The contest for the UMNO wing positions are over. That is branch delegates choice and reflect UMNO masses thinking.
Despite her husband's NFC debacle, Maznah's 3 electoral votes hardly dented Shahrizat's personal touch. It proves that the preference of a Pahang aristocrat's Negeri Sembilan wife's has no influence with branch delegates.
Akhramsyah's quarter believed some hands together with mainstream media withheld his 7 hard-earned votes from public knowledge. Still, it's game over. Time to reassess, including acknowledging his own weakness.
There could be possible manipulation or flaw in the electoral process, opinion within UMNO would rest upon the overwhelming electoral votes in favour of Dato Shahrizat and Khairy to lead Wanita and Pemuda UMNO, respectively.
Time to move on to the hotly contested UMNO Vice President race and election to the main body of UMNO. There is a conspiracy theory to "korban" a Vice President being spoken in limited circle.
The takbir Aidil Adha can be heard till Thursday but the UMNO"qurban" will resume on Saturday, the 19th.
Most of the UMNO candidates will be busy with Hari Raya Qurbanto visit their elderly ones or involved themselves with the qurban ritual.
By tomorrow, the will be lots of political rally involving the winners of the wing election and Vice Presidents.
All the three denied theyare "rafting" together but the message being heard through the paid bloggers and mainstream media is the same. That is to maintain status quo.
The reason is not so much as the work well together to organise the UMNO Annual General Assembly but strongly believed to use the Dato Ahmad Zahid's momentum to provide the pull factor for Dato Hishamuddin.
Since saving only Hishamuddin could be seen as depriving the incumbent Vice President from Sabah, Dato Shafie Apdal, he tags along on the "raft."
It only shows that the "raft" was also to float Shahrizat.
Khairy could be seen as part of wave of status quo but he is capable of floating by his own in Pemuda UMNO. With the wings' represented at division delegates, Khairy's statement that was carried by television has it's weight in votes.
In an event that was carried by mainstream news, Khairy said to the effect to support those that have been consistently performing and delivering rather than talking.
It is similar to his campaign message against contenders Akramsyah, Karim, Syed Rosli and his late mother in law's nephew.
However, the political do involving wing chiefs and incumbent VP means more. In her column [read here], Joceline Tan wrote:
Hishammuddin used to be Khairy’s boss in the party’s Youth wing but Khairy has become some sort of superstar after his spectacular win and the former boss is now turning to the former deputy for help.
The Youth and Sports Minister had turned up at the event billed as Rangkaian Sahabat (network of friends) to lend a boost to Hishammuddin’s campaign for a second term as Umno vice-president.
The word is that Khairy has thrown his weight behind Hishammuddin.
He has reportedly sent out word to his boys on the ground to support the Defence Minister.
Khairy made a spirited speech at the event, lauding Hishammuddin as a friend of the youth generation.
He also reminded the audience of how, in the political turmoil of 1998, Hishammuddin had to take over a fragmented Youth wing.
The then Youth chief, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, had been forced to step down while both the wing’s secretary and information chief had quit the party.
He credited Hishammuddin, who was Umno Youth chief from 1998 to 2009, for keeping the wing intact and for steering it back to calm seas.
This could very well be some sort of turning point for Hishammuddin, who has been struggling against all sorts of public perception about him.
Hishamuddin has been taking leave to work hard to campaign. He has been meeting division people and have campaign machinery working their way down to the branches.
He has neither spared any resources nor left any stones unturned. One can see that Hishamuddin can be serious. No more theMenteri Amaran but someone who could apply the levers of power and influence.
If there is a new perumpamaan Melayu needed to describe a political working hard to hold on to power, then "bagai Hishamuddin hampir hilang jawatan" would fit.
As incumbent, we never believed that Hishamuddin whose been true thick and thin through the reformsi era could falter. Thus we were ridiculing him for looking desperate.
In UMNO politics, looking desperate and behaving like a loser will surely lead one in that direction.
Somehow it occured to us that this could be more than a case of survival. Hishamuddin is one who said that the perception created by bloggers do not translate to the 150,000 delegates. They have a different consideration.
Exposing wrongdoings of opponents, corruption cases, and electoral abuse may not sway the voters. Not even ideology or fiery words. Like the divisional delegates of the past and election campaign, delegates look towards visibility, touch, and standing. This makes it difficult for outsiders.
Thus the big bomb Hishamuddin was supposed to drop two days before party poll is his past and track record. Read Azhari Al Siddeq here.
This got us curious and think that Hishamuddin could be working on towards more than his survival but to attain the top position among the Vice Presidents?
The motivation is simple. Zahid's strategy had been to say in line when Tan Sri Muhyiddin vacate his position as Deputy President and Deputy Prime Minister. The speculation is that Muhyiddin would make way or be pressured to leave by mid-term.
Hishamuddin's aggresive campaign is to ensure that he not only remain within the top three but legitimise his position as heir apparent to Najib by being the number 1 Vice President.
If it is not number 1, the least should be number 2. In the past, the number 1 VP did not guarantee being picked to be number 2 man.
Zahid could finished the highest but not become the preferred one for Deputy when the time comes. On paper, Hishamuddin had more expose in the "senior" Ministerial positions than Zahid. Furthermore, Zahid had a tainted past for his link to Anwar Ibrahim's reformasi.
Could Zahid be the Vice President to be "qurban" from his pole position? Khairy's words could be directed towards Zahid.
While Joceline tan interpreted those words as more for Hishamuddin than for Zahid, it could also be made towards Dato Mukhriz Mahathir. With the help of Regina Lee, NST report herewrote the following extract:
Veteran Datuk Rahmah Abdul Hamid, 81, has found “experience” an important factor to consider when choosing the right candidate.
“Anybody looking to be elected into office should have served the party, starting out at the lower ranks,” she said, while voicing her disappointment at the entrance of Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir into the vice-presidency race.
“While I have nothing against him, I feel that Mukhriz has been pushed far too quickly up the ranks. He has not even served as division leader yet.
“Umno works religiously from ground to the top and if you have not spent time building the party or being a coolie, then you will not understand the sentiments of party members.”
She said Mukhriz should instead spend his time focusing on Kedah and get accepted by the people there first.
She pointed out that, in contrast, incumbent vice-president (Datuk Seri) Hishammuddin Hussein had his foot on the ground and knew the party’s ins and outs.
“He has been the Umno youth chief before, and he has moved up the ladder in a proper way, being groomed by the party.”
Obviously, it is just the natural instinct of Khairy's high expectation mother to lend a helping hand for his future. Read comment by Bigdog hereand Jebat Must Die here.
Others will could conclude that her mother was merely echoing the words of her son and lending a hand to Khairy's negative campaigning against Mukhriz.
Killing off Mukhriz serves to kill off the last surviving competitor to the 2009 Ketua Pemuda contest.
Mukhriz's announcement had created wave and contributed to Hishamuddin's desperate campaign. Many political observers believed that Mukhriz have given Hishamuddin a competition for the "quota" for sons of ex Prime Ministers.
Currently, many felt Mukhriz would be the sacrificial cow and the complain is that he is hardly not visibly seen campaigning and reaching out.
Some political observer believed he is pulling the brakes to prepare for the more important test of his leadership and that is the Sungai Limau by-election.
If the old campaigning style is needed to ensure a win, then the reading is for him to lose. However, without Mukhriz knowing, there are veteran leaders lending him a hand in the name of party rejuvenation.
Some of these leaders may not necessarily be friendly with his father when he was in power. Some of them lending Mukhriz a hand are Najib's men.
Some Mukhriz diehards felt that only papers with picture of"kepala Agong" could deny Mukhriz.
The "kepala Agong" was heard to be passed around but as campaign expenses and petrol money. In reality, it is hard to describe it as money politics when it is petrol money or compensation lost of income for rural folks to attend political rallies.
While there could be no existence of such son of PM quota, Hishamuddin's team may view that he is the most likely to get knocked off to make way for Mukhriz since UMNO grassroot believes in the existence of a Sabah quota.They forgot that UMNO also used to talk of the ulamak quota in the days of Tan Sri Wan Mokhtar but no more such quota.
By moral standard, Shafie is the most gullible of all three incumbents.
He could be considered the biggest political liability among them for the simple reason, the fixed deposits of Sabah and Sarawak are upset with him
If the party's branch delegate believe in the need for rejuvenation and remove tainted candidates, Shafie will be the one to be"korban."
He is not well received within the Aman controlled Sabah which constitute a big chunk of electoral college votes.
Within Sabah, Shafie is not popular with the grassroot for the failure of his Kementerian Luar Bandar and Wilayah (KKLW) to deliver the basic rural infrastructure of road, water, and energy.
It is blamed on Sabah's KKLW
In the past he had allied with Dato Dato Lajim Ukin and was involved in past financial scandal with Dato Yong Teck Lee and Dato Ambrose Lee.
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| Zahida's RM3 million home sans interior |
There is also the brewing alleged scandal with model Zahida Rafiq that could be more than a second wife but a business and financial arrangement.
However, what happens in Sabah may not have any bearing in the manner Semenanjung branch delegates vote.
In fact, they are beginning to say "orang kita" in Sabah. Shafie comes from an UMNO/USNO family and is nephew of Yang Dipertua Negeri Sabah, Tan Sri Sakaran Dandai.
With KKLW's huge budget for rural area development and that comes with political influence and support, he is no pushover.
Without Shafie in the equation, two formula is being bandied around. One is Rocky Bru's 521 or ZAHIM for Zahid, Hishamuddin and Mukhriz. Read here.
Another is ZAM ... Zahid, Ali Rustam and Mukhriz.
There is not much talk about former Melaka Chief Minister. He may have lost the Bukit Katil Parliamentary seat. He attributed it simply as the Chinese factor.
But there is also his mistake of taking two unacceptable state assembly candidate in the Bukit Katil's 4 state assembly constituents. That weigh him down to lose.
However, Ali is not out of the political game. He was just appointed Senator and is now chairman of PUNB.
A win could make him remain relevent. Ali is ahead of others in campaigning. He started early and his advantage lies in his personal "touching."
Ali belongs to the Sahabat network and it helps catapult his political career. There are those that dispute such claim but Ali is synonymous with the Hidup Melayu struggle. Khairy is not yet PM to totally remove that thinking.
In 2004, he came second for Vice President. If not for the suspension, he was tipped to have beaten Muhyiddin for Deputy President.
Mukhriz is not lying to say that the strength of all candidates are equal or if not, almost equal.
Even without a political position, Tan Sri Isa Samad is no pushover. As told by one of his campaigner, the "Felda constituents" is a major advantage and he has nurtured that constituent well.
They delivered for BN and the grassroot are not easily taken by talk of allegation of indiscretion n FGV in the purchase of United Pontian Plantation and other deals. It is too technical and lengthy to convince UMNO grassroot delegates. Isa can brush it off with his deft campaign.
In the 2004 race, Isa came out ahead of Ali and Muhyiddin. Isa's men claimed he was the fall guy or "korban."
Isa is Najib's trusted man and returned to turnarounded BN's post 2004 GE losing momentum. His wife, Puan Sri Bibi Sharliza is close to Datin Seri but it will not be much of a factor.
If it is not for status quo, do not discount Isa to make a surprise again. He has the "resources" and the most stealth and focused campaign operation. Just like Hishamuddin, he has got operatives working at the branches in his focused target areas.
The various winning permutations can be speculated but it is Najib's final words that matter. His preference will carry weight.
-Another Brick in the Wall
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