Umno 'DUNCE' show begins: Najib's successor will be picked, Dr M watches closely

KUALA LUMPUR - The UMNO election is not about the UMNO veterans like Mahathir Mohamad, Daim Zainuddin, Abdullah Badawi, Rafidah Aziz or Tengku Razaleigh.

For sure, it is not about second-tier leaders Zahid Hamidi, Shafie Apdal, Isa Samad, Ali Rustam, Shahrizat Jalil or Azalina Othman Said.

Neither is it about Muhyiddin Yasin or even Najib Razak, the deputy prime minister and prime minister respectively.

The 2013 UMNO election seems to be about the future beyond Najib, and who will form the next rung of leadership after him. But unfortunately, too many undercurrents have formed and delegates who are voting may find themselves sidetracked, twisted and tied into knots by their unscrupulous leaders.

Instead of being given the chance to think and decide for themselves - with the voting base having been expanded from 2,000-plus previously to 146,000-odd now - UMNO members are being indoctrinated even more than before as to who should lead them after Najib.

Line of succession being implanted into the minds of members

In UMNO, because the president is the only one who has real power, this is the ultimate game and where all the energy and attention is focused.

At present the general consensus amongst UMNO members is that the next in line will be one of these three leaders, namely Hishammuddin who is the son of 2nd prime minister Hussein Onn, Khairy Jamaluddin the son-in-law of 5th prime minister Abdullah Badawi or Mukhriz the son of 4th prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.

These 3 are deemed to have the potential to be the future UMNO president. If they are patient, each of them may have the chance to become PM.

And hence at this election, all 3 should win the posts they are contesting or defending - Hisham and Mukhriz the vice presidencies and Khairy the Youth chief post.

Badawi and Najib have proven by example that if aspirants were patient and waited, the post would be handed to them even if they did not really deserve the opportunity and went on to mess up the country beyond repair.

Yes, the excesses committed by Badawi and Najib have driven Malaysia beyond the point of return and it would be nearly impossible to avert the financial and economic disaster that is bound to take place in the very near future.

But for UMNO members, who are either blind or willing to accept calamity as long as they get economic freebies and 'Supremacy' status over their non-Malay counterparts, it doesn't matter. As the song goes, 'it's just another day in Paradise'.

So for these people, it is easy to entrench the propaganda that after Najib, it could be Hishammuddin who will 'inherit' the PM's seat. Hisham will then be followed by either Khairy or Mukhriz. No problem, what's wrong?

Repercussions from Mukhriz queue-cutting

Actually at the moment, the 'problem' is not in getting UMNO members to accept the line of succession being pitched to them.

The problem is Mahathir, he is simply impatient. Not only is he 88, he won't be at peace until he is assured that his son is guaranteed the UMNO presidency because Mukhriz is no guerrilla fighter unlike him.

Mukhriz would never be able to wage the wars Mahathir fought and won.  Mahathir has been the biggest, toughest and sharpest thorn in UMNO, even from the time of Tunku Abdul Rahman. He is not the savior as many UMNO members think he is, but rather a destroyer.

If anyone has harmed UMNO and even Malaysia, it is Mahathir. No one has damaged his party or country as much as Mahathir has. Chin Peng is an angel compared to Dr M. But that is another story.

In wanting to make sure that Mukhriz is anointed the next Prime Minister after Najib, and to ensure that this happens while he is still alive, Mahathir is speeding up the process of grooming Mukhriz.

However to do so, he has to discard many of the party processes and as a result has disturbed the system and this is proving to be detrimental to UMNO and Malaysia. A Pandora's Box has been opened in UMNO so to speak and what Mahathir has done in pushing Mukhriz forward may backfire.

In what form will the consequences of the Mukhriz queue-cutting take remains to be seen but if he is denied a VP post, all Hell will break loose. Mahathir will be furious and the vengeance he will wreak will be drastic.

Doomed by 'dunces' in power

Malaysia cannot afford to have a Prime Minister who is inept. The UMNO elders talk about grooming but that is just an excuse to perpetuate their dynastic agenda. Look at Britain's prime ministers, Sweden, Switzerland, France, the US, Japan - all these countries change leaders without fuss.

With globalization, depleting world resources, a more competitive world political scenario, the weakening of the US and the advent of China as the future ‘superpower’, whoever is the the future Malaysian Prime Minister must have the smarts, intellectual depth, mature judgement and superior vision.

These are the imperative qualities, and not being the from the 'aristocracy'. What 'aristocracy' in the first place did Najib, Hisham and Khairy come from? Do they have 'royal' or blue blood?

Is Najib - who always seek his wife’s opinion, constantly makes major policy and ideological U-turns and is unable to grasp core issues - the man to lead Malaysia in the new century? Put it this way, Najib is only an 'O' level PM - vain, greedy, unprincipled and reliant on public relations consultants to create a show for him.

Should his cousin Hisham succeed him, then woe betide Malaysia, for Hisham is only an an 'SPR' or 'Form Three' PM, lacking in intellectual breadth and depth, has shown little vision and near zero strength of character.

As for Khairy, who talks about himself as if he is God's gift to the reformist movement, he is the least trustworthy. We have seen Khairy waving the keris and uttering racist condemnations against the non-Malays. Then when Umno-BN did badly in the 2008 election and Khairy was not given a Cabinet post, Khairy suddenly decided to wear the clothes of a refomist but now that he is the Sports minister, it looks like he is back to his bad old racist ways.

If Mukhriz becomes PM, Malaysia would be just as doomed. Who on earth is going to mentor Mukhriz when Mahathir dies? You see, Mukhriz is just like a puppet and Mahathir is the ventriloquist!

Perhaps it is too soon to tell but it looks like Hishamuddin should be the next in line to succeed Najib based on his grooming. Alas, Hisham has not shown his real potential due to the obvious reason that at the moment he cannot outshine Najib.

Who knows Hisham may surprise everyone and turn out to be the leader that UMNO and Malaysia have been waiting for. But we won't hold our breath waiting for it to happen - it would be suicidal to pin too much hope on Hisham.

Sham election begins: all eyes on UMNO reality show

Nominations were filed on Saturday and the way the mainstream media played it up, it was as if the whole nation would come to a stop and die if not for UMNO. We can't really blame them because they are controlled by UMNO and many of their staff are anxious UMNO members.

It is hard for them to accept that if UMNO were to die, that's when Malaysia would have a chance to live again. And no, we are not talking about a Malaysian Malaysia and hope for the Chinese, Indians and other minorities. We are talking about the Malays too.

By being so unashamedly racist and greedy, the Malays can only bring doom to themselves. So they should not be so grateful to UMNO for leading them down the wrong path. And they should not be so naive as to swallow hook line and sinker the order of leadership that is being dictated to them in the most subversive way.

Must it be Hisham, Mukhriz or Khairy? UMNO members should assess independently and choose for themselves the best candidate to take their party forward but sad to say this is beyond them. It is like they simply cannot think beyond this point, so forgive them their swell-headedness, pettiness and 'bodoh-sombong'. It is a security blanket they have to cling to.

You see, spoon-feeding has given many Malays a more comfortable lifestyle. They drive Estimas, Cayennes and flashy cars but sad to say, UMNO has not been able to make very much smarter whereas the Chinese and Indians can go to any of the top universities in the world and get onto the top scorers lists.

But for the Malays, especially the UMNO members, until now their leaders have to be chosen for them. Needless to say, the UMNO leaders would deny it with a 'Who says? Of course, you can choose - it's Hisham, Mukhriz or Khairy! See how democratic UMNO is?'

And the majority of the Malays would fall for this line. Is this not proof enough that UMNO members are not the brightest people in the world? Indeed, the biggest sham election has just begun and as the 146,000 odd UMNO delegates prepare to cast their ballots, they would be foolish to imagine that they are taking a step forward.

UMNO have attracted the attention of the international community with their racism and the latest brouhaha over Chin Peng's ashes. The world is waiting to see and LAUGH at what more stupidity, antics and sheer silliness the UMNO reality or 'DUNCE' show will feature over the next few weeks until the votes are finally cast on October 19.

Malaysia Chronicle