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.