FALL OF MAHATHIR MOHAMAD, Umno's top warlord as Najib's men sweep VP posts

UPDATED AT 9 PM KUALA LUMPUR - Although the results are not confirmed yet, it looks like a clean sweep is on the way for Prime Minister Najib Razak's men in the Umno veep race, perhaps the most important contest in the entire party election.

The vice president's post is important as the future Umno president and deputy president will be picked from among this tier of leadership. And by convention, whoever makes it as the Umno president gets to become the country's prime minister, while the deputy president is also made the deputy prime minister -  provided of course that Umno remains the ruling party.

But perhaps more important than offering a signal of who will form the future leadership of the party and the country, the outcome of today's VP contest finally closes the political door on former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who has been playing the role of 'backseat driver' ever since he retired as the party president in 2003.

"I am not surprised, the result is as I predicted. Mahathir's camp will be crushed," Opposition politician Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

Unfortunately, Tian added, this will not mean the end of Umno's notorious apartheid and Malay supremacy policies. "Things may get worse, we are in uncharted territory," he warned.

Fall of Umno's No. 1 warlord

Indeed, the consensus among those who have been following the maneuvering in Umno is for Najib and team to swing even more to the right, at least in the immediate term so as to reassure the Malays who form the bulk of Umno's membership that Mahathir's presence was no longer needed because they could push the 'Malay agenda' even better than Mahathir could.

"This is what the recent BEE or what some people call the second New Economic Policy and the Prevention of Crime Act were for. They were rammed through so that Umno Malays would feel confident with Najib and believe that he could be as racist, as ruthless and as extreme as Mahathir," said Tian.

"But what will shrink and eventually lose all their power will be the Mahathir faction. For sure, we will see different faces but the new guard will still use race and religion to agitate and lobby for government deals, intimidate the non-Malays and non-Muslims. That is the Umno culture, that will stay because Umno has not been able to accept reform. But what we are seeing today is the fall of Umno's No.1 warlord - Mahathir Mohamad."

Mahathr will fight back

However, neither Tian nor other observers think Mahathir will accept defeat graciously nor fade from the scene so soon. And this is why, to counter him, Najib is expected to be even more hardline and authoritarian in his policies and decisions.

However, while this may make Najib look 'good' to Umno and the Malay community in general, the impact will actually be very negative for the country with far-reaching implications.

Already the blunders over the Prevention of Crime Act which revives inhumane detention without trial and the recent ban of the word Allah on non-Muslims have made Malaysia appear to be an oppressive, corrupt and backward county.

"The result is not unexpected. But what we will see in Umno will be even greater infighting. There will be intense guerrilla war fare between the losing factions and the victors," Opposition MP for Kelana Jaya Wong Chen told Malaysia Chronicle.

Comfortable wins for Zahid, Shafie: Hisham ahead of Mukhriz but still close

According to the latest report, Home Minister Zahid Hamidi and Rural Minister Shafie Apdal have won the minimum number of votes to continue for another term.

Defense Minister Hisham, who is also Najib's cousin, has yet to cross the minimum threshold but he is in third place with 78 votes versus Mukhriz's 59 as per the unofficial results at 9.00 pm.

Zahid has 136 votes and Shafie 124. Two other challengers Ali Rustam, the former Malacca chief minister, and Isa Samad, the former Negri Sembilan chief minister, received 8 and 7 votes respectively.

"The victories of Zahid, Shafie and Hisham will strengthen Umno's idology of Malay supremacy and this contradicts Islam," Nizar Jamaluddin, the former Perak chief minister, said on Twitter.

MORE TO COME

Malaysia Chronicle