Selangor Umno in deep water

In the prelude to the 2008 general election, when the writing was on the wall that the BN was losing support, the then Mentri Besar Dr Mohamed Khir Toyo, even talked about “zero opposition” in the state, typical of leaders in denial. Selangorians I spoke to think there’s no chance of Umno making a comeback in their state if “leaders who have outlived their shelf-life” stay put, including Noh himself.

Azman Ujang, The Sun Daily

It took a rare public reprimand from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to wake Selangor Umno from its six-year slumber after Umno-led Barisan Nasional was toppled from power in Malaysia’s wealthiest state in 2008.

At Selangor Umno’s “soul searching” convention on Nov 1, the Umno president was visibly downcast when he said he felt tired with the humiliating reality that the BN was in the opposition in the state.

When one talks of Selangor, it’s not just any other state. It’s the most strategic even for the federal government that Najib leads because here lies the nation’s economic hub with the massive presence of local and foreign investors and which generates some 25% of the national economy.

And it’s the most highly populated state being the first choice for job-seekers and businessmen from other states seeking to tap its vast business opportunities.

Against this backdrop, Najib told the convention that nothing would please him more than to see Selangor Umno regaining its “maruah” (dignity) and ensuring BN wrests power in the state in the next election.

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as expected pounced on Selangor Umno by telling its leaders to face up to reality and quit their positions.

He said the state Umno not only had to be restructured but should be disssolved following its dismal results in the 2008 and last year’s general elections.

Mahathir rubbed it in further by calling on the party that he once led to shed its image of being corrupt and for its leaders to adopt a moderate lifestyle, including by not driving luxury cars when going to the villages.

It’s this image of Umno leaders and other factors like resting too much on its laurels that played a big part in the party being trounced in Selangor.

In the prelude to the 2008 general election, when the writing was on the wall that the BN was losing support, the then Mentri Besar Dr Mohamed Khir Toyo, even talked about “zero opposition” in the state, typical of leaders in denial.

At that time, Khir was already highly unpopular especially among many civil servants in the state – as well as their family members – because of an incident a few years earlier.

I’m referring to the infamous public event where Khir presented two senior civil servants with a broom each to symbolise his displeasure with the performance of government agencies under the duo, while he presented certificates of merit to others.

One would have expected the two officers to reject taking the brooms, seen by many as an insult, but they “dutifully” accepted, with only God knows what went through their mind at such public humiliation.

Surprisingly no Umno leaders then, including Mahathir, who is now very critical of Selangor Umno, said anything of Khir’s conduct which amounted to an insult of the entire civil service.

Not a word, too, from the then head of the 1.4 million-strong civil service whose members and family are a huge vote bank.

Such was the norm then when politicians aligned to the corridors of power as well as civil servants avoided being seen as politically incorrect even if an act like giving brooms to civil servants was ironically in itself politically incorrect. All this given the fact that in a democracy, the people are the masters.

And in the run-up to last year’s general election, state Umno leaders, still in denial, told Najib at a briefing that the BN would recapture the state.

It turned out to be worse than in 2008, with BN winning only 12 of 56 state seats. Ten years earlier, it had won 54 seats.

Selangor Umno has massive legacy problems with the tainted image of successive mentris besar whose style of government had set a pattern of political patronage or crony capitalism, more so in Selangor with the vast resources at the disposal of those in power.

So used to living in a comfort zone for decades, the state Umno now in the opposition, is facing its worst time and a future fraught with uncertainty. This is coupled with the fact that it seems to be bereft of a new crop of leaders or one credible enough to be a mentri besar.

Mahathir alluded to this when he said: “Today, even if we wanted to choose a candidate for the position of mentri besar, there are no suitable candidates.”

What about Datuk Seri Noh Omar (pic), a former cabinet minister who heads the state Umno?

He reacted unfavourably to Mahathir’s suggestion that the present batch of leaders step down while the party accepts new faces and that the incumbent leaders stop the practice of shutting out potential leaders for fear of losing their own positions.

Noh said there’s no reason why he should quit, saying he always won his seat including by a bigger majority in last year’s polls.

“For me, being the Selangor Umno chief is not a glamorous position. It is a huge responsibility and a burden. I can give my support to anybody who feels he can lead Selangor Umno. Whether I am a leader, I always make sure the struggle of Selangor Umno continues. This is our dignity,” Noh told a newspaper.

Because the present leadership has failed badly to deliver, Noh should walk the talk by doing what Mahathir had prescribed.

I made a few attempts to interview Noh for this column but he did not respond.

One classic case of Umno’s reluctance to open up to new faces was that of Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim who until two months ago was Selangor mentri besar.

Earlier, while a corporate leader and an Umno member, he made several attempts to contest for posts at the grassroot level like a branch and division head but failed simply because he was seen as a threat to the incumbents.

But when he joined Parti Keadilan Rakyat and contested the 2008 election, just on the strength of his credentials alone, the Pakatan Rakyat coalition that wrested power from the BN, picked him as the mentri besar although he did not hold any senior party post.

Selangorians I spoke to think there’s no chance of Umno making a comeback in their state if “leaders who have outlived their shelf-life” stay put, including Noh himself.

It’s not Selangor Umno per se that’s wholly to blame but support for BN in urban constituencies throughout the country is diminishing and Selangor is the biggest showcase for this because it’s also the most urbanised state with practically no rural areas to speak of which are still largely pro-BN, especially in Sabah and Sarawak.

I see Selangor Umno in a situation far worse than Malaysia Airlines.

Khazanah Nasional, which owns MAS, has come up with a 12-point plan to turn around the national carrier but Selangor Umno, I think, needs more than just 12 points.

Azman Ujang is a former editor-in-chief of Bernama.