What Dr Mahathir probably never considered

By MT Webmaster Last updated Oct 31, 2015

But Najib knew that as the Deputy Prime Minister cum party Deputy President, Dr Mahathir cannot decide who shall take over as the new Prime Minister. So, instead of publicly asking Abdullah to resign, Najib publicly announced that he was loyal to Abdullah.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

On Sunday, Lim Kit Siang insinuated that Umno is controlled by 300 of its three million members. Kit Siang was referring to the 191 Umno division chiefs and the Umno supreme council members, basically the top echelon of the party.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad also more or less said the same. However, Dr Mahathir added that it is the Umno President, Najib Tun Razak, who controls these 300 top leaders that Kit Siang was referring to and the reason is because they have been bought off.

Kit Siang was suggesting that as long as these 300 are with Najib then there is no way Najib could be ousted from inside the party. To oust Najib it would have to be done from outside the party — either through a vote of no confidence in Parliament or through a general election.

Dr Mahathir also agrees that it may be very difficult to oust Najib from inside the party because he has bought off all those people who have the power to oust him. In short, these top 300 Umno leaders that Kit Siang is talking about are unprincipled and corrupt who put money before everything else.

Dr Mahathir is hoping that these 300 top Umno leaders would turn on their party president. He hopes they will ally with him in ousting Najib. But then he calls them unprincipled and corrupt. How in heaven’s name do you get these people to join you or to take your side when you insult them by calling them scumbags and slime-balls?

To Dr Mahathir, it is all about money. To Dr Mahathir, the only reason the Umno leadership is not with him and is standing behind Najib is because they are crooks. Has it ever occurred to Dr Mahathir that it is not money but principles that are making them throw their support behind Najib?

The trouble with Dr Mahathir is he thinks he still calls the shots in Umno. To the top Umno leadership, however, it is Najib who calls the shots and not a retired party president who does.

And was it not Dr Mahathir himself who when he was the party leader he made sure that the party observed the most important rule, which is the party cannot have two leaders who call the shots.

Dr Mahathir himself said that he does not care if he has a majority of only one vote. A one-vote majority is still a majority, said Dr Mahathir. So even if he has just 50% plus one vote, he would remain the party leader and he will kick out all those who oppose him.

And he did just that by closing down the party and by forming a new party that excluded all those who opposed him (who then had to set up their own party called Semangat 46). In once swoop he got rid of those who opposed him by pulling the party from under them.

For all intents and purposes, Dr Mahathir is an outsider, although he may still be a party member. But then he is just one member out of three million normal members. The fact that he is an ex-party president is not a factor.

Tunku Abdul Rahman was an ex-party president, as were Tun Hussein Onn and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. But once they retired as party president they did not plot to oust the Prime Minister or do things that would destroy the party. Dr Mahathir, however, is suffering from what the Malay would call gila talak. He still wants to decide what the party does and who should lead the party.

And this is what concerns those 300 top Umno leaders that Kit Siang talked about. It is not, as Dr Mahathir said, because they have been compromised. It is because they do not understand why an outsider is trying to interfere and decide who should be the party leader and who should be ousted from the party leadership.

Actually, most of these leaders are just being polite. They would, of course, not tell it to the old man’s face. But behind Dr Mahathir’s back they are saying that he should know when to retire with grace and dignity and not continue to make a fool of himself by barking at the mountain, as the Malays would say.

Umno has its traditions and culture. It is a party that is on the eve of its 70th anniversary and is now in the hands of the third generation and is about to be transferred to the fourth generation.

A party that old is set in its ways and would want to maintain its traditions and cultures. And the tradition and culture of Umno is outsiders do not tell the party what to do and decide on who should and should not lead the party.

Muhyiddin Yassin told a very interesting story last weekend. This was the story about how Najib was reluctant to make his move to oust Abdullah and that if he refused to do so then he would be bypassed and someone else would take over as prime minister instead.

This made Dr Mahathir terribly angry so he started talking to Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who was not even a party vice-president. But Najib knew that he could take on Dr Mahathir and still win. He knew he could tell Dr Mahathir to fook off and still become Prime Minister.

And Najib was right. And that is why he does not fear the challenge that Dr Mahathir is giving him. Najib knows that Umno and not Dr Mahathir will decide who leads Umno.

But then if Najib really wants to get rid of this nuisance once and for all he would have to take disciplinary action against both Dr Mahathir and Muhyiddin to establish who is in charge. Once Dr Mahathir and Muhyiddin are expelled from the party then the 300 top Umno leaders are going to scream in unison, “Oh, shut the fook up and stay out of our party affairs.”

Anyway, this is what Dr Mahathir would have done had anyone harassed him like he is harassing Najib.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK