Monday, June 9, 2008

On the strength of a sejadah and a prayer

SOON after the March 8 general election, the UMNO Supreme Council sent its management committee led by deputy president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abd Razak to meet division chiefs in Penang, Perak and Kedah. There were angry voices heard from those meetings.

Divisional chiefs made known their demands for leadership change within Umno. The demands were echoed elsewhere at various forums as the party leaders sat huddled trying to figure what ought to be done. The three states are among the five plus one that the BN and Umno had lost to the Pakatan Rakyat and emotions were understandly high among party supporters.

To date, there's no more news of such meetings between the management committee and the other states which have gone the Pakatan Rakyat way. Such meetings, which was held to hear grassroot gievances after the March 8 maulings, have been stopped.

In its place, I'm told, is a series of closed-door meetings between party president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and chairmen and secretaries of branches. There's been a few already, held either in Sri Perdana or at the Putra World Trade Centre, the party headquarters. Divisional leaders have also been roped in for the meeting, making the encounters interesting indeed.

I'm not too sure if management committee members were present at all the meetings between Pak Lah and the grassroot leaders. I suppose the party president want to have his say too and what better way to do it than to bring these leaders to the city for a private audience. It will also give a chance for the small-time leaders to ask the party president questions directly to him.

As a token of their attendance to these meetings, the grassroot chiefs were each given a prayer mat and were billeted at hotels near the PWTC. Not bad for an overnight meeting with The Boss, I'd say!

I reckon there will be more such meetings in the coming weeks, considering the party have thousands of branches nationwide. The branches will have their general meetings starting July and this will be followed by divisional ones. The party's national assembly will be held in December, which will feature the election of supreme council members.

8 comments:

NGINAP SRENGENGE @ SRENGENGE said...

Dato',

Itu sejadah islam hadhari.

Da Real Deal said...

Salam Dato'.

Are you sure prayer mats are all they received? Who paid for their rooms in the City? How did they travel to KL? Who paid for their passsages? Could this be construed as political corruption?

As far as Najib is concerned, he might as well declare openly his bid for the presidency because it's a wide open secret already and if he thinks Pak Lah is falling asleep on the ground movements then I think Najib had better wake up from his slumber.

Anonymous said...

Sejadah and hotel rooms... smells like money politics dont you think? Hmmmmmm....

Penanak Nasik

Unknown said...

Dengan Islam Hadhari semua boleh.... Saya mesti pilih... hahahahah

NGINAP SRENGENGE @ SRENGENGE said...

Dato',

Pak lah is not that stupid.....it is WE THAT ARE STUPID.

We just look and see and lastly shout hurrah.

Macam sorak SI LUNCAI TERJUN DENGAN LABU2NYA.....BIARKAN.....BIARKAN.

TPJ said...

800 ketua cawangans on a twin sharing basis means 400 rooms at an average of RM200 a room comes to RM 80,000 excluding the sejadaj and pocket money if there is.

There is an estimated 27,000 cawangans. if all come to town one time or another to meet the man, thats RM2,700,000. hmm...If it is true that JASA is paying for it, does that exonerate a certain person from practising political corruption?

Anonymous said...

Folks, having Najib as PM will not make things better for UMNO, in fact it will make matters worse for the simple reason that he has unfortunately been connected with the murder of Altantuya. Although no firm evidence has been presented showing he knew the woman, most Malaysians believe he knows more about the issue than he is telling. My point is how can he possibly goven a party or a country when he is being attacked from all sides on something as serious as murder?

TPJ said...

Anon 10:15

When one is the Prime Minister, one can get away with anything. One can lie to you on national TV without flinching and deny any knowledge of the fact when it was proven otherwise the next few days after.

We may say that is wrong, but that is a fact of life.

Najib is being scrutinized because his boss allows it. Don't you wonder whatever happened to the oil for food program? Have you forgotten about it? Why was it suppressed? Who is involved?

The power of the PM. Don't ever underestimate it.