This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on October 29, 2018 - November 4, 2018

WHEN I spoke to Umno members before the 14th general election about the looming battle, many of them said they were aware of the undercurrent of public antipathy against the party.

They knew it was difficult, to put it mildly, to “carry” then president Datuk Seri Najib Razak, what with all the allegations against him. He has been hit with many charges since.

Hence, they saw a tough fight ahead. But they never expected to lose — not in their wildest dreams. They expected victory while conceding that there was a likelihood of losing one or two states (apart from Selangor and Penang). But not Johor, where Umno was born. And certainly not Putrajaya. They would win, they said, although with a slim margin.

But based on the anticipation of a performance worse than in GE13, they did not discount the possibility of the party doing an “Abdullah Badawi” on Najib, which would have propelled Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to the top. Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was “coaxed” to relinquish the Umno presidency and premiership following BN/Umno’s poor performance in the 2008 general election, elevating his deputy, Najib, to the No 1 post.

That was the “reading” pre-GE14, although even the Umno people admitted Najib was no Pak Lah, who had bowed out “graciously”.

Anyway, all that is now purely academic — water under the bridge, so to speak.

However, Zahid did become president and Najib did bow out, but under, should I say, painful circumstances post-GE14. This is stating the obvious.

Zahid won the presidency in the party elections but Umno was in disarray — and it still is. His detractors in Umno accuse him of not providing leadership and direction, seeing him as “letting Najib continue to call the shots”. Perhaps that is a fact, perhaps that is perception.

Ironically, Zahid was seen as a popular leader in Umno, whose political career, so it was said, was set to soar.

And it would not be wrong to say that had the situation arisen for Umno to do an Abdullah Badawi on Najib, Zahid would have got the solid support of the party.

In fact, some party members opined he should have made his move against Najib much earlier to save Umno. Obviously, it did not turn out to be a case of “not that I loved Caesar less but that I loved Rome more”.

He was seen as loyal to Najib, whom he had served as political secretary during the former’s first stint as defence minister in the 1990s.

When the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal erupted, Zahid stood firm with the former prime minister, claiming he had met the Arab(s) who had “donated” the money to Najib, or so he said.

Now with charges laid against him, Zahid is in a predicament, not only on a personal basis but also as Umno president. That is only to be expected.

The big question is should Zahid take leave from the Umno presidency or stay and carry out his presidential duties as usual? To Umno Youth, Zahid should consider going on leave.

When news broke that Zahid would be charged in court, Umno leaders were quick to say the party and the party president would not be affected. But supreme council member Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman said the party would have to meet to discuss the matter.

When the charges were made known, he said Zahid (and Najib, for that matter) would not be suspended pending the final court decisions.

But deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan is of the opinion that Zahid “might have to go on leave from his party duties”, citing an Umno standard operating procedure set in 2009 that requires high-ranking leaders to go on leave if they faced criminal charges in court.

But according to Umno secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa, the SOP does not apply to Zahid. He was quoted as saying it “is only applicable if the party is still part of the government”. As such, it does not apply in the case of Zahid “as the party has yet to draft any SOP since it became the opposition”, he said.

He disagrees with the term SOP, which he says is inaccurate because “the party only has rules and a constitution”. The Umno constitution, according to Annuar, is silent on the matter of taking leave and as such, he says the Umno supreme council will meet next month to discuss the issue and review Zahid’s position.

Could it be that Umno’s remarks made before the court charges were read out were made based on the assumption that Zahid would only be charged for allegedly misusing funds from a foundation that is said to belong to him and his family?

Many in Umno then felt there was nothing wrong with that as the foundation was his to begin with.

And Zahid had said himself that if his work for religion via the foundation is seen as corruption, “so be it”.

But the charges were not only related to the foundation. It was more than that — 45 charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and accepting bribes. In the words of a veteran journalist: “They threw the whole kitchen at him, not just charges about the foundation money”. Zahid has denied everything and is claiming trial.

However, the charges — to say the least — are “specific”. Zahid’s family and supporters are blaming prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for going after him. Mahathir retorted by challenging those who claim Zahid’s prosecution is politically motivated to prove the allegations wrong.

At least one Umno bigwig, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, has gone on record as saying that his party should not blame the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission for the recent series of arrests of Umno leaders.

Nonetheless, the Umno narrative continues to be that the prosecutions, in particular those against Zahid, are not only to weaken but to “kill” Umno.

As far as Mahathir is concerned, Umno was already dead the day the party “deviated from its original struggle”.

Mohsin Abdullah is contributing editor at The Edge Malaysia. He has covered politics for the past four decades. 
 

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