AMIDST the barbs that were traded over the weekend, some behind-the-scene manouvering may have gone unnoticed. In fact, these hush-hush caucuses are expected to continue before the next round of Umno divisional meetings.
As widely expected, Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein, Datuk Shafie Afdal, Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Datuk Khaled Nordin, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, Datuk Sharizat Abd Jalil and Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir have qualified to contest for their respective posts.
After two weekends of divisional meeting, these are the frontrunners. They shuld be happy for securing what some people view as an early justification of their inclusion in the list of qualifiers, and would serve as a strong boost to their confidence as the big battle looms.
Among the qualifiers, Sharizat, with 40 nominations, one more than the required number, may face with a small dilemma. Would she accept the nominations and challenge her Wanita boss, Rafidah, despite the former's declaration that she's quite happy to wait for the post be handed to her next year, in accordance with the movement's transition plan?
That there are are 40 wanita divisions who dared to show their preferred choice, is a tell-tale by itself. It showed that every one of three divisions which had held their general meetings thus far, Sharizat scored one. Of the 120 divisions which had already met, Sharizat gets one-third.
I imagine that the bigger dilemma is with Rafidah. Would she stick to her guns and continue to defend her post? Or would she rather pass the baton now, having seen that she no longer enjoy the full support of the movement?
The other front runners, with the notable exception of Najib, the incoming president and Prime Minister-in-Waiting, aren't really out of the woods yet. There's now talk and whispers that these individuals should't get a monopoly of the nominations. Let's give the others a chance too, the hush-hush campaigners are saying.
In this case, the race for the deputy president's post is the main target. Muhyiddin, seen as a vocal critic of his party and Cabinet boss, is the target. While he may have secured passage to contest with 44 of the 64 divisions which have already met, attempts are being made to get the other contenders to "catch up."
One needs 39 nominations to qualify. Thus far, Malacca Chief Minister and incumbent vice president Datuk Mohd Ali Rustam, have garnered 12 and Umno Information Chief and Rural Development Minister, Senator Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib, pulled eight.
The Muhyiddin detractors, Umno insiders said, are pooling their efforts to make sure than Ali rather than Muhammad, get sufficient nominations so as to give Muhyiddin a run for his money. Many Umno leaders know that Muhyiddin is better positioned to help Najib in running the party and country, but this has not deterred them from trying their best.
Muhyiddin has also been singled out by Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for going against the wishes and decision of the party supreme council, which had endorsed the transition plan that Najib would take over from Abdullah in March next year.
In fact, Abdullah also took to task former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has been openly showing support and preference for Najib and Muhyiddin. The three of them appeared cheerfully at a Hari Raya open house a week ago, as a signal to Umno members that the incoming new leaders of Umno are on the same page and taking the same route to restore party unity and work towards consolidation.
On Muhyiddin, Abdullah had this to say (according to press reports): "Is he so impatient to become DPM? That is, if he gets the support...is he trying to stop me from making reforms?" Abdullah is also of the view that there are attempts to get him to quit in December, instead of in March as per the transition plan.
On Dr Mahathir, Abdullah said: "Who is he? He has left Umno but he still issues orders to members of Umno. The party does not need to take orders from anyone who is no longer a member of the party."
The Abdullah-Dr Mahathir spat has not shown any sign of abating. In fact, it is no longer a spat, having escalated to an open political battle with consequences far and wide, viewed and scrutinised across the world.
The front runners will be among the first to agree that getting the required nominations is only the half the battle. The real combat will be during the assembly. This is when delegates pick and choose from the menu then. And as menu goes, there will be a price to pay, and priced items don't come cheap.
In the coming week, the catch-up guys will up the work rate and criss-cross the country again. Work, be they in the Cabinet or State, will take a back seat. Political survival and self preservation will be the order of the day
Which leads me to ask Datuk Shahrir Samad - how would this affect efficiency as he sees it? I read somewhere that Shahrir had scoffed at Muhyiddin's earlier comments that the long campaign period would be counter-productive because the possibility of character assassination (fitnah) and undermining would intensify.
Perhaps Shahrir can enlighten us. Wouldn't all this criss-crossing the country in trying to secure nominations not affect work? Should these people also resign, as he had suggested to Muhyiddin?
Whatever the case may be, let's see how the catch-up game is going to be played. There will be more hush-hush caucuses. There will also be more barbs traded. You and I know there will be.
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11 comments:
Referring to Tun M, Abdullah asked: "Who is he?" Hello, he's the person who put you there! He's the person who made Abdullah PM! He's forgotten ahhh?
Kacang
http://kluangmanexpress.blogspot.com/
...pertikaian kualiti pemimpin UMNO melalui cerminmata Shahrir.
http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2008/10/20/looking-for-umno%e2%80%99s-next-ex-leader/
Selepas Mahathir, tidak dinafikan UMNO menghadapi krisis pengisian pemimpin yang setaraf dengannya dan lebih malang, pengganti langsungnya, Paklah bukan sahaja gagal meneruskan apa yang telah Mahathir bina dan majukan tetapi sebaliknya menghentikan dan memusnahkannya.
Paklah juga mentadbir negara lebih kepada 'bercakap dan berkhayal' seolah olah semua impian itu terjadi dengan sendirinya tanpa perlu tumpuan, tenaga dan usaha yang bersungguh dari semua peringkat, tidak ada perlaksaan yang boleh dibanggakan kecuali plan di atas kertas sahaja.
Kelemahan Paklah yang ketara inilah membuatkan BN ditolak dan dinafikan majoritinya 2/3.
Tetapi kemunculuan Anwar sebagai hero korup hidup semula dan penawanan 5 negeri oleh Pembangkang tidak harus ditafsirkan sebagai mereka mempunyai kualiti kepimpinan peringkat 'negara' untuk dibanggakan kerana kemenangan pemgbangkang sebenarnya berdasar penolakan rakyat keatas kerajaan yang lemah dan BUKANNYA PEMILIHAN KEPADA PEMBANGKANG BERDASARKAN PEMBANGKANG BAGUS ( Pembangkang kena sedar diri )
Selepas ini, selesai sahaja sebahagian besar parti komponen membuat beberapa perubahan dalaman parti mereka sendiri sudah pasti BN juga akan membuat beberapa perubahan drastik yang lebih baik dan dijangka akan mengembalikan kepercayaan rakyat secara majoriti.
UMNO akan dibarisi sebahagian besar kepimpinan baru, jauh dari bayangan Paklah dan UMNO sekali lagi mengetuai dan dijadikan rujukan oleh komponen BN sebagai sandaran dan harapan(bukan buli) dengan lebih bergaya.
Memperkatakan tentang ketandusan pemimpin, parti pembangkang juga mengalami masalah serupa dan yang lebih teruk sehingga dikatakan, kalau batu pun yang diletakkan calon dalam PRU12 yang lalu atas nama Pakatan, pembangkang akan menang kerana rakyat ingin mengajar BN, tidak lebih dari itu.
Memperkatan tentang ketandusan pemimpin di dalam UMNO oleh Shahrir bukanlah sesuatu yang perlu dipandang terlalu serius kerana Shahrir bukanlah jurucakap UMNO yang sesuai dan layak kerana dia sendiri berjenama semula selepas di ambil Paklah untuk menjadi pecacai barisan hadapan. Jika Shahrir bercakap atas kebenaran, dia harus mempertikaikan kepimpinan Paklah terlebih dahulu sebelum mempertikaikan kualiti lain lain pemimpin UMNO. Tetapi Shahrir tidak berbuat demikian kerana dia sendiri tidak punya kualiti negara, jauh sekali dari negarawan.
Apakah Shahrir cukup kualiti dan hebat sebagai Menteri Kedai Runcit, harga petrol dunia merudum tetapi kenapa pertengahan November baru nak kaji harga barang. Lembab le kau beb..
He is also the same person that gave us crap for the past 22+ years. When you have left the party, just stay out and shut up.
Datuk,
its almost six months since i last commented in yr blog. congratulations, yr blog had indeed attract a lot of readers since then. besides the humanistic stories that you love to write, it now also offers very well written analysis of the country's current political situation. as a former journalist with immense credibility, yr blog could be trusted to tell the truth instead of lies and biased opinions we normally found in most other sosio-political blogs. u had indeed hold on to your journalistic ethics from the days when you was my boss in nst. for that i salute u. whatever flaws ppl said u have, i always see u as a fair and kind person who is sincere in doing the right thing for all. as for this particular posting, i find it very interesting indeed. we are in for an interesting ride. please continue to keep us informed. salam.
Salam Datuk,
I am to understand the real reason that Rafidah wants to stay on and pass the baton to Shahrizat in June 2009 is to shut the door on Azalina from contesting the Deputy's post.
Now that Azaliza doen't look like she'll quite make the cut, Rafidah and Shahrizat have served their purpose and if this holds true until March 2009, then Rafidah won't have to wait till June. On the conrtary, she should just withdraw and lift Shahrizat's hand as her anointed succesor.
If she doesn't and Shahrizat loses after deciding to go ahead with it, then all bets are off for the June transition naturally. Rafidah would certainly not hand it over to Kamilia either. Shes looking to be back in the cabinet under Najib. After all, she is a Member of Parliament still.
If Ali Rustam makes the cut and the Convention sticks to March 2009,then I'll have to cut my exposure and insure my bet on Muhyiddin because through my experience, I know that the delegates will have forgotten his struggle by March.
Dato' Shahrir seems to have a bone to pick with Tan Sri Muhyiddin. That is all. He should know that noone takes leave to campaign here. They just go ahead and campaign which is made easier by organising official ministry functions nationwide and meeting delegates in their homestate while doing it. Taxpayers pay for their campaign Sir.
Let's see whom he nomimates for Deputy.
hahaha! rais just told paklah off! hahaha! apa dah jadi? semua pun boleh sekarang!
johan
Salam Dato'
I wonder what is so special with/abt Khalid Nordin. Saya tak heran kalau dia bercita-cita besar but to hold a senior post in the party which mean a senior minister, he need to polish his English first...dia punya English teruk sangatlah Dato'. Is he Pak Lah's blue eye boy
akum dato. tis is fariq rahman .. boleh ingat.... pls pls how to contact u .... my number same 012 2519847... tq tq tq tq tq
Datuk, who is Pak Lah telling Tun who is he? what a joker Pak Lah ni, dia duduk kat kursi PM tu atas ehsan Tun ni ada perasan telling him who is he...come Pak Lah bila nak jaga dari tidor ni
Org Kg Bt 7
dream team ;
president: Najib
deputy president: Muhyiddin
vp: Rais Yatim , Shafie Afdal, Hisham
Youth: MM
Woman : Rafidah
i don't understand why Shahrizat she lost to NurAzzah ?
Pak Lah did a harakiri by questioning who is Tun M. It shows that Tun M is still influential and cannot be discounted from the political stage. Now, a lot of Umno politicians have started to kiss Tun M's hand back.....
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