Najib - mailed fist in a velvet glove?

Re the UMNO VP race, leaving aside the humongous wins for pseudo-pahlawan gunslinger Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Sabahan Mohd Shafie, the other 4 candidates for UMNO's 3rd VP position garnered the following respective votes:

Dei Mukhriz tambi, nah nah nah 

• Hishammuddin Hussein - 100
• Mukhriz Mahathir - 91
• Mohd Isa Samad - 7
• Mohd Ali Rustam  - 7

Muhyiddin consoled Mahathir's son by saying soothingly it's not a bad effort for a first timer to lose by a mere 9 voters.

f* those Johor divisions, hanya 5 lagi saja

Actually Muhyiddin has been wrong on the winning margin; it's not 9 votes but a mere 5. Yes, that was how close Mukhriz was to becoming the 3rd UMNO VP (bearing in mind we cannot automatically assume the 14 votes for Isa and Ali Rustam would have automatically gone to Muhkriz, so leave the 14 votes alone).

If Mukhriz had secured that extra 5 votes he would have pipped Hishamuddin by 96 to 95, but alas for him, that didn't happen.

Now, guess who marshalled those divisional votes to ensure Hisham, for all his worthless incumbency as a VP, spilled narrowly over the finishing line by a mere 100 votes to Mukhriz 91?

Yup, 'twas KJ and Shahrizat, wakakaka.

heh heh heh
Ah Jib Gor bloody well make me a minister this time

And guess whose side KJ and Shahrizat are on?

Yes lah, Ah Jib Gor.

So, does this mean Ah Jib Gor is casting off the shadow of his erstwhile mentor-benefactor Dr Mahathir? If so, for what purpose?

To be his own man? To obey his wife wakakaka? To appease KJ over Mukhriz so securing KJ's considerable support among UMNO Youth, and to keep Mahathir's influence in UMNO's decision making top echelon to a minimum?

The power behind the throne?

I would like to think it was the first, but unless one is in UMNO or/and privy to UMNO's inner machination, one won't know, but what we do know from Bridget Welsh analysis for Malaysiakini is that Dr Mahathir has been a big loser as only 2 Mahathir loyalist have been elected to the 25 supreme council spots.

AAB has his 'revenge' on his Nemesis even as he retires from politics, for according to Bridget, 'The composition of those elected can be seen as follows: 20% Mahathir-Muhyiddin loyalists, 24% Najib loyalists, 32% Abdullah Ahmad Badawi loyalists, 20% seen as both Abdullah and Najib camps, and another 4% independent.'

32% AAB-loyalists is as good as saing they are aligned with the KJ's camp which would considerably boost Najib's hold on the party decision making body.

Whatever, Ah Jib Gor has shown himself to be a 'mailed fist in a velvet glove', meaning he may appear soft on the outside (like a velvet glove), but is underneath very hard (like a mailed or armored fist).

Rosmah sent my velvet glove for dry-cleaning

wakakaka

But what puzzled me was the circumstances surrounding Ali Rustam. Earlier (during the lead up to the party elections), it was reported that he was showing the strongest performance among the VP hopefuls. Then we have the police interviewing him for alleged sedition in his lambasting of the Chinese and their alleged 'irregular' or non-halal activities when by stark contrast, other UMNO individuals or associates weren't even touched for similar or worse 'sins'. Isn't he supposed to be Najib's man? WTF?

aiyah, what did I tell you about those ungrateful Chinese
they f**k me up again or I would have obtained 700 votes lah

Anyway, I believe PPP Indians and many Chinese are having several bottles of Guinness (aw kau) to celebrate his non-victory, wakakaka.

For more on why PPP Indians would be celebrating Ali's humongous loss, see my October 2007 post The total humiliation of PPP - a lesson for BN parties, wakakaka.

But does Mukhriz's loss spell the waning powers of Dr M among UMNO warlords, in his inability to marshal enough votes for his son?

I personally don't think so as Mukhriz managed to secure a considerable 91 votes to give Hisham minor heart attacks during the votes-count notwithstanding being a political greenhorn within UMNO leadership circle and basically a colourless personality as Mukhriz was described by one newspaper.

hasta la vista - I'll be back, you mongrols

wakakaka

Thus his quite significant 91 votes would have been (likely) due to his daddy's influence - but it wasn't enough, and let's just say KJ and Shahrizat worked much harder for Hisham, wakakaka.

So I think it's wise not to rule out The Old Man as he has still a few aces up his sleeves and given his family DNA is likely to be with us for a good many years to come, to wreck havoc on poor Najib - sorry Ah Jib Gor, the Mahathir family DNA longevity is true, wakakaka.