UMNO ALL FIRED UP, RARING TO GO

Party caucus proves that Najib is not alone, his position unshakeable

THE mantra, “fired up, ready to go!”, could perfectly sum up the mood as Umno wrapped up its last annual general assembly yesterday before the next general election.

There were also a lot of football analogies in the winding-up speeches of party leaders amid an air of optimism, despite the fact they are bracing for the “father” of all elections, widely expected by April.

Puteri Umno chief Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin started the ball rolling when she said Umno should borrow the Liverpool football club anthem,

in reference to party president Datuk Seri Najib Razak, knowing very well that Najib supports the rival team, Manchester United.

In jest, Najib responded by saying that the title of the song could be changed to “You are Not Alone” or “I am not alone”.

The five-day party caucus proved that Najib is not alone, his position is unshakeable and his grip of the party is the firmest ever.

In his hour-long closing remarks, he sounded the war drums, managed the expectations of aspiring election candidates, attacked his main political enemies and reiterated his government’s proven track record of managing the nation.

In a direct reference to his main adversary, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Najib said a certain “93year-old” even wanted to be the prime minister again when the “somebody from the past doesn’t even represent the future”.

“You can’t accept the man of the past with ideas of the past,” Najib said, adding that the ageing and once powerful Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe had even quit politics.

He said DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, labelled by his ex-party members as a “dictator”, also wants to be the prime minister.

Najib said the party of the future for 32 million Malaysians is Umno and the Umno-led government has a complete development agenda, unlike the opposition front.

After the tumultuous period in 2015, the house of Umno is in order, internal dissent is almost nil. Najib said most main issues that could derail the party had been settled.

“It is a done deal,” he said, referring to the no-contest resolution for the No. 1 and the No. 2 posts in the party and Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein. Hisham will be the most senior V-P of the three elected V-Ps.

Najib is backed by his two staunch loyalists — long-time friend and de facto Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Hisham, as he leads BN into the elections for the second time.

Najib shared an untold story of how he beat the odds to help Zahid when the latter faced a tough Umno Youth divisional election for Bagan Datuk in the mid-1980s. Zahid won by just 11 votes.

He said Zahid later came to his rescue after Najib sacked his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in 2015.

Najib said.

The issue of Baitulmaqdis being proposed as the capital of Israel was a rallying point at the assembly.

Najib said he will voice Malaysia’s strong opposition at the emergency OIC summit in Istanbul on Dec 13.

Zahid, in his speech, spoke about his undivided loyalty to Najib while Hishammuddin said Umno leaders and members must put party interests first and that all must work towards winning GE14.

The role and contributions of the wings are also key in Umno’s polls preparations.

Wanita leader Tan Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin made an open plea for more women and youth representatives to be named as election candidates.

As she spoke, women delegates showed the three-finger hand sign, signifying her wing’s request for women to fill 30 per cent of key positions in government, GLCs and politics.

Khairy said being a party of the future, Umno must behave like one.

Candidates, he said, must meet the 2017 criteria, the party’s look and feel must reflect its vitality and there must be fresh narratives that appeal to the young.

“There should be one eye for the present and one eye on the future,” Khairy said. “The world is fast changing now.”

During his winding-up speech, Khairy spoke of the task given to him by Najib to gather views and inspirations of the young as part of the TN50 National Dialogue.

The work under the 2050 national transformation proved that BN is a government of the future, he said.

Analysts said the main question is whether the Umno-led BN can really win back the supermajority, given that it failed to do so in 2013 when GE13 was already dubbed the “Mother of All Elections”.

“Nobody really knows how the critical fence-sitters will vote,” says Yang Razali Kassim, senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Reading between the lines of the statements of Najib and Zahid, he said it is this “third group of persuadable voters” who will decide whether BN returns to power, or if there will be a political change.

“In other words, the big battle ahead will be over the fence-sitters; they may well decide the future of the country.”

KRA Group political analyst Amir Fareed Rahim said the major narratives emerging from the general assembly are about focusing on winning comfortably in GE14, putting aside differences and minimising sabotage within the party.

He also said that the certainty in Umno’s leadership with regard to the top two posts stands in stark contrast to the situation in Pakatan Harapan.

With the Umno assembly over and done with, the next few weeks will be equally critical as top BN leaders prepare the election lineup, work on the manifesto and gear up their election machinery.

As Najib publicly admitted, the winning momentum is in BN’s favour.

His subtle message to delegates is to avoid backstabbing and respect the party’s decision on the choice of candidates.

There will be a more stringent selection of candidates, he said. Since every seat counts, the candidates have to be winnable, acceptable and likeable.

There are no targets being discussed openly but BN would definitely want to do better than it did in the last GE in 2013.