|
(The Malaysian Insider) KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 – With party elections in December, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has bought himself more than 6 months to show Malaysians and Umno members that he can deliver the reforms and show leadership that both these constituencies are demanding.
But it is by no means a full-proof strategy. A reformer in the eyes of Malaysians may be viewed as a traitor to the Umno cause. If it becomes clear by September and October that the administration is struggling and the country and party is drifting, the Prime Minister will have to face Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah or any other challenger without the solid backing of all the Supreme Council members. Also, between now and December, Abdullah will have to live with renewed attacks on his standing and credibility. Today, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad fired another shot across the bow. In a letter to The Sun newspaper, the former prime minister said that Umno’s problems in Terengganu with the royalty seemed to be tied to the excesses of one man. He did not name him but it was clear he was referring to Datuk Patrick Lim, a businessman and family friend of the PM. In Penang, Senator Datuk Omar Faudzar said the requirement for any challenger for the Number 1 position to obtain at least 60 nominations should be scrapped. “We should revert to the old system where nominations from only two divisions were required,” he said. During the four-hour-plus Umno supreme council meeting yesterday, it was clear that there was little support for the idea to postpone the elections to next year, as suggested by Umno information chief Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib. Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak set the tone early, saying that postponing the polls would be just delaying a problem the party had to confront – a bit like a sick person putting off a date with the surgeon’s knife because of fear. Others felt that it was important to respect the wishes of the rank and file. Only a few members were concerned over whether another bout of politicking so soon after Election 2008 would damage Umno further. Finally, it was decided that the assembly will convene between Dec 16 and 20. Branch-level elections will be held between July 17 to Aug 24, while divisional level polls are slated for Oct 9 to Nov 9. The Malaysian Insider understands that Abdullah was in favour of facing the party’s 2,000 delegates this year, but not in August as earlier scheduled. He believes that if polls and the assembly were held in August, everyone, including him, his ministers and mentris besar would have to hit the campaign trail immediately, building up support on the ground and protecting their flanks from attack. The end result: Any plans to introduce reforms or rise to the challenge of a strong opposition would be relegated to an afterthought. He knows that the BN has to respond to the fresh language and ideas such as the Malaysian Economic Agenda being pushed by the Anwar Ibrahim-led opposition. Nearly 3 weeks after March 8 and the consensus is that the BN, especially Umno, has yet to come to terms with the changed political landscape. There is also the practical problem of having the polls in the same month as the Budget. Also at the back of his mind is the political reality. Abdullah knows that some party men want blood. No doubt, he has the support of the power brokers in the party but the ground blames him, his son-in-law, his son and aides for the debacle. If the general assembly went ahead in August, he could have faced delegates fixed with an image-bank of failure. Abdullah believes he needs till the end of the year to roll out reforms. In all likelihood, he will try and unveil a package of measures to lighten the burden of inflation on lower-income Malaysians by next week, push for judicial reforms and attempt to make other sweeping reforms. But this is where it gets tricky. The reforms and changes that Malaysians want are not necessarily what Umno members want. By and large, the party faithful still wants race-based policies, believes that the only reason it suffered reverses was because it was led by the wrong man and still cannot fathom why Indians and Chinese voted in such numbers against their own community representatives in government. On the other hand, Malaysians, especially those in urban areas, want more transparency, good governance, fewer affirmative action policies, more respect for freedom of religion and speech, and an end to patronage style politics of Umno. This balancing act is going to test Abdullah’s dexterity as a leader. Push the reform agenda too much and the party faithful will become even more restless. Focus more on what the party wants, and his slogan of being the PM of all Malaysians will ring hollow all around the country. This dilemma shows why pushing the party election to December is not a sure-win strategy. It may end up being only a pyrrhic victory for Malaysia’s embattled leader.
 |
The Blogs 
