COMMENT It would be poetic justice if the Umno assemblypersons in Terengganu, reported to have left the party, trigger the fall of the state government there.
And if that collapse heightens the already intense pressure on Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to quit his post, the play of karma would be said to have been arrived at a denouement thoroughly deserved by the chief culprit behind the downfall of the Pakatan Rakyat state government of Perak in February 2009.
Najib was the starring villain of the defection drama that upended the government of Nizar Jamaluddin in Perak in 2009 when the departure of two PKR and one DAP rep for the Independent benches in the state assembly triggered a constitutional crisis.
Then the Deputy Prime Minister, Najib orchestrated the moves that led to Umno-BN’s choice of a new MB, Zambry Abdul Kadir, to form the administration that would replace the ousted Pakatan one.
In marshalling the effort that unhinged the Nizar administration, DPM Najib was seen to have embellished his credentials, in the eyes of Umno, for promotion to the presidency of the party and the premiership of the country then occupied by a beleaguered Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
But the manner in which it was done bore the traits of the cynical wheeling and dealing that would come to characterise the Najib administration which was soon to supplant the tottering Abdullah one.
If it is true that history repeats itself, the first time as tragedy and the second as farce, Nizar’s ouster in Perak in 2009 embodied the first description while Ahmad Said’s ejection as MB in Terengganu, boding the probable ouster of the Umno state government there, is invested with the second.
If reports saying that Ahmad Said had asked PM Najib for a stay of removal as MB until after his daughter’s marriage and if his extrusion heralds the downfall of the state administration, then it could be said that hell hath no fury like a bridal pater familias humiliated.
A plea for a stay presupposes that there was an initial agreement positing a time limit to Ahmad Said’s tenure.
Word has it that Ahmad Said had signed an undated letter of resignation after the general election on May 5 last year.
After one term as MB of Terengganu (2008-2013), Ahmad was said to be fighting to keep his post in the wake of a lacklustre performance.
The sultan, who was favourable to him at the onset of Ahmad’s first term in office, was reportedly displeased by the end of the same period and was not averse to seeing him go.
Defective slate of candidates
The state Umno’s relatively poor performance at the general election where the party won 17 seats was attributed to a defective slate of candidates drawn up mainly by Ahmad.
Because of the dismal Umno performance at the polls, the chances were good that Ahmad would be shown the door because of non-delivery on performance and responsibility for a general election candidate slate that reeked of favoritism and mediocrity.
But Ahmad obtained a reprieve, its length running out as a full year passed from the time of the polls last May.
He had to go but it appears he is not going gently into the shadows. Reports of his resignation from Umno followed by word that more resignations by his sympathisers among state executive councilors are in the air.
Al this presages the onset of a political crisis. Umno’s wafer thin majority in the Terengganu state assembly - 17 seats to PAS’ 14 and PKR’s one - is in mortal peril of unravelling.
But Najib is not expected to watch the evolving drama with benign indifference because the collapse of the Umno state government would ratchet up the pressure on him to quit as PM.
That pressure has been rising on the back of Umno-BN’s defeat in the popular vote at the last general election and a generally flailing performance at steering the country against a daunting array of problems ranging from mounting debt to incriminating ineptitude.
Najib’s survival instincts and calculation of his interests are hardnosed and are as capable of issuing in the cynical manoeuvring that had wrested power from elected and legitimate holders of it in Perak in 2009 as it would be in preventing its cession to opposition in Terengganu today by Umno apostates.
The public should brace itself for the flip-flops and confusions that have periodically marked such affrays in our history.
TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for four decades now. He likes the profession because it puts him in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them.
And if that collapse heightens the already intense pressure on Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to quit his post, the play of karma would be said to have been arrived at a denouement thoroughly deserved by the chief culprit behind the downfall of the Pakatan Rakyat state government of Perak in February 2009.
Najib was the starring villain of the defection drama that upended the government of Nizar Jamaluddin in Perak in 2009 when the departure of two PKR and one DAP rep for the Independent benches in the state assembly triggered a constitutional crisis.
Then the Deputy Prime Minister, Najib orchestrated the moves that led to Umno-BN’s choice of a new MB, Zambry Abdul Kadir, to form the administration that would replace the ousted Pakatan one.In marshalling the effort that unhinged the Nizar administration, DPM Najib was seen to have embellished his credentials, in the eyes of Umno, for promotion to the presidency of the party and the premiership of the country then occupied by a beleaguered Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
But the manner in which it was done bore the traits of the cynical wheeling and dealing that would come to characterise the Najib administration which was soon to supplant the tottering Abdullah one.
If it is true that history repeats itself, the first time as tragedy and the second as farce, Nizar’s ouster in Perak in 2009 embodied the first description while Ahmad Said’s ejection as MB in Terengganu, boding the probable ouster of the Umno state government there, is invested with the second.
If reports saying that Ahmad Said had asked PM Najib for a stay of removal as MB until after his daughter’s marriage and if his extrusion heralds the downfall of the state administration, then it could be said that hell hath no fury like a bridal pater familias humiliated.A plea for a stay presupposes that there was an initial agreement positing a time limit to Ahmad Said’s tenure.
Word has it that Ahmad Said had signed an undated letter of resignation after the general election on May 5 last year.
After one term as MB of Terengganu (2008-2013), Ahmad was said to be fighting to keep his post in the wake of a lacklustre performance.
The sultan, who was favourable to him at the onset of Ahmad’s first term in office, was reportedly displeased by the end of the same period and was not averse to seeing him go.
Defective slate of candidates
The state Umno’s relatively poor performance at the general election where the party won 17 seats was attributed to a defective slate of candidates drawn up mainly by Ahmad.
Because of the dismal Umno performance at the polls, the chances were good that Ahmad would be shown the door because of non-delivery on performance and responsibility for a general election candidate slate that reeked of favoritism and mediocrity.
But Ahmad obtained a reprieve, its length running out as a full year passed from the time of the polls last May.
He had to go but it appears he is not going gently into the shadows. Reports of his resignation from Umno followed by word that more resignations by his sympathisers among state executive councilors are in the air.
Al this presages the onset of a political crisis. Umno’s wafer thin majority in the Terengganu state assembly - 17 seats to PAS’ 14 and PKR’s one - is in mortal peril of unravelling.
But Najib is not expected to watch the evolving drama with benign indifference because the collapse of the Umno state government would ratchet up the pressure on him to quit as PM.
That pressure has been rising on the back of Umno-BN’s defeat in the popular vote at the last general election and a generally flailing performance at steering the country against a daunting array of problems ranging from mounting debt to incriminating ineptitude.
Najib’s survival instincts and calculation of his interests are hardnosed and are as capable of issuing in the cynical manoeuvring that had wrested power from elected and legitimate holders of it in Perak in 2009 as it would be in preventing its cession to opposition in Terengganu today by Umno apostates.
The public should brace itself for the flip-flops and confusions that have periodically marked such affrays in our history.
TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for four decades now. He likes the profession because it puts him in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them.
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