Three things we learnt from: The 2015 Umno general assembly
Shazwan Mustafa Kamal, Malay Mail Online
Unlike previous years, the 2015 Umno general assembly took place amid uncertainty and anxiety among the Malay nationalist party’s grassroots and supporters.
For the first time since Datuk Seri Najib Razak took over as Umno president, he faced open attacks and hostilities from estranged deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who had supported Najib when he took over as prime minister after Election 2008.
In the months leading up to the Umno assembly, some divisions and branches had publicly criticised Najib over the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) issue and the RM2.6 billion donation, demanding he step down as PM and party chief.
The decision to disallow Muhyiddin from speaking at the Umno assembly also upset some of the latter’s supporters, prompting the Umno deputy president to criticise Najib further at an event in Kelab Sultan Sulaiman, Kampung Baru just days before the start of the AGM.
With the developments in the run-up, it finally came as a surprise to many when the Umno assembly turned out to be a muted affair: without much drama or fireworks and the absence of disciplinary action that had been expected against Muhyiddin.
Here’s what we learned from this year’s Umno assembly:
1. Najib is in firm control of Umno
Going into the Umno assembly, with open attacks from both Muhyiddin and Dr Mahathir, Najib outlined a clear and concise agenda during his policy speech: loyalty to the party leadership and to close ranks.
Despite earlier concerns of possible dissent, Umno leaders and members readily took up his call, seemingly eager to see the acrimony at the top come to an end.
Many Umno leaders wanted Muhyiddin to be censured and even sacked for his actions, but Najib avoided the fallout that would have ensued from such a decision by making sure the Pagoh MP remained by his side, saying that differences within Umno were allowed as long as it was done through “proper channels.”
Najib also won the so-called perception war — temporarily, at least — when he went over and offered his hand to Muhyiddin in a reconciliatory gesture at the end of the Umno assembly.
Call it a public relations stunt, but the message Najib wanted to set out was clear: it was time to move on.
The Umno assembly was also evidence of the waning influence Dr Mahathir has on the party. For years and even after his retirement from politics, the former prime minister was instrumental in important party and administrative matters.
But Najib’s snubbing of Dr Mahathir’s demands and the backing he received from majority of party leaders amid the latter’s campaign showed that the country’s longest-serving prime minister no longer has an iron grip over Umno.
2. Umno trading the keris for kopiah
This year’s AGM saw little of the usual fiery rhetoric about Malay rights and warnings to the ethnic community that it is under siege; instead, the focus was on building a political partnership with PAS on the professed basis of Muslim unity.
In his policy speech, Najib acknowledged that Umno’s greatest threat was secularist DAP, and that the only way to challenge the opposition party’s growing popularity was to team with the Islamist party to win the Malay vote to ensure victory in the next general election.
While the issue of a PAS-Umno union is not new, Najib’s overture comes at a crucial time when the Islamist party is repositioning itself after exiting an unsuccessful political pact with DAP and PKR.
Most Umno delegates’ speeches as well as Najib’s address featured choice religious verses and edicts to support the idea of Muslim unity, and judging from the initial responses of Umno grassroots many of them are supportive of the idea.
Umno’s outward embrace of Islam also became increasingly apparent, with the Puteri Umno wing launching a squad to uphold Islam’s position as the religion of the federation, perhaps an allegory for the Islamic state that PAS hopes to one day introduce to Malaysia.
A Puteri Umno delegate also suggested that the party’s female members be made to all wear the tudung or headscarf often associated with Muslims, to rousing applause.
After years of engaging in a religious auction with PAS, it now appears that both — on the surface, at least — are trading in the same currency.
3. It’s about the economy, stupid
Despite the attention on the clash between Najib and Muhyiddin, one issue that the Umno leadership could not avoid from being broached was the painful rise in cost of living.
Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin could not have said it better when he demanded that Putrajaya stop allowing further price increases, saying that Malaysians have reached breaking point and can no longer cope with the increasing costs of living.
In his policy speech on Wednesday, Khairy said that while the Youth wing understood the need for measures like the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and raising toll rates, household debt levels are currently on the rise and some Malaysians are being forced to turn to loan sharks to survive.
The Rembau MP’s concerns were echoed by other Umno delegates who, throughout the debates, touched on the inability of poor Malays to cope with the price hikes and demanded the government provide immediate assistance.
A day later Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin had to state that price increases are caused by economic factors beyond Putrajaya’s control.
The Umno leadership and by extension Barisan Nasional (BN) would do well to shift its focus to these concerns amid a weakening economy, as public unhappiness over the basic ability to live comfortably and put food on the table may very well affect the ruling coalition’s chances in GE14.
The battle for Umno’s affection appears to have been won, but the war to keep Putrajaya has only just begun.
