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Can Pak Lah be prime minister when UMNO elections are held next year?

DATUK SERI ABDULLAH AHMAD Badawi – formally but known to all and sundry, even himself, as Pak Lah – is trapped. There are many reasons why: his son-in-law, the deputy prime minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamed, his office, UMNO headquarters, the non-Malay and non-Islamic parties in the ruling National Front, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, his political enemies. The withdrawal of RM4.4 billion annually, because his son-in-law wanted RM20 billion for his projects, led to Pak Lah being trapped. Mr Khairy Jamaluddin proposed to meet a RM20 billion shortfall in the 9th Malaysia Plan by raising the petrol price. He had earlier proposed RM200 billion worth of projects, RM20 billion less than the plan. Pak Lah dutifully told Malaysians the government could not afford the fuel subsidies. It was a spin. But how does Mr Khairy, known in some quarters as 'Satan's son', sit in on official committees, when he has no right to and is not in the government. make proposals he cannot and should not? Pak Lah has trapped himself because he allows his son-in-law to interfere in the administration of government.

Pak Lah goes about as a marionette, making explanations and statements on cue. He means nothing and says the obvious but which is given wide play because of who he is. He was in Bangi this week to open a new agricultural park, harvested the fruit trees as part of the opening ceremony. It normally takes three or four years to harvest the fruits, but the trees were planted only last year. The farmers who attended said they would not blowed to pluck the fruits, and saw it as another attempt to burnish his image. He does all he can to keep his enemies at bay and so that his son-in-law would be a force in government. Recently, he and the deputy prime minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, called on Tun Mahathir for advise on the 9th Malaysia Plan. (But why see the former prime minister so late in the day?) They also saw Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, a former finance minister and a powerful leader in UMNO but on the outside. A ground swell, particularly in UMNO, believes the successor to Pak Lah is Dato' Seri Najib, but he, cautious as ever, hopes to accede withought fighting for it. Mr Khairy has put the knife in, with incriminiting evidence which he will reveal if Dato' Seri Najib ever becomes prime minister.

Those around Pak Lah makes the wrong moves. The official media, all staffed by Khairy's acolytes, have blamed the Selangor mentri besar, Dato' Seri Khir Toyo, for the recent Shah Alam flood, little realising that federal polices accelerated it. The spin now is that the pig droppings have entered the water supply. to enhance its Islamic commitment. But in the recent floods in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, human waster has got into the water supply. So the water supply is cut, in stages. It was done to suit official convenience, not the public's. There should have warned people when it was decided, not in the media the next day. But the attack on Dato' Seri Khir is to stop him contesting the UMNO Youth leadership, so that Mr Khairy can become leader without a contest. But the challenger is a different man, probably from Dato' Seri Najib's camp.

There is a shuffling of support in UMNO. Many have deserted Pak Lah for one of the other warlords in the party. Dato' Seri Najib will not move against Pak Lah, strengthened by Mr Khairy's threat. One man who can replace Dato' Seri Najib would not, unless he is invited, but he is popular with UMNO and throughout the country. Those around Pak Lah do not follow Malay mores and ethics to stop their rivals. Mr Khairy is a past master in that. But he fell more often than not, alienating the party and the country that he cannot survive for long after his father-in-law steps down. Whoever is next prime minister will see to that. He was not born with a silver spoon, but has made more than RM500 million in his early thirties, mostly be selling government assets to Singapore, and representing Singapore to buy Malaysian assets. He now tries so that Singapore will take over a local bank, not a local company. He makes mistakes, the latest is ECM Libra, of which he is a director and shareholder, suing Mr Husam Musa, a PAS MP, for asking questions of how Mr Khairy came to his wealth.

The days when leaders are selected in secret will continue, although those selected must expect public scrutiny more than in the past. They would not accept a man who feels Malaysians cannot do without him. But they would others who reach the top, even if the winner ignores them afterwards. Nor would the prime ministership be given those who await it to land in their laps. A nod from the leader would give one an inside track, but one has to want it badly to rise to the top. Those who want to be prime minister after Pak Lah prefer to have it fall on their laps. But leaders now in Malaysia do not arrive this way. Normally, the prime minister will designate his successor. That has been so since independence in 1957. But not now. More deputy prime ministers have dropped out than moved on. Tun Hussein came from the cold to be eventually prime minister. But Tun Abdul Razak, then prime minister, looked over him;. Tun Mahathir had four deputy prime ministers, the last of whom was Pak Lah to whom he reluctantly handed over. This will not be so now. There is a move to unseat him before the UMNO General Assembly next year.

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