If you can’t force or unwilling to force your people to follow you, with or without threats, then you are not a leader.
– Lee Kuan Yew, ex-Singapore PM
I have a question for readers today. Among the current crop of Umno leaders, who is your top choice to be the next prime minister?
I’m sure you have a name, even if you abhor everyone in Umno. I will also name my choice and why I think he has the most potential to be the nation’s chief executive.
Assuming the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) emerges victorious in the coming 15th general election (GE15), it will be an Umno MP who will become prime minister. That’s a given!
Already, the current prime minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, is from Umno. Without doubt, he is still keen to continue as PM after GE15. But Ismail Sabri is also aware that several of his party colleagues are also eyeing the coveted post.
Once Parliament is dissolved, the premiership is thrown wide open. All the top leaders of the contesting coalitions, including Pakatan Harapan’s Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Perikatan Nasional’s Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, have an even chance of staking a claim for the PM’s post. The caretaker premier, Ismail Sabri, becomes an also-ran for the top job during the election period.
For the purpose of this article, let’s assume BN/Umno won GE15 and that an Umno man will be PM9. I reckon that it will most likely be a toss-up between Ismail Sabri and Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan or better known as Tok Mat.
By convention, it is the Umno president who will be PM but Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is in no position to stake a claim for the job as he has a slew of criminal charges pending in court. He should be lucky if he gets to defend Bagan Datoh in the coming election.
In the 2018 Umno election, there were three contenders for the Umno presidency. Zahid beat party veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and young upstart Khairy Jamaluddin for the top post. Tok Mat was voted in as deputy while Ismail Sabri became one of three vice-presidents.
I am in favour of Tok Mat as the new PM over Ismail Sabri for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I prefer to try out a fresh face, not one of those ‘stale names’ from Umno who have been in the cabinet for donkey years and just refuse to go away. We cannot keep recycling old names whom we already know are non-performers and non-reformers.
Tok Mat has never been a federal minister; only a state-level political leader as menteri besar of Negeri Sembilan. I am prepared to give Tok Mat an opportunity to lead a federal government, hoping that he would inject new ideas, fresh politics and introduce the necessary reforms.
At 66 years of age and with his background as a former corporate leader, Tok Mat also has the experience, leadership qualities and more importantly, the maturity and discipline, to lead a badly divided nation.
Armed with a degree in International Relations at the University of Malaya, I’m also glad to learn that Tok Mat is a fluent English speaker. On this, he is way above Ismail Sabri.
I’m not sorry for putting English as an important criteria for a Malaysian prime minister. Zahid will never be PM-material in my book because he cannot manage the English language at all.
Boy, I have enough of non-English speaking Malaysian politicians embarrassing us at international platforms. Cukup lah! If you can’t manage English, don’t be our prime minister.
I think that Mohamad is a serious contender for the premiership. Apart from being the Number Two in Umno, he is also seen as an acceptable candidate and one of the few untainted top Umno leaders.
It’s good that Tok Mat has announced his intention to contest a parliamentary seat at the coming GE15 so that he has a role at the federal level.
Tok Mat is expected to contest the Rembau parliamentary seat, now held by Health Minister Khairy. Even before Tok Mat has announced which seat he wanted, a sulking Khairy has said that he was told by Tok Mat to make way for him in Rembau.
To Khairy, I say “stop sulking”. Grow up. Be a man. Tok Mat is your Umno boss and also the division chairman in Rembau. Go lobby for another seat yourself. Your father-in-law, Pak Lah, is no longer in power to do the lobbying for you. If you want to contest again in GE15, go find another seat.
It will be an onerous task for Tok Mat or any new prime minister, that’s for sure. Immediate tasks of the new PM are to bring back political stability, steer the nation towards full economic recovery and deliver a bold plan for reforms on all fronts. Hopefully, COVID-19 will be a thing of the past in a year or two.
To Tok Mat, if you are in charge in Putrajaya after GE15, best of luck and Godspeed.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
