Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s push for early elections is a desperate move to save himself from conviction on multiple charges of money laundering, criminal breach of trust, and accepting bribes which would immediately disqualify him as Umno president and to run in the elections.
The table (below) is a summary of 47 charges against Zahid - 12 for criminal breach of trust, eight for bribery and 27 for money laundering.
Under the Societies Act, Zahid immediately loses his Umno presidency upon conviction. Section 9A (1)(b) of the act says: “Subject to subsections (2) and (4), a person shall be disqualified from being, and shall not become or remain, an office bearer, adviser or employee of a registered society if he has been convicted of any offence under any other law and sentenced to a fine of not less than two thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year.”
That means with immediate effect upon conviction, he can’t be Umno president. His cases are quite far advanced and there is every likelihood that he would be found guilty given the nature of the offences and the money trail which is not disputed in many cases. His only defence to many of the charges is that they were political donations.
Zahid has maintained in court that he and some 20 other Umno politicians, including former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan, and former federal territories minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, were selectively prosecuted by the Pakatan Harapan government.
Zahid has been very strongly pushing for the 15th general elections to be called, much too strongly. He said that the Umno/BN coalition is willing to wade through flood waters to campaign in an irrational outburst for polls to be called early, even during the monsoon period.
"If Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob dissolves (Parliament) during the flood, (we) will brave through it to contest. All BN machinery will go out even during floods and typhoons,” Zahid said.
In the same report, Malaysiakini said the Meteorological Department has predicted for the monsoon season to start in November and carry on until March 23, 2023 which differs from the usual monsoon period of September to November. Malaysia was hit with one of the worst floods in history in December last year.
Under the circumstances, it is rather callous for Zahid to be calling for immediate elections when there is a real danger of floods during the elections. Elections need not be held until five years and two months after the first parliamentary session following the last general elections (GE14) or September next year.
There is really no pressing reason to hold it earlier except to ensure that Zahid remains Umno president when the elections are declared and he can stand for a seat at the time.
Post that, and if Umno/BN win or are the dominant partners in a ruling coalition, he could even become prime minister. That would mean much power and influence which he can use to help to free himself from the charges.
With prosecution the sole prerogative of the attorney-general, the AG may be persuaded to withdraw the charges and perpetuate a corrupt Umno dynasty with disastrous consequences for the country.
Who will gain?
Who will benefit from such an outcome? Umno? No, because even if Umno wins now, with all its bad policies and corrupt leaders, it will sow the seeds of its own destruction at the next elections.
In terms of timing, so soon after Najib’s guilt was proven beyond any doubt followed by incarceration and his very public demand for pardon even before serving a significant sentence and his unrepentant behaviour, it is bad.
It would serve Umno much better at the polls if they waited until the legal process got rid of their key corrupt leaders and then faced the electorate by saying that they intend to change for the better. At least, there will be some proof in the pudding instead of merely mouthing accusations and platitudes.
Will early elections benefit the Malays? No. Because with the most corrupt leadership ever leading Umno, they will have no time for the Malays and will collaborate with their business partners, Malay and non-Malay, in a continued rape and pillage of the country.
The non-Malays? No. Except for a few prominent non-Malays who enjoy a lucrative relationship with the Umno leadership, most non-Malays will face increasing pressures and discrimination and find it more and more difficult to make an honest, decent living. Meantime the ruling parties will systematically ratchet racial animosities up to stay in power.
The nation? Not at all. A bunch of proven kleptocrats, who stoke racial tensions to stay in power, leading the country will lead to further pillage and robbery of the country’s rich resources in the billions and lead to the relative impoverishment of the masses and even the destruction of the country in the longer term.
But PM Ismail Sabri is under strong pressure to call for early polls from the court cluster within his own party. He has assured that elections are “not too far away”. But what is “not too far away”? It could be a year, September next year perhaps - that’s not too far as well.
Indeed, if early elections are called soon, Ismail might not be PM for long. First, Umno/BN may lose, second, even if they won, Zahid will likely be PM, not Ismail. Ismail, who by virtue of being PM holds in his hand the power to call for elections, may just wait.
If, against better judgement, he calls for early elections, the earliest it could be will be early November. The clearest indication of an early election is that the budget announcement has been moved forward to Oct 7 from Oct 28.
If a period of one month is given between announcement and elections as in GE14, then the earliest election date would be Nov 8 or thereabouts, with the distinct possibility of floods, hardship for the electorate and immense logistical problems.
If in spite of all this, Ismail chooses to go early and gets the king’s assent, then the only thing that the electorate can do is to deliver a resounding defeat to Umno/BN and demonstrate that they can no longer be taken for granted as they did at GE14 on May 9, 2018.
And Umno/BN will richly deserve that loss. It is well to remember that ultimately the electorate decides election outcomes and Umno/BN risks losing if it continues to pander to the interests of Zahid and his cronies and ignores the rakyat.- Mkini
P GUNASEGARAM, a former editor at various online and print news publications, and head of equity research, is an independent writer and analyst.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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