MGG Pillai Commentary View

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Getting to the top without an election

THE PUTERA UMNO CHIEF, Dato' Azeez Abdul Rahman, is caught in a vice raid at the Holiday Villa. He frequents the hotel, but he would not have been caught if his enemies, or that of his protector, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, had tipped the police, who went there in full force, with a complement of journalists. Whatever the UMNO spin, what makes the rounds at the Holiday Villa is not what is reported. The story is, or has become, confused. The English language newspapers talked of a datuk being arrested, sticking to their time-honoured view of protecting those close to the top. The internet identified the man, as the Malay papers. The more you read what happened, which includes the spin, the more unbelieving the story becomes. But it is seen as a setback for Mr Khairy Jamaluddin to unseat the UMNO Youth leader, Dato' Hishamuddin Hussein, without a fight.

He has had setbacks recently. His associates and friends have died. The Ethos Consulting chief, Dr Liew Boon-Horng, who threatened to sue if his links with Mr Khairy is ever mentioned, but an old friend and possibly business partner, died in a freak accident last Friday when a two-tonne piece of concrete fell on his car. Tan Sri Noordin Sopee had introduced Pak Lah's daughter Nori to Mr Khairy when he was the boss of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies, and the two were working for him but he died of thyroid cancer last week. He has threatened those who write critically of him with law suits, but continues giving interviews, and allows articles about him, in friendly newspapers. Pengakalen Pasir is said to be "Khairy;s Election". UMNO won that, but it disaffecting the local leaders, for one.

But he faces his big crisis with the arrest of Dato' Azeez. He had formed Putera UMNO officially as a vehicle for those who did not want to join UMNO Youth. It was only later that even Dato' Hishamuddin Hussein knew it was Mr Khairy's vehicle to get UMNO Youth leadership without a fight. Mr Khairy has been using the UMNO Youth network to form his Putera UMNO around the country. He had got to be UMNO Youth deputy chief without a contest, and he hopes to dislodge Dato' Hishamuddin similarly. He appointed Dato' Azeez to head Putera UMNO. He has to sort the mess he has landed himself over the arrest in a vice den.

Since UMNO and its leaders, especially those close to its president, Pak Lah, do their activities in secret, Malaysians often know of their arrival, in their past, only when they do. Now these secret meetings are on the Internet shortly after they are finished. There is a huge split within UMNO, the activities of the other side is reported assiduously on the Internet while the official spin is reported in the newspapers. But the Internet is more believed. The UMNO is a leader-down party, and the spin it produces is often disbelieved. Middling leaders will not stick their neck out putting the news across if the leadership eventually disagrees. So they play safe. The Malaysian newspapers will only report the official version, although they might report critically on issues that affect the people. The Holiday Villa incident is a case in point.

UMNO was founded in 1946 for a different purpose than the official spin has it. So its women's and youth wing. Dato' Onn, the founder of UMNO and grandfather of Hishamuddin, had got the women to protest the British plans to reduce Malay sultans to a cipher, which is how they came into politics. The first UMNO youth president was Tun Hussein, Hishamuddin's father and Malaysian prime minister. The formation of Putera UMNO for reasons other than the progress of Malaysia, or even of the Malays, is a distorition, The only innovation it has made to its membership is Puteri UMNO; the other political parties, particularly PAS, have formed their own version of Puteri UMNO.

But Putera UMNO was formed as an alter ego to Puteri UMNO. But with a diferent aim. Puteri UMNO was formed because young Malay women was not joining Kaum Ibu. It is responsible for bringing in professional women who otherwise would not have joined, and for making those women a political force. They would not join Kaum Ibu because of its older members and of its elderly leaders. Putera UMNO is formed to ensure the political progress of one man who has reached into the inner sanctum of government by being the son-in-law of the prime minister.

That alone is not enough. The days when he could catapault into the prime minister's chair is long past. Tun Hussein Onn got into high office because he was married to the elder sister of Tun Razak's wife. He entered the cabinet after 1969, and had become prime minister in 1976. The foreign minister was catapaulted into the cabinet, from his banking career, because UMNO leaders felt they had treated his father, Syed Jaffair Albar, "the Lion of UMNO", badly. Any one who feels he has a prior claim to the top will have to ward off UMNO leaders who have been in the party longer. In fact, UMNO has leaders who joined the party before Mr Khairy was born.

Mr Khairy has to make sure his aides can deliver. Whether Dato' Azeez can remain as Putera UMNO chairman remains to be seen, irrespective whether he can spin his way out of what happened in Holiday Villa. He would have to find a new chairman of Putera UMNO. The people in the rural areas have begun to ignore what they read in the newspapers, but get news from the Internet, usually from sons, daughters or relatives working in the towns, will be hard to convince. He must first ensure his assistants are clean, and he and his aides can deal with any eventuality. Threating critics with law suits is not how to do that. But Malaysian officials and politicians, and their sidekicks, threaten law suits at the drop of a hat. The net result is they have lost whether they carries out threats or not.

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