice-president; that as yesterday's man, his time has come and gone. The newspapers owned and controlled by BN and UMNO figures rose in unison to damn the man for his temerity to think he can offer a different way out of the mess Malaysia is in, and went on a rampage to damn him in daily reports. It failed.

When news came he is in the race, the Pak Lah camp sent emissaries to Tengku Razaleigh to find out if he. When that drew a blank, the press turned their guns on him. UMNO's high and mighty damned him for not allowing the party to "practice democracy" by daring to stand against Pak Lah. They deliberately misread him when he asked the rule requiring candidates to be nominated by a number of divisions to stand: 30 per cent for the presidency, 15 per cent for the deputy president, eight per cent for the vice-president, for example.

The wider issues he raised – that UMNO presidency is vacant, for instance – is pointedly ignored. The last president of UMNO is Tun Mahathir Mohamed. When he resigned, the post is vacant until elections for it takes place. The deputy president is Pak Lah; Dato' Seri Najib, is vice-president acting as deputy president. If the status quo is to remain, Pak Lah should stand for deputy president. Since the presidency is vacant, anyone with the required nominations should stand. The deputy president is not, so he should be unchallenged.

When the Tengku announced his candidacy at the Gua Musang youth and wanita divisional meeting yesterday (09 July 2004), the Singapore Straits Times described it as a surprise – which it is, of course, when readers are in the dark because its reporters do not want to offend the Pak Lah camp for reasons that has nothing to do with their competence or ability – and the Pak Lah mouthpiece, the New Straits Times, went on a tirade disguised as reportage and comment.

The Pak Lah camp by its actions admit that if the Tengku gets his 58 nominations, he could well be prime minister after the 23 September 2004 UMNO elections. If he is, many in the camp would be drummed out of their sinecures, contracts, power. It is not a prospect they relish, especially they assiduously rooted out any who did not support the Pak Lah camp whole-heartedly. Its horrified reaction at Tengku Razaleigh's intent reveals this starkly.

The comment by the UMNO vice-president, Tan Sri Muhiyuddin Yassin, is typical of the democratic frame the Pak Lah camp wants to enforce: "Mounting a challenge against party president Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is tantamount to challenging the prime minister. Pak Lah is the prime minister. By going against Pak Lah, you go against the policies he set out as the prime minister. The prime minister's policies have gone down well with the people."

A fatuous statement if I have heard one: Pak Lah should not be challenged as UMNO president because he is prime minister. Which means UMNO democracy exists to elect Pak Lah as UMNO president; any one who challenges him should be stopped; otherwise his government's policies will go to waste. Tengku Razaleigh is therefore taking this devious route to damn Pak Lah as prime minister! It is akin to saying: Man is an animal; A dog is an animal; therefore man is a dog.

Logic however is not UMNO's strongpoint. It has an elaborate ethical code which prohibits what the Pak Lah camp generates in his defence and against Tengku Razaleigh. The Muhiyuddin logic says that the Tengku cannot because Pak Lah is prime minister, and who questions it would face the wrath of the UMNO disciplinary committee.

Yesterday was the first day of divisional nominations; yet the screaming headlines and apoplectic reaction to the Tengku's decision to seek the candidacy to be UMNO president is inexplicable. It reveals in one sense how weak the Pak Lah camp is. It has lost its reason, and appeals to baser instincts to push for his candidature.

Is that what UMNO is all about: to win by appealing to baser instincts; that the Pak Lah UMNO is dedicated to rooting out challenge under a nepotic and cronyistic rule; that all challengers must be stopped before they get the nominations?

Could the Tengku obtain his 58 nominations? He may or he may not. If he does not, his campaign ends there. If he does, he then girds for battle. Pak Lah is assured of his minimum nominations. Yet he said not so long ago that should Tengku Razaleigh obtain 60 nominations, he would step down. Why? Is he not letting his side down if he does? Or is he afraid of losing in an election? Or does he fear that a bruising victory would hobble him? But that it already has: when the supreme council order for no contest is breached. Is he worried that if the Tengku has the nominations, he could sweep to victory, or at least come within spitting distance, as in 1987?

Pak Lah says, in a widely published interview to coincide with the UMNO nominations, that if all runs well, supreme council, divisional and branch leaders should be returned unopposed. It is what his supporters want. But is that what UMNO wants? The resentment in UMNO by this decision to restrict debate is so fierce that a proxy fight develops in every branch elections.

This decade-and-a-half of controlled elections has turned off a large section of UMNO members, who grit their teeth and await their day of redemption. They have waiting long for someone who would express their unhappiness. They swing towards Tengku Razaleigh. This supreme council decision to bar challenge for the UMNO presidency and deputy presidency, now cheerfully ignored, caused rumbles in the ground the leaders do not want to accept. Add to this the inherent power struggle between the Pak Lah and Najib camps, and a molotov cocktail ready to explode.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com
20040710