VP race gets hotter by the day

The race for the Umno vice-presidency is wide open now that claims that the top Umno leadership was advocating a status quo has been dismissed as ‘absolutely not true’.

Joceline Tan, The Star

DATUK Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein has been campaigning at a feverish pace to hold on to his vice-president (VP) post.

He has reportedly taken leave from his ministerial duties to concentrate on his campaign. He spent the entire Sunday in Perak, meeting delegates from north to south of the state.

The Defence Minister is fighting for survival in the six-man race for the three VP seats.

He has been earnestly persuading his audiences why they should support him, even going to the extent of reminding them that he had chaired the committee that brought in the new election system in Umno.

His campaign has been a stark contrast to that of forerunner Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Everywhere that Zahid has gone, the Umno crowd tells him that they want him up there. But Hishammuddin is struggling to convince delegates that they still need him.

However, he is said to enjoy support in Perak where Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir has endorsed the three incumbents who include Zahid and Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal.

The Perak endorsement for the VP incumbents was reportedly based on claims of an instruction from the top leadership to maintain a status quo at the VP level. It has since been dismissed as untrue.

A source close to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said it was “absolutely not true” that the president is lending his weight to any of the VP candidates, including Hishammuddin who is his cousin.

According to the source, the president wants to stay above the fray because he is committed to letting the delegates have free choice on who they want as their VPs. “The party needs to be rejuvenated. Dictating the choice would defeat the purpose of the new election process and it would go against Umno’s political transformation,” said the source.

Besides, it is said that challenger Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir would not have jumped in if Najib had not given his blessing.

The outspoken Cheras Umno chief Datuk Seri Syed Ali Alhabshee said candidates should campaign on their own strength rather than ride on the president’s name.

“I don’t know who started this nonsense, going around the country, telling the people that the president wants this guy or that guy up there. They should stop it immediately,” said Syed Ali.

Hishammuddin has also issued a statement denying any instruction from the party leadership to retain the three incumbents.

For a while, the status quo story was so prevalent that Dr Zambry had planned to hold a press conference with the three VPs at his official residence on Oct 10 to declare support for them. It is understood that the event has been called off.

It was just as well because not everyone in Perak was comfortable with it. They do not mind an open endorsement of Zahid who is from Perak but they feel that the other two slots should be left open for them to decide.

On Saturday evening, the Sultan of Pahang hosted a big dinner for Umno division and branch leaders from Pahang. Some said the dinner was to celebrate Najib winning his president post unopposed. But Najib was not there and some of those who attended said it was essentially for Tuanku to meet his subjects.

A division chief who was there said that Tuanku made an after-dinner speech congratulating Najib and said that Pahang is proud of him.

“Tuanku spoke about Malay unity. He reminded us that Umno was born in the palace and that it is part of his duties to keep up with what is happening in politics. Tuanku also proposed that Pahang delegates give one of the VP places to Hisham,” said the division chief.

The endorsement from the Pahang palace is hardly surprising because Hishammuddin’s wife is a Pahang princess. It will be interesting to watch how many of the 14 divisions in Pahang will give Hishammuddin the nod of approval.

Hishammuddin can hardly be blamed for doing what it takes to win because the VP post comes with a Cabinet post. The icing on the cake if he wins is that he will still be a contender for the post of future Prime Minister. If he loses, he may be sitting on the Barisan Nasional backbench.

Hishammuddin’s dilemma is three-fold. At one level, he is being compared to Zahid who took over the Home Ministry portfolio. Zahid’s tough stance on crime and security has been in stark contrast to that of his predecessor. It has won Zahid all-round approval and some in Umno have taken to calling him “the Sheriff”.

At another level, Hishammuddin is vying for what has been coined as the “anak PM” slot. Hishammuddin and Mukhriz are sons of former prime ministers and the conventional wisdom is that there can only be one “anak PM” among the VPs – it will be either Hishammuddin or Mukhriz.

At yet another level, Hishammuddin is up against Shafie. The delegates have decided that Zahid is a “must vote” and the consequence is that they will have to sacrifice either Hishammuddin or Shafie for a new face.

In that sense, whoever concocted the status quo campaign line misjudged the sentiments on the ground. It was quite clear from early on that the party was not in the mood to give a group pass to the incumbents. Each of them are being judged on their own merit.

But few had expected Mukhriz to be riding on such a big wave. Mukhriz has won the “cheering game” as some call the response of the delegates at the Umno roadshows.

The only way to explain it is that he was part of the team that recaptured Kedah. The Kedah win was Umno’s biggest success in the general election. Since then, the Kedah Mentri Besar with the famous family name has pressed all the right buttons.

The roadshow still has seven more states to go but there is little doubt that the Umno ground wants to see at least one new face among the VPs.