Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on October 8, 2018 - October 14, 2018

A close aide to Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says the party is poised to continue its struggle as it still has its structure, system and staff intact. Three S’s, as he puts it.

I wondered what he meant by the third S for staff, but was later told that the staff refers to the party membership. Shouldn’t it be an M then instead of an S?

But I suppose three S’s sounds more cool than two S’s and one M.

However, despite having the three S’s, many party members, if not most of them, are a confused lot post-Umno assembly 2018. And who can blame them?

Put yourself in their shoes for a moment.

Before, as well as during, the assembly, you were told that your beloved Umno must rebrand itself. Reinvent, if you like, following the disaster of the 14th general election. You were told that the party (you included, even though you are just an ordinary member with little or no say in how things are run) must change its ways to be relevant and win back power come GE15.That is five years down the road.

And loyal party member that you are, you listen and tune your mind to doing just that. But you wonder how the rebranding, reinventing and changing of ways will be done.

So, who do you turn to for guidance? Naturally, the leaders, in particular the president, who had put forth the need to reinvent the party in the first place.

You attend the party assembly to listen to the president’s speech, and what do you hear? Yes, again, the need to change ways, rebrand and reinvent.

But that is not all. You are told that Umno wants to forge an alliance with its long-time rival, PAS. You are fine with that, many of you anyway,  in the name of Malay/Muslim unity. In fact, you have been hearing about this even before the assembly.

But now you hear also — and from the president, no less — that Umno, while seemingly working with PAS, is also working or trying to work with a component party of Pakatan Harapan.

You wonder what PAS makes of all this and cannot help but liken this to a situation where a Casanova is two-timing his lovers. Main kayu tiga, as they say in Malay.

Then, you hear of a pact called Pakatan Malaysia to replace Pakatan Harapan in governing the country, comprising Umno, MIC, MCA, some parties from Sabah, PAS and PKR. And you tell yourself, no wonder Pas did not kick up a fuss when Zahid revealed that Umno was trying to work out a deal with a Pakatan Harapan component party.

You are hearing the term “unity government”.

But then, Zahid also says he has met Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the leader of the very same Pakatan Harapan that Umno wants to break up by forming Pakatan Malaysia.

At the same time, Zahid tells you that Pakatan Harapan will implode and it will need Umno to form the government. You like what you are hearing and warm up to this possibility.

And you agree with Zahid to put your trust in him to realise that possibility as Umno, he says, “cannot be the government-in-waiting for long”.

However, along comes deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, and what does the man you call Tok Mat tell you? His stance is, “What’s the point of a ruling coalition if Umno is just a passenger?” Umno, he insists, must not be merely a passenger in any sort of a new coalition to rule the country.

You wonder, in saying this, if he knows something you don’t. And you wonder also what Umno can bring to the negotiating table, considering the state of affairs it is in now.

One more thing. Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki poured cold water on all that by saying Umno must not regain power via the back door.

So, it is back to the need to rebrand and reinvent.

You end up confused. And like I said earlier, no one can or should blame you for being so.

To Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Umno has not learnt its lessons and has not understood why it was defeated and disgraced.

That is unfortunate, the PKR leader says, as “the New Malaysia not only needs a strong and effective government but also a credible and respected opposition”.

Umno,  after many years in power, as many a party member will admit, is still struggling to come to terms with being the opposition.

As I said in my earlier article in The Edge Financial Daily before the start of the Umno assembly, former Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin wanted the president to use the general assembly platform to show the way as the party was in desperate need of leadership and direction.

To Khairy, Umno was rudderless pre-general assembly 2018 and remains so post-general assembly.

One can argue that Khairy may have an axe to grind with Zahid, but in this instance, I tend to agree with him.


Mohsin Abdullah is a contributing editor at The Edge. He has covered politics for more than four decades.

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