The rehabilitation of Zahid

 

The conjecture that former minister Khairy Jamaluddin will contest the Umno presidency against the incumbent, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, on a platform of reform has become a paradox.

Khairy, who vacated his Rembau parliamentary seat in favour of Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan, and contested in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) stronghold of Sungai Buloh, used Zahid as a punching bag in an attempt to win the seat.

The question now is who is the real reform candidate, should Khairy challenge Zahid? Further, have events of the last few weeks rehabilitated Zahid?

During the election campaign, PH claimed that a vote for Khairy was a vote for Zahid and everything he represented within Umno. Zahid still has 47 corruption charges to face in court, early next year. Khairy used this as a premise that he needed to clean up Umno and turn it back into a noble party that truly represented Malay interests once again.

Zahid faced sabotage from within his own party during the campaign. He also faced fierce candidates trying to deny him victory in his seat of Bagan Datuk, snatching victory by only 348 votes from Shamsul Iskandar Akin of PKR.

Zahid represented the epitome of Ketuanan Melayu. He commented after GE13 that those who weren’t happy with the results should get lost from the country. Corruption charges against him gave him the persona of what is wrong with cronyism and kleptocracy. The “court cluster” tag described everything that was wrong with Malaysia.

However, Zahid’s acquittal in September in the High Court of 40 charges of bribery relating to a visa scheme surprised many, allowing him to run as a candidate in the last general election.

Before Zahid was named by Anwar as deputy prime minister, pandemonium arose over the ethics of appointing a person under a legal cloud of pending charges as a deputy prime minister. There were calls within Umno for Zahid to take responsibility for Umno’s poor electoral performance and resign as party president. Many had seen the whole election as a plan for Zahid to escape conviction and jail. This became the big moral dilemma after Anwar was commissioned to form a Cabinet.

However, Zahid stitched together the unity government by supporting Anwar, even though a large section of Umno’s 30 MPs were totally against the move. He pulled rank as Umno president, and convinced Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) to abandon Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional, and join PH and Barisan Nasional in government. This pulled Anwar’s government over the 112-seat mark, necessary to command a majority in the lower house.

It was Zahid’s Padang Serai speech that immediately changed his public persona. In the most illuminating speech of his career, on stage with PH at a ceramah for the election, Zahid said Umno must learn from its mistakes. He said race and religion are now obsolete, and the policies of inclusiveness and unity are more relevant than ever before. He then expressed the hope that Umno would work with the unity government far beyond this current parliamentary term.

Zahid went on to say, “I am a Malay. You are Chinese. We are all Malaysians, right?” He then switched into perfect Mandarin, stunning most within the audience.

This is one of Zahid’s powerful strengths. He can connect with people, which gives him a popularity many other politicians can’t emulate.

This speech took Zahid into the gambit of reform that even Khairy wouldn’t espouse within Umno.

It now appears that Zahid has reframed his persona in just two short weeks of becoming deputy prime minister. There is now some talk within Umno that the number one and number two positions in the party should not be contested. Khairy’s aspirations to challenge Zahid should be shelved, as politically in the current atmosphere, he would fail in his bid to topple Zahid as president. Khairy might best be to contest for one of the vice-president’s positions. This would prevent his career coming to a premature end.

For the time being, Zahid is the second most powerful person within the country. The most important politician, Anwar Ibrahim, greatly depends on Zahid to shore him up and cover any potential future attempts to topple the government. If Khairy challenged Zahid for the Umno presidency, it would look like he was out to topple the government.

The key for Zahid will be when he faces court once again next year. Should he be acquitted, which most within the establishment expect, Zahid will become totally rehabilitated, and be one of not only the most powerful politicians within the land, but one of the most effective.

Zahid’s future may well be very much tied to Anwar. However, Anwar’s survival is very much dependent upon Zahid. Together, this team may create a new legacy in Malaysian politics and change the paradigm towards the principles that Tunku Abdul Rahman upheld while prime minister. There might even be more “reformasi” within this government than many thought possible. We may be surprised if Zahid is one of the prime drivers of change.

It’s still too early to tell. A lot can happen in a week of politics. Nobody could have predicted a scoundrel becoming a hero. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.