And Who Shall Be The Future President Of UMNO

After all the jokes and speechs have been made at the ongoing PAU, there will be the winding up by the deputy president, president and also the three vice presidents of UMNO.

The president's speech will be uneventful. As Joceline Tan has written so cleverly in The Star today, one of the president's insiders told her that the president has to pay closer attention to the 47% who voted for him instead of the 51% majority who voted against him. Folks, this is why the president looks so bad. His insiders and advisors forgot to pick up their brains from the laundry.  

The Deputy President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin made a spirited speech. I only hope his thoughts on warlords helps to create a snowball effect within UMNO. The party must put the warlords in the bin. O'wise the party itself is going into the bin come 2018.

The three vie presidents Shafiee Apdal, Hishamuddin Hussein and Zahid Hamidi will be given 15 minutes each for the gulungan or winding up. This should be exciting.

One of these three will eventually  become Timbalan President and hence Deputy Prime Minister and ultimately President and Prime Minister. There is no one else on the horizon folks. So who will it be?

This is the last UMNO Assembly before 2016 - a voting year.  What the three Vice Presidents say in their 15 minute winding up speeches slot will help  the party (and the country) see who should be our future Prime Minister - if UMNO prevails in 2018.

Shafiee Apdal has turned out to be a local play - Sabah only. He showed much promise when he was elected a VP but perhaps Shafiee feels like a fish out of water when he is in the Peninsula.  

Will Zahid Hamidi make the cut?  UMNO is certainly his platform. Melayu all the way.  UMNO was made for Zahid. But is Zahid made for UMNO?  There is a huge, huge world out there. A real world.  UMNO must deal with this real world.  Can Zahid deal with the real world?

There is another huge issue - the world out there is 2st century.   Has UMNO arrived in the 21st century? Listen to the president. He said the Sedition Act will be tightened  "for the preservation of Islam as the official religion" (melindingi kesucian agama Islam).  Drama sungguh.  In 2012 he said (perhaps with equal drama) that the Sedition Act would be abolished.  And he still speaks like some jual ubat guy. Jatuh standard betul.  Why cant the party president sound cool, collected, mature and intelligent? Pekik-pekik, funny gestures - Wa Lau eh, so like kampong school boy one.

Obviously the president, his advisors, his insiders, his outsiders, his speechwriters etc do not read the Quran. Because in the Quran it is written that it is Allah who will protect and safeguard Islam.   Not UMNO or anyone else for that matter.

Anyway, coming back to reality, that leaves us the only other VP. That will be Hishamuddin Hussein Onn.

 Trial by fire

Since he became a Vice Pesident of UMNO, Hisham has had to ride through the rough.  At the last UMNO polls, he almost got beaten by Mukhriz Mahathir.  Even Ketua Bahagian who were his long time friends and associates had voted against him. That was a serious splash of icy cold water on his face.  It was a serious wake up call for Hisham who is a friendly fellow by any measure. It was a trial by fire.

Then as Minister of Defense at that time, Hisham was hit by the Lahad Datu incursion.  We have never had to face such a situation. It was an act of war.  The Sulus were insane to think that they could invade and hold territory. We lost  lives on our side.  It was another trial by fire for Hisham. Quite literally.

Then when he assumed the Transport Ministry (temporarily) we lost flight MH370 - a tragedy and a mystery of gargantuan proportions. No one knows where the flight went. Not the CIA, not the NSA, not MI5, no one. The tragedy was unprecedented, especially for our peaceful country. Another trial by fire for Hisham.

So lets see which of the three VPs most excites us.  Lets see who speaks most rationally, most intelligently and can rise to lead the nation. 

Since 2003 the nation has been drifting. It is not going anywhere under the present leadership.  11 years of drifting  has taken us to the middle of the ocean. We have already started sinking.  

Who can save us? Will it be one of these three VPs? Or will a new captain arise in 2018?