OF TODAY'S announcements by UMNO, the one that interests most people is whether Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will defend his post as party president, or step aside and allow members to chose their new leader.
The decision is expected in less than three weeks time, by Oct 9 to be precise. While everything seems to suggest that Abdullah may not seek re-election, it will all depend on whether he gets sufficient show of real support from grassroot leaders, ie, the division chiefs.
The 191 Umno divisions have until Nov 9 to stage their annual meetings from Oct 9.
If he gets a reliable indication from at least 58 divisions, Abdullah can then decide whether to stand his ground and defend his position. But from my personal standpoint, I don't see him seeking re-election even if he gets the 58 nominations.
As Umno president, even with 58 nominations as a given handicap by way of quota, Abdullah may still find it difficult, if not impossible, to offer himself as a candidate.
Legally speaking, he has the right to contest if he gets the 58 required. But morally, an Umno president not getting nominations from every division, is less than acceptable and will be seen as almost a rejection.
With the mood on the ground as it is, Abdullah may well be advised not to seek re-election and be contented with holding on to his top post till March '09 when the deferred assembly is held.
Some may argue that the compromise, if it can be called one, will render Abdullah ineffective between now and March. This need not be so if he uses the remaining months to dig in and do his work.
The Umno supreme council which met today seemed quite satisfied with the decision. Senior council members have even begun describing Abdullah as unselfish, magnanimous even!
Abdullah, who is BN chairman and Prime Minister, have been under siege to step down. He has been under fire from many quarters, not least from his Cabinet members and colleagues in the supreme council.
Not every council member is happy with the decision. Under the circumstances, and mindful of Umno's tradition and culture, this is perhaps the most reasonable decision that can be made or expected.
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6 comments:
I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians. ~Charles de Gaulle
Dtk: it seems to be the most sensible solution given the circumstances..key is how do govt handle decision-making during the intervening period..wassalam..
Izham
Dimana hilangnya Jagoan-Jagoan Badawi? Dimana Zaid? (sudah mati) Dimana Shahrinaldo? Dimana Nazri Olmert? Dimana semua??
Kenapa menyorok? Kenapa kamu disorokkan? Kami rindukan komen-komen kalian!
Sdr Pahit Manis,
Cuba kita fikirkan perkara-perkara berikut:
1.Lagi cepat Abdullah berundur, lagi cepatlah proses pemulihan Umno boleh digerakkan.
2. Walaupun Mohd Najib sendiri mempunyai masalah dan kelemahan namun dalam suasana sekarang, dia adalah pilihan yang ada bagi Umno.
3. Ini tidak menghalang pembesar-pembesar lain seperti Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah dan Mahyuddin Yassin untuk mengawal diri sebagai peneraju parti pada masa depan.
4. Tugas Mohd Najib sebagai ketua de facto Umno (dan ketua de facto Malaysia) mencabar dan sangat mendesak. Dia perlu menunjukkan keberanian, ketegasan dan kesediaan meminta nasihat daripada mereka yang pakar.
5. Satu lagi faktor yang mungkin memaksa Abdullah berundur lebih awal adalah ancaman undi tidak percaya oleh Anwar Ibrahim dan konco-konconya apabila Parlimen bersidang semula pada Oktober ini (kalau tidak silap saya 13 Oktober).
6. Namun ini tidak menghalang Anwar untuk mengalih pandangan daripada undi tidak percaya terhadap Abdullah kepada undi tidak percaya terhadap kerajaan Barisan Nasional.
7. Akhir sekali, bahagian-bahagian Umno perlu menolak kaki-kaki ampu yang nyata adalah hipokrit seperti di Kelantan dan tempat-tempat lain. Hipokrit-hipokrit inilah yang menyebabkan kepemimpinan Abdullah menjadi hambar dan Umno lingkup.
Kesimpulannya, mereka perlu berani memilih pemimpin veteran dan pemimpin muda yang berani.
Terima kasih.
PM Abdullah is well known to be the Prime Minister who never keep his word.
He will say one thing today and will say exactly the opposite the next day.
Telling untruth is becoming very natural to him by now - suprising for a person withe the ulamak image.
Just look at his body languages during all these press conferences.
How many times already we have been fooled by PM Abdullah?
So, don't be surprise if between now and March'09 deadline, he will reverse his decisions.
One this for sure that until March next year, the uncertainties of the country remain.
Many of UMNO MT bosses believe he put interest of the party ahead of his, but his actions so far prove otherwise..
The best hope for Malaysia today is still TS Muhiyyudin combined with T.Razaleigh.
Good luck to all of us Malaysians.
NST says:
KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will step down as prime minister much earlier than the planned date of June 2010, possibly by March next year.
At an emergency Umno supreme council meeting, Abdullah declined to expressly state when he would vacate the prime minister's position.But he said the transition plan that he had outlined in July -- where he would hand over power to his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Razak in June 2010 -- was "no longer in place".
The STAR says:
Najib to take over sooner
By SHAHANAAZ HABIB, JANE RITIKOS, FLORENCE A. SAMY and LISA GOH
Umno special supreme council meeting
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will hand over power to his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak earlier than June 2010, it was announced yesterday.
Umno has also postponed its annual general assembly and supreme council elections to next March to facilitate the “early transition of power,” said Umno president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi after chairing a special supreme council meeting yesterday.
Racun says:
Can somebody please tell Pak Lah and Najib that they do not decide on UMNO's future. UMNO's future is to be decided by UMNO (the branch delegates to the divisional meetings and after that the divisional delegates to the UMNO General Assembly). There are occassions when leadership guides the decision. This is allowable when the party is in a commanding position and respected.
But the situation now is very different. UMNO is not in command and the people is rejecting the Leader. So rightfully UMNO's grassroots will have to rally behind a strong leader which will be given a chance to prop up the confidence of UMNO members and also its component partners in the Barisan Nasional.
Penawar says:
Its good that the leadership postphonement is scheduled for March, 2009 so that Pak Lah can really prepare for his retirement. The Divisions can then nominate and vote in the new leaders from 9th October to 9th November. When these new leaders won uncontested, (because the grapevine says that if Najib doesn't want to go for the number one post then there will be retractors who will back KuLi, if all the divisions agreed to Nominate Najib to take over, the nominations in the divisional meetings from 9/10 to 9/11, then KuLi will not get the splinter nominations.
UMNO will be strengthened with the new leadership and all UMNO members will rally behind and be united to face the future challenges together with renewed confidence and influence of their component partners in the Barisan Nasional.
Conclusion says:
Pak Lah is very wise to suggest this option, so that within now until March, 2009 (about 6 months time) he can systematically hand over the reign of the country to Dato Seri Najib.
The ideal situation says:
If this is the case, then the handover should be done by the 9th of October, 2008 so that UMNO is in a position to lead the BN pact before the other component parties had sorted out their leadership changes. UMNO is the backbone and it still has to be the spine for the reconstruction of Malaysian politics.
Racun Penawar
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