The ‘no contest for the top two posts in Umno' bandwagon has begun to roll, but in the end whether it succeeds in heading off a fight that may well have damaging consequences is dependent on what one man feels about the whole thing.
No prizes for guessing the identity of the man. In fact, he has already waded in with preliminary comments that suggest he will push for a contest, but more on that later.
The ‘no contest' ball was set rolling by Puad Zakarshi, former deputy education minister and defeated Umno candidate for the Batu Pahat parliamentary seat.
There's no point in going into the reasons Puad gave for his call because it was the usual boilerplate.
Actually, a contest for the top leadership positions in a political party is a healthy thing, especially when it is held after the party had undergone what Umno underwent at the May 5 general election: a test of popular reaction to its stewardship of the country.
Because Umno is the dominant party in the ruling BN coalition - it bolstered that position by raising its collection of parliamentary seats from 79 at GE12 to 88 at GE13 - how it has performed its role as national chief steward must be important to the Umno electorate.
This is more so when the party likes to see itself as democratic. No less than the Umno president, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, averred as much about his party and, on that score, signalled that he was open to a challenge.
Umno running out of time
But in the indirect mode which is the standard form of Malay political discourse, form is one thing, actual intention another.
That is why Malay political discourse is simultaneously fascinating and off-putting. People who camouflage intention behind complex layers of expression must think they have plenty of time on their hands.
Actually, Umno does not have much time on its hands. It composed itself like it had a lot because after the ruling coalition it dominates suffered the loss of its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority at GE12, it dragged its feet on reform of itself and of the nation, the need for which was the clarion message Malaysian voters sent it at the watershed March 2008 polls.
There was a price to be paid for this lethargy: Umno-BN incurred the loss of its traditional plurality in the popular vote at GE13, sliding to just over 47 percent of the overall take in comparison with the opposition Pakatan Rakyat's 51 percent.
First the loss of its parliamentary superiority, then the downdraft in its overall popularity must mean the writing is on the wall for Umno and its appendages in BN.
But the message of ‘no contest for the two top posts in Umno' bandwagon is that things are nice and peachy, so there's no need to rock the boat with contests for the upper tier of posts that may well sunder the party.
The ‘no contest' cabal of support is gathering pace. No sooner had Puad aired his view than Negri Sembilan Umno backed the proposition.
Even party vice-president Zahid Hamidi joined the caravan the other day by saying he thought the call sensible.
But Zahid's support is suspect and attributable to the Malay mode of indirect discourse.
If current deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin contests Najib for the No 1 post, Zahid, as top vice-president, stands to benefit because he can then go for the vacant deputy president's post.
It's good Malay political form not to seem to overtly want what you covertly covet.
A Mahathir-created problem
If indirection is the preferred mode of Malay political discourse, projection is not far behind as a method by which to hide one's scheming heart.
The eminence grise of Umno, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, is adept at the art.
One can infer from his latest comments that he wants the Umno leadership revamped for he believes the party was lucky to win the general election because in general Malay voters opted for the psychological security that Umno's patronage affords them to the uncertainties of an Anwar Ibrahim-led Pakatan in which a thrusting DAP would be difficult to contain.
Mahathir said the overweening self-interest of incumbents barred the door to the talented, rendering Umno bereft of talent and infested with the corrupt and the mediocre.
That Umno cannot carry on this way and keep Malay support was Mahathir's warning to the party.
This problem with this narrative is that few these days believe that Mahathir's 22-year (1981-2003) stewardship of Umno and Malaysia was a period that emphasised talent over mediocrity, performance over loyalty, probity over corruption, collective interests over partisan considerations.
In fact, majority opinion is coalescing around the position that under his prolonged tenure, the country was built up physically but was emasculated morally.
So his latest posting on his blog is so much projection, attributing to others what he himself was responsible for.
Thus indirection and projection combine to undermine the Umno elector's grasp of reality which explains the party's continuing residence in reality-denying mode.
No prizes for guessing the identity of the man. In fact, he has already waded in with preliminary comments that suggest he will push for a contest, but more on that later.
The ‘no contest' ball was set rolling by Puad Zakarshi, former deputy education minister and defeated Umno candidate for the Batu Pahat parliamentary seat.
There's no point in going into the reasons Puad gave for his call because it was the usual boilerplate.Actually, a contest for the top leadership positions in a political party is a healthy thing, especially when it is held after the party had undergone what Umno underwent at the May 5 general election: a test of popular reaction to its stewardship of the country.
Because Umno is the dominant party in the ruling BN coalition - it bolstered that position by raising its collection of parliamentary seats from 79 at GE12 to 88 at GE13 - how it has performed its role as national chief steward must be important to the Umno electorate.
This is more so when the party likes to see itself as democratic. No less than the Umno president, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, averred as much about his party and, on that score, signalled that he was open to a challenge.
Umno running out of time
But in the indirect mode which is the standard form of Malay political discourse, form is one thing, actual intention another.
That is why Malay political discourse is simultaneously fascinating and off-putting. People who camouflage intention behind complex layers of expression must think they have plenty of time on their hands.
Actually, Umno does not have much time on its hands. It composed itself like it had a lot because after the ruling coalition it dominates suffered the loss of its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority at GE12, it dragged its feet on reform of itself and of the nation, the need for which was the clarion message Malaysian voters sent it at the watershed March 2008 polls.
There was a price to be paid for this lethargy: Umno-BN incurred the loss of its traditional plurality in the popular vote at GE13, sliding to just over 47 percent of the overall take in comparison with the opposition Pakatan Rakyat's 51 percent.
First the loss of its parliamentary superiority, then the downdraft in its overall popularity must mean the writing is on the wall for Umno and its appendages in BN.
But the message of ‘no contest for the two top posts in Umno' bandwagon is that things are nice and peachy, so there's no need to rock the boat with contests for the upper tier of posts that may well sunder the party.
The ‘no contest' cabal of support is gathering pace. No sooner had Puad aired his view than Negri Sembilan Umno backed the proposition.
Even party vice-president Zahid Hamidi joined the caravan the other day by saying he thought the call sensible.
But Zahid's support is suspect and attributable to the Malay mode of indirect discourse.
If current deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin contests Najib for the No 1 post, Zahid, as top vice-president, stands to benefit because he can then go for the vacant deputy president's post.
It's good Malay political form not to seem to overtly want what you covertly covet.
A Mahathir-created problem
If indirection is the preferred mode of Malay political discourse, projection is not far behind as a method by which to hide one's scheming heart.
The eminence grise of Umno, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, is adept at the art.
One can infer from his latest comments that he wants the Umno leadership revamped for he believes the party was lucky to win the general election because in general Malay voters opted for the psychological security that Umno's patronage affords them to the uncertainties of an Anwar Ibrahim-led Pakatan in which a thrusting DAP would be difficult to contain.
Mahathir said the overweening self-interest of incumbents barred the door to the talented, rendering Umno bereft of talent and infested with the corrupt and the mediocre.That Umno cannot carry on this way and keep Malay support was Mahathir's warning to the party.
This problem with this narrative is that few these days believe that Mahathir's 22-year (1981-2003) stewardship of Umno and Malaysia was a period that emphasised talent over mediocrity, performance over loyalty, probity over corruption, collective interests over partisan considerations.
In fact, majority opinion is coalescing around the position that under his prolonged tenure, the country was built up physically but was emasculated morally.
So his latest posting on his blog is so much projection, attributing to others what he himself was responsible for.
Thus indirection and projection combine to undermine the Umno elector's grasp of reality which explains the party's continuing residence in reality-denying mode.
TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for four decades. He likes the occupation because it puts him in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them.
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