Mahathir retains grip after poll

Mahathir retains grip after poll

By David Chew

SINGAPORE (JP): Without a doubt, the general assembly of the
United Malays National Organization (UMNO) is Malaysia's
political event of the year. UNMO's stern warning about the
dangers of money politics was well received by the 1,884
delegates, who, with invited guests and hundreds of regular party
members, thronged the UMNO headquarters in Kuala Lumpur Oct. 9 to
Oct. 12.

Malaysian prime minister and UMNO president Mahathir Mohamad
wept as he urged delegates to reject corrupt candidates in the
triennial party elections, which resulted in some surprises in
election outcomes.

The general assembly is politically significant because UMNO
has led Malaysia's ruling multiparty coalition government
uninterrupted for nearly 40 years, unlike other coalition
governments with much shorter tenures in neighboring countries.

What UMNO says counts more than the collective view of the
National Front (NF) because UMNO is the coalition's core.
Similarly, analysts pay close attention to the UMNO triennial
polls since their outcome can defy heavy odds -- a stark contrast
with their views of the Malaysian general election, with its
predictable outcome of a landslide NF victory.

The party delegates' voting results show that Mahathir remains
in firm control of the broad-based party, at least for the next
three years. But it also indicates that the supporters of his
deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, want a greater say in party affairs.

Although Anwar may have refuted suggestions that UMNO is
divided into two camps coalescing round the premier and himself,
analysts are skeptical. Factions exist in all political parties,
and UMNO is no exception, even though factionalism in UMNO is
less severe than in other parties.

Perhaps Anwar is correct to measure unity within UMNO by his
close and cordial ties with Mahathir. But observers note that his
endorsement as the next premier merely reflects party concern for
a smooth leadership transition.

In fact, most older party members support the 71-year-old
Mahathir, while their younger counterparts favor 49-year-old
Anwar. Still, UMNO is a diverse party with 2.4 million members,
and these distinctions are not absolute.

Democracy is alive and kicking in UMNO, as attested by the
recent elections for various party positions including the three
vice-presidents, 25 Supreme Council members, the UMNO Youth and
Wanita (Women's wing) president, and their respective 15-council
members. The Supreme Council is the highest policy-making body in
the party, and parallel bodies exist within the Youth and Wanita
branches.

But with an earlier Supreme Council ruling, Mahathir kept
party factionalism under control by deciding that the top two
positions of party president and deputy president should not be
contested. The incumbents, himself and Anwar, ran unopposed and
returned to office. Initially Mahathir allowed campaigning, but
when he discovered had been corrupted by practices like buying
votes, he banned it altogether.

Just as he feared that allowing contested elections for the
party's top two positions would eventually split the party wide
open, Mahathir was equally concerned that money politics would
lead to the election of leaders who cared more about their
personal interests than about public service.

He had made other speeches on this subject, but this time, his
weeping delivery had a profound impact on many delegates. They
were moved by Mahathir's call to equate rejection of corruption
with love for UMNO, the Malay race and Malaysia. They responded
by brushing aside factional loyalties to vote for those who were
both "clean and capable".

Vote counters were shocked by the effects of Mahathir's
speech, though both rival factions fared equally with the wins
and losses. While incumbent vice-president Education Minister
Najib Razak and Selangor chief minister Muhammad Taib, who were
part of Anwar's "Vision" team in the 1993 UMNO elections, were
re-elected because of their impressive track records for Malay
education and "Malay unity" meetings, some non-incumbents were
elected on their rejection of money politics.

Such was the case with Foreign Minister Abdullah Badawi, a
Mahathir loyalist who defeated incumbent Youth & Sport Minister
Muhyiddin Yassin, a staunch Anwar supporter, for the third vice-
president slot. Abdullah's "clean image" fit well with Mahathir's
condemnation of money politics.

This election's emphasis on morally upright candidates placed
anyone previously associated with scandal at a severe
disadvantage, even if they were later cleared by Mahathir. In
this vein, incumbent youth president Rahim Thamby Chik and
incumbent Wanita president Rafidah Aziz, both of whom were
closely allied to Mahathir, lost to lesser-known political
rivals, Zahid Hanidi and Zahara Sulaiman, supporters of Anwar.

Scandal tainted Rahim in 1994 when allegations surfaced that
he had been sexually involved with a schoolgirl, forcing him to
resign his position as UMNO Youth chief and minister of the state
of Malacca. Although these charges were later dropped and Rahim
was reinstated as youth chief, it appears that the incident may
have affected his re-election prospects.

Rafidah, as the Minister of International Trade & Industry,
had been severely criticized in 1993 when a committee that she
chaired allocated 1.5 million shares of a public company to her
son-in-law. She entered this year's electoral fray as a capable
minister who had successfully led several overseas trade missions
for Malaysia, but her record was not enough to overcome the tide
against her.

In the 25-seat Supreme Council, the delegates elected 20
candidates loyal to Mahathir and five from Anwar's camp.
Mahathir's faction emerged holding 80 percent of the Supreme
Council seats, up from the 70 percent of the seats held by his
supporters in the 1993 Supreme Council.

But the Youth and Wanita councils were delivered to Anwar. His
loyalists captured 12 of the 15 Youth council seats and 8 of the
15 Wanita council seats. In 1993 both councils were dominated by
members loyal to Mahathir.

Although UMNO members say they desire to close ranks after the
bruising electoral fray, conflict continues within the party.
Mahathir's supporters want him to continue his tight grip on the
party, while Anwar's supporters are clamoring for a greater voice
in UMNO affairs.

Mahathir and Anwar both agree on UMNO's material and spiritual
path toward realizing Malaysia's "Vision 2020" agenda, which lays
out Malaysia's plan to become a developed nation in the next 20
years, but their approaches toward achieving this goal differ.

Some analysts say Mahathir seeks to create more wealth, while
Anwar is pushing for costly infrastructure projects and new joint
ventures between Malaysians and foreigners. Other analysts say
that Anwar's motives are egalitarian, that he seeks a more
equitable distribution of wealth among the Malays because he
feels that many of them have yet to benefit from the government's
affirmative action policies.

The task of the UMNO over the next three years will be to
strike a balance between these two objectives and repair
factional splits. To this end, supporters of Mahathir and Anwar
are expected to trade punches through the subtle movements of the
wayang kulit (shadow play) of Malay politics.

This situation will likely be complicated by the return of
former UMNO stalwart Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and his 300,000
supporters, who left the UMNO seven years ago and formed a new
party, Melayu Semangat 46.

To the consternation of many Anwar supporters, Razaleigh
delivered an en bloc application of 200,000 former Semangat
members to join UMNO to Mahathir when the assembly convened Oct.
9, three days after Semangat dissolved itself. Whether Razaleigh,
who nearly toppled Mahathir in the UMNO presidential elections in
1987, will play a key role in the next three years of UMNO
politics remains to be seen.

Window: Supporters of Mahathir and Anwar are expected to trade
punches through the subtle movements of the wayang kulit (shadow
play) of Malay politics.