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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Umno polls will decide the nation’s future

By calling for a no contest for the top two posts, Umno leaders are depriving Malaysians of better choice for the post of prime minister and deputy prime minister.
COMMENT
Now that the 13th general election is over, much of our leaders’ energies are focused on their respective party polls.
Umno, MCA, MIC and Gerakan are expected to hold their party polls this year. As for the opposition, PKR has postponed its polls to next year but PAS will hold its party election this year.
But all eyes will be on Umno’s elections, as it is the biggest Malay political party in Malaysia and is also the lynchpin of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
Since Independence, the top two posts in Umno have always been held by the prime minister and deputy prime minister respectively.
Probably that is why the battle for the posts have always been intense and at least on one occasion, downright ugly to the extent of getting the party deregistered and putting the nation in turmoil.
Take for instance in 1987, former Umno president Dr Mahathir Mohamad was challenged by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah for the top post but the latter lost his bid by a slim majority.
However, the battle did not end there. Subsequent legal challenges to the party polls got Umno deregistered and almost brought the entire nation to a halt.
The controversial amendment to the Federal Constitution that placed the judiciary under parliamentary purview is said to be linked to the legal challenges Umno was facing at that time.
In 2009, then Umno president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also decided to not defend his post after the 12th general election, citing he did not want to see the party divided.
Abdullah’s words seems to imply that any contest for the top posts would bring instability to the party.
Nation’s interest must be protected
While many Umno leaders would like to maintain the status quo for the sake of stability, the question we must ask is: Are the party’s top two posts an exclusive purview of Umno?
The answer is no. As mentioned earlier, those holding the top two posts automatically become the nation’s prime minister and deputy prime minister.
This is what most Umno leaders fail to understand. They must comprehend the fact that they are electing the nation’s top two leaders, not Umno’s alone.
For example, if Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah contests and wins the Umno presidency, he will become the new prime minister.
Similarly, if Pengerang MP Azalina Othman makes a bid for the Umno deputy presidency and wins, she will become the nation’s number two.
So, by barring the contest for the top two posts, Umno, in effect, is depriving Malaysians of a better choice for prime minister and deputy prime minister.
This is the contention some people have against the calls for a no-contest, the writer included.
Some may up the ante on the argument, saying that it is not fair to just delegate the task to appoint our leaders to just Umno members.
Why are Umno members electing our nation’s leaders and not 28 million Malaysians? The argument is valid but it was the voters who decided that BN runs the country for the next five years.
So probably Umno leaders should reflect on this before calling for a no-contest rule for the top two party posts. It is not only about the party but it also the fate of the nation.
Because the rest of us have no voting power in the Umno polls, the party leaders must take it upon themselves to protect the interest of all Malaysians when it comes to the party polls.
And for the next three years, it will depend on the top two Umno leaders, whoever they are, to decide whether to take the nation forward or otherwise.

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