Tengku Adnan’s credibility and a refuge Raja Nong Chik tarnished UMNO.
What’s with the body politic? If you had any doubts about it being sick, there’s enough proof thrown up every day. The fever has been unusually virulent ever since vilified as a member of the infamous Fourth Floor , Khairy now enjoys good ties with the First Lady, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, a seismic change from sometime ago.
Since his political career was charted by UMNO, Najib has never had to learn the tricks of the trade. He is actually very naïve in politics, unable to form opinions or make decisions independently and by himself. In his personal life, he needs his wife Rosmah Mansor to make all the decisions for him. Whilst in his political life, he depends on advisers. So far both – Rosmah as well as the advisers – have proven to be liabilities
More and more calls are being made to keep the two top positions uncontested. In Umno, however, the real politics is happening behind the scenes. The grassroots are mobilising for the first stage of the party electoral process – the divisional polls.
Despite the public rhetoric, current conditions point to a competitive contest, in which if conditions do not radically change, Najib will likely face a credible and substantive challenge to his position..All eyes are on the contest for the top leadership position, especially given that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak performed poorer electorally compared to his predecessor and did not fully deliver on his promise of winning back Selangor and a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
There is a story that has long circulated in the Umno rumor mills that former premier Mahathir Mohamad had demanded that Najib divorce Rosmah or he wouldn’t support Najib’s bid to become prime minister. However, it seems that Najib was even more afraid of Rosmah than of Mahathir! how did the change from outcast to insider happen? Government officials say that Najib’s camp were initially wary of Khairy’s ambitious streak and political allegiance. The PM’s advisors also were mindful of Mahathir’s antipathy towards Khairy and Abdullah, with the former PM believing that his legacy was damaged by the Pak Lah-Khairy combo.
But Khairy hunkered down and just concentrated on political programmes, stayed below the radar and made it clear that his loyalty was to Najib. His upward fortunes have also been helped by the fact that he was one of a few BN politicians who emerged from the polls with a commanding majority and with a rare commodity in Umno these days: the ability to speak and write proficiently in English.
Be that as it may, when it comes to advisers – there is less excuse for Najib to be so weak and dilly dally over a decision that he should have made long ago and save himself the kind of flak he has been receiving these days. Najib should have sacked his strategists long ago instead of only doing so after Mahathir and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin publicly queried him on this – who are these people who are giving you such bad political advice?
Tengku adnan must be charged immediately,he RCI’s findings were so strong to charge him why is the AG’s office folding their arms until now? Najib’s cabinet as foul-smelling, rats-infested kitchen cabinet. He is a rat and his reputation stinks. It goes without saying that he has to choose rats like Adnan to keep him company, as no clean creatures would want to be associated with him. Najib need this type of people in his cabinet. Otherwise he will be powerless in the power brokering Umno. You help me I help you. You have skeletons, I have shit. We are in cabinet. Sama-sama makan. No one rocks the boat or all will sink. This is the band of 40 thieves we are witnessing real life. And they are ruling us.
The two closest meanings of graft are bribery and robbery. I fail to see how Nurul’s alleged action could be construed as graft, two closest meanings of graft are bribery and jobbery, and not “The two closest meanings of graft are bribery and robbery”. There is such a word as “jobbery”. Its synonyms are “bribery”, “extortion” and “graft”. Raja Nong Chik, the Rakyat have rejected you. Just accept it gracefully and try again the next GE…..so just learn to be a good looser!Nong Chik, please remove your banner that is still hanging at a lamp post in front of AlRajhi bank at jalan telawi bangsar. Even DBKL is scared to remove it, I reckon or is it to remind us what a sore looser you are. Only in Malaysia the ones who misuse power scots free.
Raja Nong Chik has lost in spite of alleged cheating, the misuse of DBKL resources for his campaign and the huge amount of money spent.’In the Lembah Pantai Parliamentary seat, the whole BN machinery including the kitchen sink were thrown in to wrest the seat from incumbent MP Nurul Izzah Anwar .No integrity at all. How to carry on as a minister?If he is an ordinary manager, executive , office boy , or cleaner in the corporate world , he would be removed from his duties . This surely amounts to corruption . Even after GE 13 Najib can never right the wrong.
This did not work as the massive turnout negated any attempts to steal the seat. In desperation two ballot boxes, from whence they came nobody seems to know, were ferried to the counting centre in a taxi and Proton Waja allegedly to swing the tide against Nurul.
It was obvious to everyone present, including the returning officer – an underhanded last ditch effort to save the day for challenger Raja Nong Chik with what must have been postal votes.
Just as well this attempt was thwarted by the returning officer, who had no choice but to follow the rules. Nurul won fair and square, so what’s the problem?Election petitioner Mohamad Sazali Kamilan is talking nonsense. Why were the ballot boxes being carried in the boots of a taxi and a Proton Waja?
The EC operating procedure is very clear – that the ballot boxes should be placed in the back seat, not the booth.
Why was one of the boxes marked 120, which is the Bukit Bintang constituency? Why were the boxes being ferried, late in the night, when the main counting was over?
I have a hunch that the two vehicles were carrying ballot boxes containing ‘postal votes’ from another constituency. Can Mohd Sazali explain the origins of these two mystery ballot boxes? Election petitions are a healthy part of the system. Unfortunately there will be as many nonsensical petitions as there will be valid ones and all must be considered.
The reality is that only a small proportion of the valid petitions will have sufficient basis to impact on the election results. This one is nothing more than a filler and white noise.
So this is the strategy of the BN government to counter the election petitions by the opposition – lodge counter petitions which are frivolous.
This is like a filibuster where a perfectly valid submissions are blocked by frivolous counter submissions. If we go by their logic, then BN politicians are much more guilty of defamation and in many documented cases, race-baiting, hate mongering etc.
But the objectives of these filibustering petitions are not the truth but to so clutter up the public domain and the courts that the whole point of unfair and one-sided electoral practice is smothered and hopefully forgotten as the public tires of incessant snipping.
To effectively counter such filibuster (only in the court of public opinion, forget about the courts) is to present each petition and argument in well-reasoned explanation and well-researched and documented facts.
The shallow nature of such filibustering counter-petition will defeat itself in the public domain.
Five factors
There are five underlying factors that point to a challenge: First, the modus operandi in UMNO is money politics. This was a legacy of the Mahathir years and has become deeply entrenched, feeding into the concerns over corruption and governance. For many of the delegates, they join the party for the perks and invest in positions for potential financial gains.
Elections are an integral part of the financial rewards in the system as they involve the distribution of incentives. The logic is simple – the more the competition within the party, the more the incentives. Given the modus operandi in UMNO, there are vested interests in fueling contests.
The higher the level of competition, the greater the promise of rewards. This election involves more people, so competition is costly, involving mass outlays of funds to more people than ever before. Part of the call for the return to the old 2,000-delegate system is driven by this economic ‘money politics’ reality.
There is a tension here between those who would like to minimise costs, with those who would like to receive dividends. The numbers are on the receiving ends, thus the systemic pressure for greater competition.
Second, UMNO as a party is deeply factionalised. This is not unique. In fact for dominant one-party system this is the norm, as seen in Taiwan, Japan and Mexico. All political parties have some degree of internal divisions. These divisions, however, feed into competition as the leadership has to accommodate the various warlords.
In some cases, such as recently in Negeri Sembilan, the leadership has had to take sides on who to elevate to positions in the state government. Warlordism fuels competition by bringing national politics to the state level and vice-versa. Currently, the intensity of conflict at the state level and underlying resentment against UMNO’s current leadership for perceived favouritism contributes to pressure for more leadership competition.
Malay chauvinism under challenge
Third, UMNO as a party is being pressured to reform its identity after GE13. To be more precise, its Malay chauvinism is being challenged. The challenge is taking the form of calls to move the party into a more multi-ethnic entity, and be more inclusive of non-Malays. This is in response to the effective death of the BN as a multi-ethnic power-sharing coalition in GE13.
This measure initially mooted by Najib has yielded a strong reaction from the rank and file, who have come out of a polls where ethnic Malay chauvinism was stoked and ignited to bring the party faithful together against the opposition. The disconnect between the multi-ethnic initiative promoted by a national leader seeking national representation and the party grassroots embedded in their ethnic nationalist framework is real, and has caused disgruntlement among some and anger among others.
The push to maintain the openness in the party electoral system taps into this, as more numbers can openly display their rejection of transforming the party outside of Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Malay chauvinist mode.
Fourth, there is the reality of generational pressures within the party. Najib was not successful in having many of ‘his men’ elected in GE13, as he hoped to garner a new cadre of leaders to support his push to consolidate his position within the party. After all, he has yet to be elected to the presidency.
The push for younger, new faces remains, but the bottleneck in the leadership is substantive. The impact is that younger leaders will by nature ally with different actors with the hope of moving up the ranks in a system that has been slow to engage in generational transformation.
Finally, amidst the structural concerns is the long-standing push for statesmanship. Many in UMNO hark back to the good old days when UMNO leaders were respected across the Malaysian society, and seen as national leaders to be proud of.
There is division within UMNO, and nationally, regarding Najib’s leadership as well as his statesmanship.
He has not taken a prominent role post-GE13, and this raises questions. Najib, like his predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, faces the difficulty of meeting conflicting demands and higher expectations. This push for ‘statesmanship’ leadership will be a driver for some of the potential contenders for power.
Najib seeks new allies
These party dynamics – money politics, warlord factionalism, party identity, generational pressures and statesmanship – all contribute to increased possibilities of a leadership challenge and greater party contention. At issue will be the new electoral system, the timing of the polls (with early polls apparently favoured by Najib) and the composition of the challenge itself.
The question being asked is whether Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who is 66 last month, will feel this is his last chance to take a shot at the top spot or someone else steps up to the challenge. Also openly being discussed is Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, 76, who has shown a willingness to contest for UMNO President in the past. It is unlikely, given the systemic issues at play, that no one will step forward.
Despite the questions around GE13 and the continued concerns with electoral irregularities, UMNO feels victorious and is being portrayed as the ‘winner,’ contributing to more risk-taking and competition.
We have seen after the May 5 general election, new alliances are being forged – at least temporarily – ahead of the UMNO polls. Najib has brought many of the Abdullah allies into the cabinet and he has reached out to Sabah.
He has not significantly rocked the warlord interests in most of the states as he sought more allies. His biggest ‘new’ ally appears to be Mahathir who said there was ‘no alternative’ to Najib in a speech in Japan. But history has shown that Mahathir’s fidelity as an ally is uncertain at best.
Najib has simultaneously thrown down the gauntlet by not giving Muhyiddin a senior cabinet position and holding his people at bay by not including them in the cabinet. The contest effectively began when the GE13 results came in, continued with the cabinet selection and is ongoing. The strategy of the marginalisation of Muhyiddin has begun.
In the weeks ahead, the backroom politics will only intensify. It is much too early to write off a challenge. In fact, current conditions suggest the opposite – a growing competition within UMNO.
Najib will rely on the incumbency advantage, something which he had used effectively in GE13. But despite the power of incumbency, Najib’s position should not yet be seen as secure, as he has to pass the test of his party in what may very well be the fiercest contests for the party leadership yet.Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan, who is also the Umno secretary-general, and mother of all snake But admit it: whatever the strategic thinking for Tengku Adnan. Tengku Adnan has the future mapped out. Operating procedure for Big Boss: sound resigned if you have to, but don’t resign. Deflect and wait. Do a costume change, don’t alter the script.all … Read more
