"Mahathir is not too keen on seeing Rosmah Mansor become the actual Umno party President and Prime Minister of Malaysia, which will happen if Najib takes over as Number One. He feels Najib would have a better future if he divorces Rosmah and marries a new wife."
I have said this before and I will say it again. Married men suffer from the seven-year itch; Umno suffers the ten-year itch. And every ten years Umno breaks into Team A and Team B, which invariably results in new political parties being born and which, each time, erodes Umno’s political domination slightly more. Yes, every ten years Umno breaks into two and each break weakens Umno further.
The first was in 1988 soon after the ‘1987 Challenge’ -- which resulted in Umno getting deregistered and two new parties, Umno Baru and Semangat 46, emerging in its place. The second was in 1998 when Parti Keadilan Nasional was born out of the ‘ashes’ of Anwar Ibrahim’s sacking and jailing. Both Semangat 46 and Parti Keadilan Nasional are what the critics call an Umno splinter-party (parti serpihan Umno). And all these breaks happened with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s hands somehow in the pie.
Of course, earlier, around the Merdeka era, Umno suffered another split when those in the religious wing left the party to form the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party or PMIP -- which, today, is known as PAS. In that sense PAS too can be considered an Umno splinter-party. And Mahathir was not the first party President to leave the party, though it is not sure yet whether he will also be amongst those who will die outside Umno, as all the early Presidents did. Onn Jaafar, Tunku Abdul Rahman and Hussein Onn all died outside Umno. Tun Razak Hussein died in office so it will never be known if, had he lived, he too would have left Umno and would have died outside the party.
The Tunku and Hussein Onn both tried to form Umno Malaysia and when they failed they aligned themselves to Semangat 46. Onn Jaafar formed Parti Negara though it did not really go very far and eventually died a natural death. In short, every Umno President who retires without dying in office eventually joins or forms an opposition party that will oppose Umno. And they will all die and be buried without rejoining Umno. That is the fate of the past-Presidents of Umno unless they have the good fortune of dying in office.
Looking at Umno’s track record, or rather the track record of its Presidents, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has to die in office unless he too wants to retire and eventually leave Umno and die outside the party. And the only way this can happen would be if he were to die very soon, maybe before Christmas, or else he has to make sure he stays on as the party President for some time to come if he has no plans to die this year. That is the way of Umno and its past-Presidents.
The situation of Umno Baru and Mahathir is slightly different though. Umno Baru was formed by Mahathir in 1988 and he is Member Number One while his wife is Member Number Two. In that sense Umno is Mahathir’s party and the song, ‘It’s My Party’ by Chaka Khan, best describes it all:
Everybody's having a real good time
the man you're talking to is not yours
he's mine.
Better chill out
hear what I'm saying
before I stop the music playin'.
It's my party
I start it
I'll end it
baby
it's my party
I'm upset and offended.
While I'm all alone
and the party's goin' strong
it's a celebration
to better our relation.
It's my party
I start it
I'll end it
baby
baby
it's my party
I'm upset and offended.
Yes, they appear to have forgotten whose party Umno is. And that has upset Mahathir to no end. And his handpicked successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, appears to have forgotten this as well. Any wonder that Mahathir is upset and offended? But Mahathir is going to put right the wrong decision he made in appointing Abdullah as Number One and Najib Tun Razak as Number Two. Mahathir is going to remove Abdullah as Number One and replace him with Najib. And to ensure that Najib will not suffer the syndrome of having a mind of his own, Mahathir is going to set up a Presidential Council, which will ‘guide’ the party President, and with himself as the head of this Presidential Council. No longer will the Umno President run the party like his personal domain. The Presidential Council will run Umno and it will decide what the President can and cannot do.
Will that be the end of an independent-minded party President or will this be the beginning of Mahathir getting back control of Umno and again becoming the power behind the throne? Time will tell but chances are Abdullah’s days are numbered and Umno will see ........Read More.....
Mat KOMANdo: Alah makk... tersingkap-singkap beb..!!!
