KUALA LUMPUR - In what appears to be a bid to quell the rising storm blown in by the shock comments made by former Umno president Abdullah Badawi against his predecessor Mahathir Mohamad, the party has decided to delay by a good 2 weeks its much-awaited and intensely-watched internal elections to October 19 from October 5.
Not only that, the date for the nominations of candidates - which are crucial - has been pushed back by 3 weeks to September 28 from September 7.
Apart from the topmost posts, nominations for the Wanita (women's wing), Youth and Puteri (women's youth wing) were also postponed to September 21 from September 7.
Although Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan explained in a statement issued on Sunday that the postponement was due to the upcoming visits to Malaysia by US President Barack Obama and China President Xi Jinping, news of the election delay sent another shudder through the ruling party.
RED ALERT
Supporters as well as the anxious aspirants for the Umno supreme council's 25 seats, the Youth chief post, Women's chief and Women's Youth chief positions are all on alert.
Not to mention the star events or main contests - the Umno presidency, deputy presidency and three vice presidencies.
Indeed stakes are high because the central leadership of Umno, which holds the most seats in Parliament, will by convention also fill the bulk of the Cabinet and other top government posts. Whoever wins the Umno presidency is usually named the prime minister and the deputy president made the deputy prime minister.
In Badawi's book Awakening: The Abdullah Badawi Years, the former prime minister had revealed how Mahathir had tried to push through dubious mega-projects even after he had left office.
“Can you imagine, if I had succumbed to Mahathir’s continued pressure to spend when the deficit was already so high, how could Malaysia have weathered the oil and financial crisis which subsequently came in 2008?" Badawi said in the book of 35 essays.
“The deficit which we brought down to 3.2 percent crept up again due to subsidies for oil and essentials and hovered again at the 5 percent level. If we had not been prudent then, continued to spend, I can tell you we would be bankrupt by now."
Floodgates open, Najib tries to clamp shut
That comment unnerved Umno, a party that Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has described as being obsolete, feudalistic and unable to question its own leaders.
According to Anwar, it was a healthy development for Badawi to open up on the issues and problems he had faced as this could help Umno to change its culture to a more "questioning" one.
Badawi's criticism of Mahathir who still wields a very powerful influence, is also seen by many party insiders as signalling he would support Prime Minister Najib Razak's defense of the top Umno post.
"Anwar has said it in a very diplomatic way but this is the key to the floodgates. Once Umno members start to question their leaders, the power of the old-boys-club will be broken. Najib is now trying to clamp down and suppress challenges to his power," an Umno watcher told Malaysia Chronicle.
"Not only Mahathir will have to reassess his position, Najib may be the one in the more precarious perch. He has the most to lose since he is the incumbent PM and president. From now on, you can be sure the Najib camp will go all out to throw roadblocks in the way of his rivals. Obviously, this is not very healthy and Najib might end up destroying Umno by insisting on clinging to power at all costs."
Hide-and-seek again
Mahathir is believed to want Najib's deputy Muhyiddin Yassin take over the presidency and become the new prime minister. At 65, Muhyiddin is seen as a 'seat-warmer' for Mahathir's son Mukhriz - now the Kedah chief minister - to mature into the post.
Mahathir, who was Malaysia's 4th prime minister, has blamed Najib for failing to recapture Selangor state in the recent general elections and for losing a further 7 parliamentary seats to the Opposition.
As such, Badawi's attack on Mahathir was seen as 'confirming' the speculation there would be a 'mother-of-all-battles' in Umno. All eyes are now on who will be contesting the top 2 posts and 3 VP positions, which Najib and Muhyiddin have both publicly advocated a 'no-contest' policy on.
The emergence of old stalwarts in the form of ex-Malacca chief minister Ali Rustam and ex-Negri Sembilan chief minister Isa Samad has further added to the already boiling cauldron at Umno.
With the latest postponement, those with vested interests as well as dark horses waiting in the wings can be expected to hide again in the shadows, biding the most opportune time to show their hand.
Meanwhile, according to the statement issued by Tengku Adnan, the polls postponement could not be avoided as Obama and Xi would be visiting Malaysia in early October, and preparations had to be made for their arrival.
Malaysia Chronicle
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