Teaming up for an uphill task

Sunday November 30, 2008
Teaming up for an uphill task
INSIGHTBy JOCELINE TAN

The fierce contests taking place in Umno mean that sweeping changes in the party hierarchy await Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak when he takes over as Umno president. But will it be the dream team that his supporters talk about?
MARCH next year will be a hot month for Umno. And it will have nothing to do with the weather but everything to do with politics.
The Umno elections in March will be quite unprecedented in the party’s history. Virtually every top party post, from the deputy president down, is being contested.
Although there will not be a contest for the Umno presidency, there will be a change, with Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak taking over from Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Najib, who won the post with a near perfect sweep of the nominations, is now president-elect of Umno.
The transition at the very top has been smoother than most had dared to hope for. The credit has to go to, first, Abdullah for the dignity with which he has handled the situation, and also to Najib for the way he has conducted himself as the Prime Minister-in-waiting.
The large number of contests means that Najib could be looking at an entirely new Umno team in March.
The last time the deputy president post was contested was in 1986. This time, there are three candidates vying for the post that Najib is vacating.
The fight for the three vice-president posts suggests that new faces rather than incumbents will form the next batch of Umno vice-presidents.
This is also the first time that the top posts in all three wings, Youth, Wanita and Puteri, are being concurrently contested.
There are three men fighting to be the next Youth leader and eight young women elbowing their way to the Puteri leadership.
Should challenger Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil beat incumbent Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz for the Wanita Umno leadership, it would mean new people in charge of all three wings, a sort of first for Umno.
The race for the 25 supreme council seats will likely see first-timers making up about one-third of the seats, with senior and younger faces comprising the other two-thirds.
In short, sweeping changes down the line await Najib when he takes over as Umno president next year.
“The feeling among Umno members is that they have to contest to effect change. They think the incoming leader requires a new team,” said one Umno Youth official.
The party, said former ministerial aide Juhaidi Yean Abdullah, has been in need of an overhaul for some time now.
But it took the shocking outcome of the last general election to finally make party members do something about it.
The slow renewal process in Umno has been identified as one of the main problems for the party’s lack of appeal among voters, especially the younger set.
“Politics is getting younger and people cannot cling on to a post indefinitely,” said Juhaidi.
The stagnated renewal has also led to a certain insensitivity about the way society has evolved and that is what is meant when party critics say Umno is out of touch.
“People said the last elections were a wake-up call for Umno. To me, it was more like the last call. If we don’t change, people will exchange us for another party,” said Penang Umno politician Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad.
Throughout the nominations race, Najib has quite assiduously refrained from any specific show of preference for any of those contesting for posts, be it his future deputy or the next Youth chief.
The nominations for posts have always been a grassroots process and any interference would have drawn resentment.
Besides, as many have pointed out, the grassroots voice is very powerful this year. This was all too evident at the Youth and Wanita levels where those on the floor, as they say, exerted their will over those on the stage.
Najib has quite astutely allowed people power to prevail at this stage of the party elections.
But those close to him reckon he will show his hand closer to March.
“He may, in the tradition of past Umno presidents, speak indirectly about his team. He is a polished person; he’s not going to say it directly and we’ll have to read between the lines.
“At the very least, he will drop hints about who he prefers as his deputy. The deputy president is very important because he also becomes the Deputy Prime Minister. It is only right that Datuk Seri Najib has a say,” said Pahang Umno information chief Datuk Sharkar Shamsuddin.
The popular assumption is that Najib has his eye on Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as his No. 2. He has not said anything to the effect but he has, in private conversations, acknowledged Muhyiddin for opening the floodgates for change. He has said that Muhyiddin was the one who stuck out his neck, then others jumped on for the ride.
Both men, noted a senior journalist, demonstrated their teamwork when they were in Lima for the Apec Summit.
When Singapore Premier Lee Hsien Loong offered to make an iconic investment in the Iskandar region as a symbol of commitment between the two countries, Najib conferred with Muhyiddin and Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim. Then he called to brief the Prime Minister. Only then, and some 24 hours later, did he announce it to the press corps.
While Sharkar talks rather idealistically of Najib’s Dream Team., others are not so sure he is going to end up with anything close to one.
Umno politics often has a logic all of its own. The best man does not always win.
Umno members tend to rate likeability as highly as ability and the likeable man has, at times, turned out to be quite disappointing. It explains why there are so many intelligent, dynamic and capable Malays in this country but not enough of them in Umno.
Then there is the money factor which further hinders the right people from making it in Umno. The stream of money politics during the nominations race will likely grow into a river by March.
A political blogger who goes by the non de plume Sakmongkol has, with great irony, termed it “ringgit democracy”. He is so right. Money politics has become so ingrained among givers and takers that it is now part of the political culture.
“Whatever it is, no cartoon characters running Umno, please. That will only push more Malays to Pakatan Rakyat in the next elections,” said Juhaidi.
The next general election is indeed Najib’s top priority.
“It is the uppermost concern on his mind. He means to keep the Barisan Nasional in power and he does not intend to be the PM only until the next elections,” said a member of his staff.
For Umno to do well in the elections, it will have to usher in leaders who are also acceptable to people outside the party.
“There is no point in electing heroes in the party who cannot help Umno win in a general election. That would be what we Malays call syiok sendiri (self gratification),” said Dr Ibrahim.
Najib will also have to face some tough challenges after he takes over. The effects of the smear campaign linking him to the Mongolian murder case has yet to fade away.
But there is no denying that there are very few in Umno who can parallel his experience and calibre.
He cut his political teeth at age 23 and has gone through the rungs. No one else in the region, not even Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong, comes close in terms of the training he has had for the top job.
A Dream Team would be too much to ask for. What Najib needs is for Umno to pick a competent team to work with him.