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Two refuse to serve as deputy ministers and there is talk of moves to oust the party leader Meanwhile, more manoeuvring in Umno raised further doubts about Datuk Seri Abdullah's ability to hold the party together. By Carolyn Hong, THE STRAITS TIMES
BARELY a day after he announced his new Cabinet, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and his team are reeling from the reaction to it. Two appointees snubbed their posts and one senior Umno leader quit the party. Datuk Seri Tengku Azlan Abu Bakar and Datuk Anifah Aman, in an unprecedented move, did not show up for the swearing-in of the Cabinet yesterday. Hours after the new line-up was announced live on television by Datuk Seri Abdullah, they declined their appointments as deputy ministers as they had not been promoted to full ministers after two terms. Datuk Seri Tengku Azlan had been offered the deputy foreign minister's post, and Datuk Anifah the deputy transport minister's post. Meanwhile, more manoeuvring in Umno raised further doubts about Datuk Seri Abdullah's ability to hold the party together. Former home minister Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said yesterday he was resigning as secretary-general of Umno and the Barisan National (BN) coalition. He had been dropped from the Cabinet. Then, Selangor's former menteri besar Mohamad Khir Toyo, who is said to control a sizeable faction within the party, quit as Selangor Umno chief. All of this is a blow to the Prime Minister, who is fighting for political survival after the BN suffered huge losses in the March 8 polls. The weakened leader has since been trying to fight fires on many fronts - from clashes within his own Umno party to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's plans to topple the fragile BN government by wooing its MPs to his side. He is also locked in disagreement with the Terengganu palace, which has yet to swear in Datuk Idris Jusoh, whom he had chosen as Menteri Besar of the state. More than a week after the elections, the state is now the only one not to have an MB in place, despite 22 of the 24 state assemblymen pledging their support for Datuk Idris. Yesterday, the Prime Minister attempted to make light of the wrangling that has distracted his administration since the polls. Asked whether the new Cabinet line-up had created divisions in his government, he replied: 'Why should it create a division? There is no fight.' He added that he was confident of the BN MPs' loyalty, and that there was no danger of them defecting. 'This government is very strong. We have very strong support,' he said. But the drama is not likely to be over yet, as deep rifts have opened up in Umno. There is speculation that the two Umno MPs who refused the deputy ministers' posts may throw their support behind any challenger to Datuk Seri Abdullah's bid for the Umno presidency at the party polls in August. He has also been forced to contend with Umno's powerful women's wing, which was in near revolt after he dropped its chief Rafidah Aziz from the Cabinet, leaving the wing without a representative there. He said he would be meeting the women leaders soon. So far, no real challenger has emerged to take on the Prime Minister, but veteran leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has been making moves to assert himself among Umno members. Yesterday, Tengku Razaleigh said he would contest in the Umno elections if he received enough nominations. 'I still have ideas. I am still brave because I am independent and I don't depend on anyone,' online daily Malaysiakini quoted the 71-year-old as saying. 'If my service is still needed and my strength can still be used, I am offering myself to work for the rakyat. Tengku Razaleigh added: 'I am old but still fearless.' Last weekend, he sent 26,000 letters to grassroots leaders of Umno calling for a special meeting on the election results. He needs half of the 191 division chiefs to agree before the meeting can be convened. So far, the response has been lukewarm. However, things may change now that Umno Youth executive committee member Mukhriz Mahathir got off scot-free on Tuesday after openly calling on the Prime Minister to resign. Umno Youth decided not to discipline him, saying that he had written the letter calling for the leader's resignation in his personal capacity. The decision will only embolden others to join him openly, said sources. As an Umno leader close to Tengku Razaleigh said: 'It'll rally more supporters around him.'
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What concerns Malaysians should not be UMNO internal fighting. Yes - there will be instability, things won't get done, economy goes into doldrums without a pilot.
But more importantly, reforms promised by Badawi won't happen. For instance, Zaid won't have much time to reform the judiciary. Once another set of leaders come up, judicial reform will be put in a back burner. The question then would be, if a cabinet reshuffle or revamp does not oust Zaid, will he quit as a matter of principle?
Personally speaking, I would rather have Badawi around. We don't want to go through another 5 years of listlessness. At least get something moving even if we are going to have a new government formed by the Opposition parties in another 5 years, assuming Anwar does not get his wish of massive defection from Sarawak and Sabah.
Speaking of defections, I do not support the idea of Kataks. I think it is a betrayal of support of the people. People don't just choose candidates, they choose parties. Whatever their choice, it has to be respected. And I hope Anwar will not just pull over 30 MPs to form a very fragile majority, because they can be bought back.
Whatever it is, if he wants people to defect, it better be now before BN makes amendment to the election laws that will permit party jumping only with fresh by-elections, or something even more restrictive, on the first seating of Parliament. Remember, BN still has majority.