The first step in saving our liberty is to realize how much we have already lost, how we lost it, and how we will continue to lose it unless fundamental political changes occur.
– James Bovard, American author
UMNO, which is undergoing some sort of rejuvenation following its loss in the 14th general election (GE14), has to do some soul-searching once again.
The biggest blow to the party was the imprisonment of their unofficial ‘poster boy’ ex-prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
In truth, the party’s resurgence was down to the one-man social media campaigning machine; I give him that much credit.
In a sense, it was a public relations masterstroke for UMNO, having someone who is campaigning for the party from the outside and able to rally the supporters and non-supporters for the Barisan Nasional (BN) cause.
Analysts have said in these past weeks that it is probably downhill from here for the old Malay-based party and it has to consider its future as the 15th general election (GE15) looms.
They have pointed out that while other parties – such as Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) have refreshed their line-up with their own party elections, UMNO is still stuck with their old guns.
And public opinion says that these old guns are firing blanks instead of live ammunition.
PKR through its elections, whilst it maintained Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as president, brought back former Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli as PKR deputy president from the cold storage.
Rafizi had contested for the party’s No. 2 post in 2018 but suffered a damaging loss to then incumbent Datuk Seri Azmin Ali.
His loss was also a slap on the face for Anwar as Rafizi was touted to be in party president’s camp, and launched a war on the then ‘cartel’ faction headed by Azmin.
The new No. 2 is the fresh face the opposition is looking for in their bid to restore their tainted image following an uninspiring stint as federal government for 22 months.
On the contrary, UMNO, which also had its party elections post GE14 in 2018, named Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as president.
He has since been blowing hot and cold – and not helped by his own enormous baggage in the form of court cases.
At the time, there were six other presidential hopefuls vying for the post in an exciting first for the party and possibly the nation’s political landscape. It was the first time in 31 years that the UMNO presidency was contested.
In 1987, it was a straight fight between then-president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah which split the party into two with the losing faction forming Semangat 46.
In 2018, it was a seven-cornered fight with Zahid, now party veteran Tengku Razaleigh, then-outgoing UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and four others.
Zahid won with 99 out of the 191 divisional votes, Khairy came in second with 61 votes while Tengku Razaleigh obtained 30 votes.
This was a time before the ‘Bossku’ phenomenon and when the people – including UMNO members themselves wanted to see change in the leadership.
Had this happened, UMNO would have not been left scratching their heads post ‘Bossku’. Instead, there was little in the way of revitalisation; simply, it was for UMNO to retain status quo.
The younger UMNO supporting crowd wanted Khairy to be president but their wish was not fulfilled with the presence of powerful ‘warlords’ in the party. The so-called warlords control UMNO’s political direction as well as its purse strings.
It was a missed opportunity and further compounded by the party’s decision to delay its elections, which means that the current crop will lead the party into GE15.
It would be an understatement to say that the feel-good factor is diminishing – one that carried them to back-to-back wins in previous state and by-elections.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob now is a man under siege; he is reportedly being given an ultimatum by his own party.
The UMNO vice-president is facing the sack if he doesn’t fulfil the party’s four wishes. Three of which was to save Najib and the fourth was to immediately call for a general election.
Time will tell if he accedes to these demands and whether he will toe the party line. If the general election is immediately called, there is little guarantee that he will be the prime minister once again.
UMNO’s internal woes and lack of leadership is its own doing by not setting its own direction. It remains to be seen how it will affect them in GE15 and who will take charge after that.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
