Riau - Indonesia: Having suffered a setback with the Prime Minister’s announcement of a delayed time frame for his expected resignation, the groups that are pushing for Tan Sri Muhiyuddin Yassin to a more powerful post in the United Malays National Organization (Umno) are rethinking their strategies.

 

 

More branches of the party are expected to push for Tan Sri Muhiyuddin Yassin to announce his candidacy for the December party polls with the Mubarak group – the group of former Ministers, Chief Ministers and MP’s – supporting the idea.

Tun Mahathir Mohamad has insisted that the party grass root must make the right move to oust current party President Abdullah Ahmad Badawi – who is also Prime Minister of Malaysia – from his post. It is said that Tun Mahathir is also pressing Umno members to make their stand and announce the candidacy of the Minister of International Trade for the post of president of the party. This will mean a direct confrontation of the minister against the Prime Minister in December, the outcome of which is almost certain to be against Abdullah Badawi.

The Johor state has been sidelined for years in the chase to hold the two top Umno posts, which relates to the post of Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of the government of Malaysia altogether. In the current perspective of power transfer – which puts the current government of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in transition – the Southern push is becoming stronger.

Reports say there could be an alliance within the party that sees the emergence of the Johore leaders in the Umno as potential Prime Ministers or Deputy Prime Ministers. The party, the source said, was weary of the trend of accusations against the current Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak and the large unpopularity of the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

From Malacca to Johore, where the Party Keadilaan Rakyat (PKR) is making rapid headway among non-Malays, the Umno members are aiming at securing the future of the party, salvaging it from the much perceived downfall that is it said to be heading for.

The Malaysian cabinet is composed of several members of who hails from the Johore state, the state that gave birth to the Umno. The most prominent of them are Muhiyuddin Yasin, Minister of International Trade; Syed Hamid Albar, Minister of Home Affairs; Hishamuddin Hussein, Minister of Education.

Johor Umno has two deputy ministers in the federal government and there are six Johoreans among the 25 elected party supreme council members. This, with the six ministers, makes the Johor lobby within the party and the government a powerful one.

The group is said to be supported by the Chief Minister from Malacca - since Malacca also forms part of the Southern thrust in the Umno but this information is not confirmed. It is published as part of the rumors that is circulating across the country regarding the possible challenge of the party presidency from Johor. The Chief Minister is also a vice-president of the party and would want to defend his position in December when the party will hold its polls.

It is said that a large share of the Johor votes within the party will go for the leaders who will represent the group in the Umno elections. The first name to come out of the Pandora’s Box is Muhiyuddin Yasin himself. He was expected to challenge the Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak for the Vice President post and his victory was to be seen as the doom for Najib Razak.

However, if he challenges the president of the party and becomes the Prime Minister of Malaysia – he will then become the second Premier from Johor after Tun Hussein Onn, the second Prime Minister of Malaysia – the role of Najib Razak will still be unclear. It will all depend if he wins the vice-presidency and whether a new Prime Minister will choose him as deputy PM.

While Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi managed to navigate through a first attempt by the Johor Umno weed him out of office by giving a timeline for his resignation, the PM is said to be facing more pressure from the south to let the party decide on a President in December.

In April this year, the Prime Minister was told in a subtle manner about the Johor Umno decision to see him resign earlier. The impact of his meeting with the Johor Umno resulted in calming the spirits about his plans to leave his post and to hand over the PM Job to Najib. The Johor Umno group wants the PM to resign in a smooth transition of power but this is not happening until 2010, which is making it possible for a sudden mounting of a challenge for his presidency post within the party in December.

At some point it appeared that the Johor Umno wanted Muhiyuddin Yasin to be at the helm of one of the two top posts in the party. With the party stalwarts showing their discord after the announcement of the ‘retirement’ plan by the PM in July, there are now more talks of pressure on Abdullah Badawi to resign well before the Umno party polls.

While the Minister of International Trade is yet to announce his challenge to the VP post of the party, there are signs that Johor Umno members are expecting something positive to happen soon.

This will be after the Umno branches carries out their own selections and meet to decide on the immediate future of the party. The Johor Umno believe the election of Muhiyuddin will help the party heal itself after the general elections debacle of March 2008. They say there is a need for unity in the party and apparently Muhiyuddin Yassin is the man who can heal the party along these lines.

 

Muhiyuddin Yassin is also said to be popular among non-Malays in the country, with large sections of the Chinese community in particular seeing him as the best placed to hold the post of Prime Minister of Malaysia. They cite his integrity and his professionalism to start with while others say he gives confidence to the business community of the country with his approach to fairness.

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment