Ku Li's plan unfolds, Mahathir weighs in, 60 divisions needed, Anwar watches

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 – A few days after the March 8 election, a group of writers were invited to a meeting attended by several Umno veterans. Top of the agenda was a discussion on the performance of Umno and the Barisan Nasional. The main conclusion reached was the need to force Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to stand down as president of Umno and Prime Minister of Malaysia.



They knew that the Umno Supreme Council would stand by their leader and would shoot down any plan to change horses mid-stream. They know that the longer Abdullah stays in the job, the more difficult it will be to set a timetable for his departure. So they opted for appealing straight to the small man on the ground, a strategy that worked well for the Opposition in the run-up to the election.


The strategy: To ride on the anti-Abdullah sentiment in the party, create a wave of discontent within the rank-and-file and make it untenable for him to stay on.


The veterans were united by their disdain for Abdullah’s leadership of the party; by their view that he and his son-in-law Khairy Jamaludin should be blamed for allowing Anwar Ibrahim back onto the main stage of Malaysian politics and for a bunch of other personal motivations.


This plan is unfolding right now, led off by a letter which Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah wrote to all divisions and branches. In that letter, the Gua Musang MP sketched the changed political landscape, the unprecedented gains by the Opposition. He did not blame Abdullah directly for the polls debacle, but made it clear that the job of making important decisions affecting the party did not fall on the shoulders of a few.


He urged party members to push for a special meeting on May 11 where the electoral performance and the future of Malays would be discussed. As expected, the plan has been shot down by many of the power brokers in the party, including many of the Mentris Besar, Wanita Umno, Supreme Council members. They are not in favour of a special meeting so soon after the polls, knowing that with nerves so raw and anger ripe any discussion could turn into a bloodletting session. Some of them also smell a ruse.


They believe that Ku Li and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad are taking advantage of the anxiety in the party to weave themselves back into the main picture.


So it was of little surprise when Dr Mahathir threw his support behind Ku Li’s proposal for a special meeting. Within party circles, they know that the battle lines are drawn – on one side will be Ku Li, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Tan Sri Sanusi Junid and other veterans and on the other side will be Abdullah, Najib and the Supreme Council.


The challengers know that they have no chance with a head-on clash or conventional battle with the council. That is why they have to whip up ground sentiment through the Internet and create so much hate and anger against Abdullah that the will of the rank-and-file will be unstoppable.


But why is the special meeting on May 11 so important for Ku Li and friends?


One, it will allow party members to state the reasons for Umno’s poor performance and say what they feel about the leadership. It would be untenable for Abdullah to remain at the top if the anger against him is overpowering.


Two, and perhaps more importantly, the gathering could pave the way for some landmark changes to the party constitution, including removing a requirement that anyone wanting to contest the position of the party president obtain at least 60 nominations. This clause was inserted during Dr Mahathir’s time to combat money politics.


If this requirement is removed, Ku Li and others will throw their hat into the ring and challenge Abdullah.


If the status quo remains, anyone with an eye on the presidency will have a gargantuan task obtaining close to 60 nominations from the 210 divisions. Dr Mahathir said as much yesterday after a book launch in Kuala Lumpur. “You need about 60 brave divisions, ‘’ he said. In 2004 when Ku Li challenged Abdullah, he only received one nomination.


Dr Mahathir also said that he would support the idea of a limited term for the Umno president, provided it did not mean passing on the job from president to son-in- law, referring to his nemesis, Khairy. For Ku Li, Mahathir and friends to get their way, they will have to crank up the anti-Abdullah campaign and isolate him from the rest of the party structure.



It is a high-stakes gamble which will put Umno in a tailspin for some time. Watching and savouring this battle is the Opposition. Anwar Ibrahim knows that as long as Umno is in infighting mode, the party will not be able to chart any plans to stop his advance. – THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER