Final severing of ties
The smooth running of the Umno division meeting this year was a sign that the political turbulence has passed. It also saw the end of any emotional ties that the party had for its former president who is now the leader of the opposition.
DATUK Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has had a rather crazy political schedule the last two months and the Kemaman Umno division AGM was one of his last stops.
The Deputy Prime Minister officiated at a total of 38 Umno division AGMs which is a record of sorts. There were a few occasions when it seemed like he had run out of topics but that megawatt smile of his would blaze on.
No matter how long the day had been or how out of the way the division meeting, he managed to look as though there was no other place he would rather be that day. He is either a very good actor or he really loves his work.
He is also the head of a newly set-up Umno body known as the Dispute Committee that is aimed at stabilising and pre-empting issues in the divisions. As such, his AGM rounds have involved divisions known to be facing problems at the leadership level or on the ground.
Kemaman is headed by former Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Said who tried to do a Mahathir on his successor Datuk Seri Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman – Ahmad felt that Razif was not cooperating with him and tried to topple him.
Ahmad has since quietened down, some claimed he has been “appeased” because his requests for development projects in his area have been approved.
Ahmad’s deputy in the division, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, has more or less taken over the running of the division and they put up a grand reception for Dr Ahmad Zahid.
“Winning mentality and winning mood,” said Air Putih assemblyman Wan Hakim Wan Mokhtar as he WhatsApped pictures of the event to friends.
All the Umno division chiefs were there for the Friday morning event even though a number of them dislike Ahmad. Despite the issues surrounding Ahmad, Kemaman is what Wan Hakim calls a “5-0 seat”, meaning that Barisan Nasional made a clean sweep of the parliamentary and four state seats.
Dr Ahmad Zahid had also officiated in Kuala Terengganu which is a “0-5 seat” and Kuala Nerus, a “1-4 seat”. Umno did badly in these places and the mood there was down.
“I was in Besut, the mood there was fantastic. They cheered and clapped throughout Idris’ speech,” said Wan Hakim of the Besut AGM where the division chief is Higher Education Minister Datuk Idris Jusoh.
Terengganu is famous for its political infighting every general election and Dr Ahmad Zahid had warned his audience: “Don’t bother sending busloads of supporters to lobby for candidates. The candidates will be those whom the people like because at the end of the day, the people will decide.”
Dr Ahmad Zahid also performed Friday prayers at the Masjid Almuktafi Billah Shah in Kuala Terengganu which has become a showcase mosque in the state because of its community programmes.
The mosque gives out free breakfasts – nasi lemak or mee goreng – to the needy every day and also supplies free groceries to 65 poor households in the parish. It has a well-stocked library and runs activities like mind-mapping exercises, carom and futsal and its chess games have attracted Chinese participants.
The mosque is run by 18 full-time staff, all the imams are graduates and the man responsible for the CEO-style management is mosque committee chairman Datuk Wan Albakri Mohd Noor.
Wan Albakri is an Umno man but he said he does not talk politics in the mosque. Efforts like this help the state government to reach out and touch the Malay base, something which DAP leaders do not see when they talk about a Malay tsunami sweeping Pakatan Harapan to power.
“It’s either Umno or PAS for Malays here,” said Wan Hakim.
A commissioned survey by a wellknown polling centre has shown that Umno could win in Terengganu with a majority of five to seven seats in the next election. The Mentri Besar’s ratings have also shot up from 50% to about 70% after the palace reinstated his “Datuk Seri” title.
Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Dr Ahmad Zahid have divided the “problem divisions” between them. They are signalling that they aim to give personal attention to these divisions in the run-up to the general election.
The two top guns also used the occasion to draw the line between the party and the enemy and to send the message that nothing should be taken for granted because the next general election would be tough.
The chief target was the man referred to as “a certain leader”. It was such a typical Malay way of attack – not once was his name mentioned but everyone knew who he was.
Some Umno politicians are now wondering whether the “Mahathir a/l Iskandar Kutty” episode was a genuine fiasco or something quite calculated.
Dr Ahmad Zahid got flak for it but his big boss stepped up to publicly defend him, describing him as a friend and comrade. It was as good as Najib announcing that he had picked the right man to replace Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
His aides insisted they had no idea he was going to go that way. They would prepare talking points and even speeches for him but Dr Ahmad Zahid followed the script only at a few division meetings.
The rest, he said when met at the Pagoh AGM, “comes from here”, patting his left chest. In other words, he was going by his political instincts.
The opinion in Umno is that Dr Ahmad Zahid has passed the test as what some call the “de facto deputy president”. Several divisions passed resolutions urging that there should not be a contest for the two top posts in the party. The Padang Rengas division, headed by fellow Perakian Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz went further and proposed Dr Ahmad Zahid for the No. 2 post.
The meetings this year have been in sharp contrast to that of the past two years. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had just started attacking Najib during the 2015 AGM season and it left Najib terribly vulnerable. In 2016, the sacking of Muhyiddin and Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir sent ripples through the party in several states.
The turbulence has passed and the party is at its most stable in years.
“There is more clarity this year about who is the enemy and where they are. Party unity is very strong for them, you can see it at so many of the division meetings and the party president is very confident,” said Amir Fareed Rahim, strategy director of the KRA Group.
Kapar division chief Datuk Faizal Abdullah said the party sees Najib as the man to lead their party in taking on Dr Mahathir and his new friends on the other side.
The Kapar division meeting took place in the local Chinese school which rents out its school hall for events. It costs a bomb to rent but the hall has a superb sound system with a high definition LED screen and spotted lots of Umno flags that day.
Faizal, whose late mother is Chinese, went to some lengths to explain that Umno is not an enemy to the Chinese. And contrary to claims that Umno is reluctant to register new Malay voters, Faizal’s division which is a semi-urban seat in Selangor, has registered thousands of voters.
Faizal is one of those contemporary-thinking politicians who prefer to go on facts rather than emotion to persuade his audience. He did not join the Mahathir-bashing spree but directed his attacks on the Selangor government. After almost a decade in power, the Pakatan side is no longer an unblemished picture and there was no shortage of issues for him to pick on.
The division meetings, said Amir, are also about putting priorities into context – the need to be united, identifying the enemy and prepping for victory in the general election.
Najib has been looking rather sanguine as he made his way through the division meetings. Some of those who met him at these meetings have said he looks “confident”, “in a good mood” and “his face looks so smooth”.
He capped off his division rounds in Pekan where he delivered the final salvo on Dr Mahathir. He walked the Pekan delegates through the “1999 tragedy” during which he almost lost in Pekan, scrapping through by only 241 votes. He said he will not forget what happened for as long as he lives.
“This nightmare of 1999 happened because of the ‘black eye’ incident. We became the scapegoat of an incident caused by others,” he said referring to how the black eye suffered by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim caused Malays to turn against Umno.
There was also something quite poignant about this year’s meeting. It was, in a sense, the final cutting of ties with the man who had led their party for more then two decades.
Umno has chosen to stand by Najib while Dr Mahathir is now the leader of the opposition, standing alongside people he used to deplore but whom he now lauds as his team to save Malaysia.
Some in Umno feel angry and bitter about Dr Mahathir. Others think it is a tragedy but, as Faizal said, “he wants to kill off our party, we have no choice but to fight back.”