Another UMNO leader, this time Nazri Aziz, has stepped into the ring to take a swing at PAS after its members took a historic step forward to allow professionals to helm their party rather than religious scholars - a move that will place PAS in direct competition with UMNO for the Malay electorate.
Nazri even accused PAS president Hadi Awang of coveting the prime minister's post should the Pakatan Rakyat coalition wrest the federal government in the coming general elections.
"If Hadi thinks Pakatan can capture Putrajaya, then he must become PM because Anwar is now in trouble," Nazri said.
Nazri, the minister in Prime Minister Najib Razak's department, was referring to an ongoing sodomy trial, which Anwar has accused Najib of plottting to derail his political comeback.
Of panic queens and headless chickens
But try as he will, twist and turn that he did, Nazri failed to upset the Pakatan leaders, who were still basking in the glow of their weekend success and are already huddled in groups to plan their campaign for the 13th general election.
"It's so nice to see UMNO in panic mode. They are rushing around like headless chickens. But it is none of Nazri's business whether Anwar, Hadi or Kit Siang is PM. It is between Pakatan and their voters," PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.
His colleague, Nik Nazmi, the Seri Setia assemblyman, agreed.
"Nazri must be very disappointed. PAS is so much stronger after the muktamar (congress). Their supporters and members are clearly happy and this is the sign of a correct decision," Nik Nazmi, who is also the PKR communications director.
"It also shows Utusan and UMNO have failed in their campaign. Nazri should also stop all his bad 'spin'. Nobody is fooled, we all know he is trying to sow seeds of distrust amongst us."
Don't try to scare the Chinese with Hadi
Another Pakatan leader, PAS MP for Bukit Gantang Nizar Jamaluddin, slammed Nazri for trying to make the Chinese fear Hadi, who has been PAS president since 2002.
He is less well known than the popular Anwar because of his serious demeanour and fierce rhetoric. Hadi is regarded by many non-Muslims as a very stern father figure, given to religious fundamentalism. But that is hardly the face that Hadi has presented to Malaysia in the past few years.
According to his supporters, if Hadi was as hardline as Nazri implied, the 64-year old former Terengganu Mentri Besar would never have steered PAS into the Pakatan coalition, what more openly endorse new blood to reinvigorate and modernize PAS.
"Who becomes PM is not the immediate question and for Pakatan to sort out with voters. The thing is Nazri is being mischievous, even malicious. Is he trying to scare the Chinese, is he trying to make Hadi out to be the new bogeyman?" Nizar told Malaysia Chronicle.
"If he is, he won't succeed. The Chinese laugh at people like Ibrahim Ali. They are happy with the PAS decision because it changes the power equation in the country. They are also very curious to know more about Hadi and Mat Sabu and PAS as a whole. And we will only be too happy to get to know all the races in the country even better than before. Nazri should realize what scares Malaysians most are corruption and evil regimes that will use brute force to turn white to black and pull stunts like the Perak coup d'etat."
Old-boys club run by 3 families
On Saturday, PAS announced its new leadership lineup. Mohamad Sabu, the deputy president, Salahuddin Ayub, Mahfuz Omar and Husam Musa - the three vice presidents - are alll professionals and while they have religious training, they are not relgious scholars or ulama like Hadi and Spiritual Adviser Nik Aziz.
Meanwhile, Nazri continued to accuse PAS of being power hungry and of trying to deceive the DAP. This is a switch as prior to the PAS transformation, UMNO has always warned PAS members to beware of DAP as DAP was power-hungry and out to deceive PAS!
Nazri also claimed that UMNO comprised "smarter Malays", But his arrogant bravado was an instant give-away on the Achilles heel plaguing the ruling party. There is a leadership vacuum within UMNO due largely to its old-boys-club politics that bar 'outsiders' from the highest echelons of the party. As a result, the Malay intelligentsia have stayed away from politics or joined PAS, PKR and even DAP.
Apart from the Razak family now represented by Najib, the Hussein family, represented by Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and the Mahathir family, currently represented by Mukhriz in the Cabinet and retired premier Mahathir Mohamad at wings, there is doubt any other leader can become Prime Minister.
The exception was Abdullah Badawi in 2003, but he was meant to be a seat-warmer for Najib.
Competition is healthy, money politics is bad
Yet that did not stop Nazri from sallying forth on Monday and insisting that PAS has been "corrupted" because "power corrupts absolutely". The reason for his claim was because there had been keen contests for all positions in PAS except for the posts of president and Youth Chief because there were no other nominees.
Nazri gave no explanation why competition was corrupt, rather than democratic. Neither did he feel unjustified to accuse PAS of having been swayed by "absolute power", although this is the term that is frequently used to describe UMNO despots, rather than the opposition.
"I think Hadi feels he can be the PM, though I think he is not capable of holding such office. He is trying to convince DAP that the leopard has changed its spots. PAS has actually changed their struggle, abandoning their aim of an Islamic state and now going for a welfare state, but Umno has been doing this for 60 years. Only now they realise what we have been doing is right, so you know who are the smarter Malays," said Nazri.
"They are just like any other politician, with their greed for power. They used to say there are no fights in PAS, everything is done by consensus. Now that is not the case, you see their Wanita and Youth wings, a six-cornered fight for the vice-presidency. They see power, and power corrupts absolutely."
Who's the real simpleton?
Nazri also accused Mat Sabu of poor intelligence. Yet Mat Sabu is well known throughout the country for his activist work and has organised some of the most successful rallies ever seen by the country. His supporters praise his ability to mobilize people and to coordinate huge movements and logistics.
"When you ask Mat Sabu what his political philosophy is, he will say 'saya serang kalau Umno' (I will attack if it is Umno). He used to attack Anwar Ibrahim, and now he stopped because now he is 'bukan Umno' (not Umno). What kind of philosophy is this? I think his intellectual capacity is very low," Nazri said.
But Nazri, even though he is Najib's spokesman, has been accused of not being too bright either. Even Ibrahim Ali - Malaysia best-known racist and rabble rouser - knows his "DNA" or genetic composition.
“I know that these three Umno leaders are not talking on behalf of Umno’s president. I can tell you who is Khairy Jamaluddin, Nazri Aziz, Tengku Adnan Mansor because I know their DNA," Ibrahim had said.
- Malaysia Chronicle
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