Contestants gear up for UMNO elections
Contestants gear up for UMNO elections
By David Chew
SINGAPORE (JP): The triennial elections of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the leader of Malaysia's ruling National Front (NF) multi-party coalition government, may not be due until October. But prospective candidates have already started preparations for the expected big fight, through their frequent visits to UMNO's hundreds of divisions nationwide to drum up support.
Up for grabs will be the positions of the three vice- presidents, UMNO Youth president, WANITA (Women's Wing) president and 25 Supreme Council members.
But not the plum post of presidency and deputy presidency in the party power hierarchy. A special UMNO general assembly convened last November had decided that the incumbents, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim, who are also prime minister and deputy prime minister of Malaysia respectively, will keep their positions at least for the next three years from 1996 to 1999.
The assembly's 1,886 delegates had unanimously agreed on the no-contest move after Dr. Mahathir repeated his earlier warnings that contest for the two top positions, especially the presidency, would split the party right down the middle.
He cited the example of the closely-fought 1987 UMNO presidential polls when former Finance Minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah failed to topple him amidst allegations of vote-buying and money politics, and had to leave the party eventually.
Dr. Mahathir, after this bitter experience, had advised aspiring leaders not to challenge incumbents even though they might disagree with their style of leadership. They should instead be patient because the incumbents must eventually hand over power to them. This was the only way to ensure the continuity of stable leadership in UMNO, he stressed.
It was under such conditions that Dr. Mahathir indicated he would hand over power to Anwar. In turn, Anwar publicly pledged that he would wait his turn to take over from Dr. Mahathir even though his leadership style might be different.
But top UMNO leaders did not want the no-contest ruling for the presidency and deputy presidency to be interpreted by the party's rank and file as a setback for democracy, since divergent views in a broad-based party was inevitable.
They have therefore sanctioned contests for the other posts, but advised overzealous candidates against extensive vote buying in their attempts to win at all costs.
Predictably the attention of UMNO politics has now shifted to the contests for the three vice-presidencies, the third highest rung of leadership in the party power hierarchy. One of the three vice-presidents will be in line to move up to the Deputy UMNO presidency when Anwar takes over from Mahathir as party president.
UMNO leaders have maintained that no matter how fierce the contests for the vice-presidencies turn out to be, they will not split the party into two halves like in the case of the presidency and deputy presidency. They believe that unity of the top leadership can heal divisive tendencies among the rank and file coalescing among relatively lesser leaders.
The three incumbent vice-presidents -- Education Minister Najib Tun Razak, Youth and Sports Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Selangor Mentri Besar Muhammad Taib -- will defend their positions against three challengers -- Foreign Minister Abdullah Badawi, Defense Minister Syed Hamid Albar and Perak Mentri Besar, Ramli Ngah Talib -- in October.
Of the three incumbents Najib is likely to poll the highest number of votes, according to observers. As education minister, he has been given the important task of overseeing Malaysia's move to be a regional center of higher education. And he appears to be doing his job well.
But this can be offset by the recent textbooks scandal concerning some schools which are under the purview of his ministry. Najib's opponents will no doubt highlight the scandals to tarnish him.
Muhyiddin, the former Mentri Besar of Johor, polled the highest number of votes in the last UMNO elections in 1993. But since his transfer to the relatively junior Youth & Sports Ministry last year, Muhyiddin's support has been slipping. Observers attribute this to the very little patronage in his new ministry which deals with delinquents and drug addicts.
However, Muhyiddin can still redeem himself -- if he can clean up the mess in Malaysian sports which the prime minister lamented recently. Its latest manifestation was a contingent which failed miserably to win the targeted number of gold medals at the Southeast Asian Games last year in Chiang Mai, Thailand, despite all the training and incentives it received.
Badawi, who lost his incumbency as a vice-president in the 1993 UMNO elections, is making a comeback, relying on his high profile as foreign minister. But observers note his lack of grassroots support which could work against him even though he reportedly had Mahathir's endorsement.
The other three candidates -- Hamid, Taib and Ramli -- are quietly building up their support base with the elections still a few months away. They are capable of springing a few surprises.
The incumbent UMNO Youth and WANITA presidents -- Rahim Thamby Chik and Rafidah Aziz -- are likely to retain their positions although they have yet to announce their intention of defense.
With the corruption and sex scandal charges against him dropped, Rahim enters the electoral fray brimming with confidence. Rafidah, who is in Mahathir's good books, has been actively promoting Malaysia as an investment haven overseas in her capacity as International Trade and Industry Ministry.
The UMNO triennial election has always been monitored with greater interest than the general elections in Malaysia by observers, for the simple reason that its outcome can hold pundits in suspense while that of the general election is easily predictable by an NF victory.
The writer is a freelance journalist based in Singapore.