Musa: Umno imploding from Mahathir-Najib fight

Survivor of past power struggle against Dr M asks leaders to stop politicking

PETALING JAYA: Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s former deputy, Musa Hitam, says Umno as imploding from the tussle between Mahathir and Najib Razak.

His remark, spoken without trace of irony, was reminiscent of Musa’s own involvement in a power struggle with Mahathir in the 1980s which was to lead to Umno being deregistered and later being resurrected as Umno-Baru.

With a characteristic quip, Musa described Mahathir and Najib as “the past ones who want to be present and the present ones who may fast be past”.

He urged the two leaders to put aside politicking and work instead for the good of the country by alleviating socio-economic conditions.

Musa said the political situation was “unhealthy and confusing” the country suffering from “an eerie sense of loss of direction”.

“The only thing you hear now is one person trying to topple the other. People are losing their sense of purpose (within the party),” Star Online quoted him as saying after receiving an honourary doctorate in law from HELP University.

Musa was Mahathir’s deputy prime minister from 1981-1986. He later joined forces with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, challenging Mahathir and Ghaffar Baba for the Umno leadership, with the two sides being described as Team A vs Team B.

The power struggle led to a court suit by Razaleigh’s supporters unhappy with his loss to Mahathir by a score of votes, resulting in Umno being deregistered.

Mahathir later registered a new party, Umno-BARU, and succeeded in getting control over the party’s assets, worth hundreds of millions. The party later dropped the use of BARU, reclaiming the old party name.