Zahid, the hero for Umno

By bringing back detention without trial and criticising a news portal, Umno vice-president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi endears himself to the Umno hawks to retain his post.

COMMENT

It seems like Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is on the media spotlight these days for both the good and bad reasons.

From backing the police force on the missing police firearms and vehicles to the amendments to the Prevention of Crime Act (PCA), Zahid shows that he means business.

By bulldozing the PCA amendments, which includes detention without trial, and defending Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar by saying that the weapons may have “fallen into the sea”, Zahid had discarded right-thinking Malaysians and human rights NGOs from being his supporters.

He may have also antagonised Malaysians at large but the minister is now focused on retaining his Umno vice-president post.

There are six contenders for the three Umno vice-presidency. So every competitor has to prove his mettle among party delegates on why his is worthy of the position.

And going by Umno’s history, the delegates usually rally behind a rough and tough leader.

As for Zahid, he may have cemented the support of Umno delegates by reintroducing detention without trial in the amendments to the PCA.

When Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak decided to repeal the Internal Security Act, not many in the Umno circles were pleased with it, including former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The right wing faction still relishes in the good old days of Mahathir when there was weak opposition to deal with and they had an easy time silencing dissent using arbitrary laws.

But they allowed Najib to go ahead with it, having hopes that it will help Barisan Nasional (BN) regain its two-thirds majority in Parliament. But it did not. Pakatan Rakyat still managed to deny BN the two-thirds majority.

Tough leader

And Najib’s failure only served to embolden the hardliners to steer Umno back to its old ways.

Sensing the opportunity, Zahid pounced on it. Being assigned to the Home Ministry is also an added advantage as the post allows the minister to be on the limelight on security issues.

Adding icing on the cake, the Umno leader may have also endeared himself to the party hawks by thrash-talking one of Umno’s biggest enemy, Malaysiakini.

Zahid was never the type who likes to hound reporters. But this time, it is different. He needs to show that he can take on anyone, opposition and reporters included, to get the job done.

And that is the type of leader Umno adores.

But despite his tough talks on crime, he recently defended the notorious Tiga Line gang and even referred to them as “friends”.

Now why would a crime-busting home minister defend a criminal gang?

The reason is simple. The Tiga Line gang is known to have the support of some Umno leaders, especially those from the right wing faction.

The reality about Umno is that despite all the brouhaha on reforms, the party is still dominated by those who cannot move beyond the clarion call of race, religion and country.

Zahid, knowing which side of the bread is buttered, is now pandering to them in order to gain their support, in his bid to retain his party post.

And looking at it, Zahid may be successful in retaining his post as he is now the most “popular” Umno leader around.

G Vinod is a FMT team member.