Ahmad Said saved Terengganu from 1MDB – Sir Wenger Khairy

As a veteran Umno observer, we have seen many state leaders rise, fall or fade away. Some fell by the wayside because they were accused of corruption, involved in scandals or supported the wrong faction in Umno.

Some were let go because others coveted (“mengidam”) their position.

But so far to my recollection, there has not been any single major Umno leader who was replaced because he stood up to defend the rights of his state against the interference from outside forces.

Most Umno state chiefs would acquiesce to the demands of a powerful prime minister, lest they be dropped from their position.

The closest a state chief came to defying a prime minister would be Tan Sri Osman Aroff, who was dismissed by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1996.

However, some said that was because Osman was a pawn in a titanic battle between Dr Mahathir and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Anwar wanted to see how far Dr Mahathir would go when provoked.

However, today we can finally honour a leader who put his political career on the line and stood up against a rapacious force.

He is none other than “Gentleman Gocoh” himself, Datuk Seri Ahmad Said, who was unceremoniously dismissed from his role as the menteri besar of Terengganu, by the 1MDB advisor, Dato Seri Najib Razak.

At that time, many did not know the reason Ahmad was dismissed. Ahmad was well liked by the people and his folksy ways had made him very popular up and down the state.

He was also well known because of his “Robin Hood” tactic of buying the entire cargo of a bread delivery van so as to feed the people. The love and admiration the people of Terengganu had for Ahmad contrasts with the manufactured support we see for Najib.

But today, Ahmad has finally broken his silence and revealed that he was “politically executed” because of his refusal to allow 1MDB to mortgage the oil and gas oilfields and revenue from Terengganu as proposed by controversial businessman, Taek Jho Low.

Such gallantry has never been witnessed in Umno where people are generally chicken-hearted when it comes to confronting the PM over 1MDB, preferring instead to watch from the sidelines or even worse, blind themselves to this monster of Najib’s creation.

Needless to say, the Malay community lost a great leader when Mat Said was forced to resign and they should blame themselves if subsequent leaders are weak-minded and chicken-hearted when it comes to defending the rights of the Malays against forces such as 1MDB.

So we would like to propose that the country and the state of Terengganu honour Ahmad in a most fitting way.

While some ways such as making his birthday a state holiday or renaming a road or an island after him may stroke the ego of some people, I think the only meaningful way for Terengganu to honour Mat Said is for the state Umno to declare that they have lost all confidence in Najib and to demand their immediate removal from Putrajaya.

* Sir Wenger Khairy reads The Malaysian Insider.