Thursday, March 20, 2008

Pak Lah snubs Wanita; MPs snub PM

THE Barisan Rakyat's victory in the general election has caused a lot more problems (some say upheaval) in the ruling Barisan Nasional, especially in Umno. Having wrested Penang, Kedah, Perak, Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan from the BN, the BR has caused more than sleepless nights for BN leaders.

The loss of these states and the failure to defend its famous two-third majority has caused considerable disarray within the BN household.

The decision by Umno SecGen Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad to bail out cuts right into the heart of the party administration. On national television, Radzi said he wouldn't be able to serve effectively because he's not a member of the Cabinet.

His replacement is Putrajaya MP Teuku Adnan Teuke Mansori (correct), who was Tourism Minister before the election. Ku Tan had served as sec gen before and is no stranger to the post. He's not been reappointed to the Cabinet. Going by Radzi's reasoning, Ku Nan too won't be effective. We wait and see.

The exclusion of Wanita Chief Datuk Seri Rafidah A Aziz from the Cabinet drew much flak from the movement. Rafidah has decided to stay and see through the movement in the coming weeks. She had written a stinging letter to PM Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi giving her views on the BN's defeat. This, it seems, didn't go down well with the PM.

Pak Lah has much to do to calm down nerves in the party. The Wanita faction has to be addressed and comforted. Appointing Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil as advisor with ministerial status was an after-thought and came after the Wanita had made known their views. It goes against Pak Lah's earlier statement that ministers who lost won't be reappointed.

Sabah too have expressed unhappiness at not being given more ministerial posts. And Sabah had kept its promised by delivering the state back to the BN comfortably. Sabah may not show their disappointments openly but the grapevine is full of what they can and want to do.

As far as I recalled, there was never a time in the past when MPs snubbed the PM pertaining to their appointment to senior government posts. This could be a precedent, and may have far-reaching implications.

What about Pemuda Umno's decision not to take Jerlun MP Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir to task for demanding Pak Lah to step down? Does this mean that the Pemuda leadership no longer understand the 'tersirat' when Pak Lah instructed the Pemuda to 'deal' with Mukhriz? Is this an act of defiance by Pemuda?

Then came news that former Selangor MB Datuk Seri Khir Toyo had quit as the state Umno Liaision chief...

Amidst all these commotion, Gua Musang MP and Division chief Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah announced that he's prepared to take on Pak Lah in the upcoming party elections. Another battle royale, it seems, is on the card.

All these happened on the day the Cabinet was sworn in. Will we see more action in the coming weeks? You tell me...

4 comments:

ADAM said...

Dato,

A friend told me that now BN stands for Beginning of an End!

Well,...

Anonymous said...

for the rakyat this would be the end of the begining, well the year of the rat has seen many rats being out ratted, rats abandoning the sinking ship. All this due to the feeding frenzy and insatiable appetittes of the fat rats. HOW MUCH LONGER COULD OUR COUNTRY TAKE THIS? SUCH CRASS BLATANT CORRUPTION, and the leaders just sweep it under the carpet, greater empires have fallen for less, good riddance of bad rubbish.

Anonymous said...

Dato, Just a bit on Tengku Adnan. I read somewhere, a while back that his real name is not Tengku Adnan. I posted in Mindacergas: Will the real Tengku Adnan please stand up

Also it was reported that a bankruptcy notice was served on him, and that his lawyers were looking into it. I blogged about it here:More Lies on Tengku Adnan

I thought I would just share this with you since you had commented on his name.

Anonymous said...

Pada hemat 2 sen saya, jika langkah bijak & drastik gagal diambil oleh pucuk pimpinan BN & Umno, kejutan baru tidak mustahil berlaku pabila Pembangkang berjaya menguasai Parlimen. Masa itu penyokong BN & Umno hanya mampu menangis, menyesal, dan menghabiskan masa & wang di kedai mamak dan hotel lounge bercerita panjang "We should have done this and that." Renung-renungkanlah.