Umno will fight to the last drop of blood to protect Malay rights

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said, Umno will fight to the last drop of blood to protect Malay rights, the status of the Malay Rulers, Bahasa Malaysia and Islam as these matters are enshrined in the Constitution.

He said the party would also fight to defend the rights of other races to ensure no one community would be oppressed.

He said the Malays should not compromise on these matters and urged them, including those living in Cherok Tuk Kun, to unite in protecting their rights.

“I mentioned Cherok Tuk Kun in Penang because of Pakatan Rakyat leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who has sold his principles for politics.

“He is willing to destroy Malay unity, the Malay rights and even wanted to bring the Malayan Communist Party leader Chin Peng back,” he said.

Khairy, Shahrizat and Rosnah win in party polls

UMNO Youth and Wanita went through the democratic process and delegates think through carefully and vote in their likeable leaders.

Khairy Jamaluddin has won the Umno Youth chief's post after polling 304 votes out of the 793 possible votes, defeating narrowly Mukhriz Mahathir and early front runner Khir Toyo in the stiffest ever battle for the post.

Shahrizat Jalil trounced Rafidah Aziz to win the Wanita Umno chief's post, polling 507 votes against the loser's 280 votes. The defeat for Rafidah, 66, seems to be the closing chapter for her.

Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin has been elected the new Puteri Umno chief, polling 245 votes to beat five other candidates at the movement's elections.

Impending reforms in Umno

The Umno disciplinary board chairperson Tengku Tan Sri Ahmad Rithaudeen announced that Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam has been barred from contesting for the deputy president's post in the upcoming party polls.

Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam

Umno Youth chief aspirant Khairy Jamaluddin was given a warning, while Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo was found not guilty of any election misdeed.

Rithaudeen said three of Ali’s agents were also found guilty of money politics and hence Ali was presumed guilty. Earlier, he was under investigation by the board for breaking election rules.

Ali, 59, was involved in a three-cornered fight for Umno's deputy president's post. The other two contestants for the post - which will likely result in the winner being made deputy prime minister - are Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib.

Ali, who is also Malacca Chief Minister, garnered 46 nominations to contest the post, compared to Muhyiddin's 91 and Muhammad's 46.

The board was independent and not even the party's supreme council could interfere with its decisions. The independence of the board is to ensure the good name of Umno.

Ironically, the decisions seem that the impending reforms in Umno is on the way and the process is taking place in a firm and just manner to form not only a clean party but society as well, as said by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Rafidah VS Shahrizat

The political power struggle within the Wanita Umno is unfolding between Rafidah Aziz and Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.


Is Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s decision to go for the top post in Wanita Umno indicating the fall of the Empire of Rafidah Aziz? This is the question that is awaiting answers whenever the political battle is on.


Ironically, the contest for the top post in Wanita Umno will allow the best leader to prevail. It also indicated that Shahrizat not adhering to the transition plan which was agreed in the Wanita Umno exco.

When deputy chief Shahrizat had garnered 73 nominations, she made the announcement to run for the movement's leadership which put up a challenge to Wanita Umno chief Rafidah who had garnered 117 nominations.

Obviously, politics is a game of numbers play by politicians. With the nominations garnered, Rafidah might seem to be remaining as Wanita chief. But politics is an art of impossible and nothing should be made impossible in politics.

Superficially, many Wanita Umno division leaders may seem to be supporting Wanita Umno chief Rafidah. But in reality, more than 80 percent of them are claimed to be supporting Shahrizat.

Is it a war of money or battle against money politics? The delegates who represent the grassroots will decide the leader that they want for the period of 2009 to 2011.

Rafidah was the Minister of International Trade and Industry before she was dropped from the Cabinet after the last General Election, despite retaining her Parliamentary seat in Kuala Kangsar.

Shahrizat, who lost her Lembah Pantai seat to PKR's Nurul Izzah Anwar, was made Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on Women Affairs.

Najib won Umno presidency unopposed

Datuk Seri Najib has won the Umno presidency unopposed and will become the president and take over the premiership after the term of the current president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi expires on March 28 next year.


He won the post uncontested by virtue of being the only candidate having the necessary nominations from the party divisions to qualify for the election after securing 134 nominations for the post.

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who has offered himself as a candidate for president, has received only one nomination so far, from his own Gua Musang division. With only 57 nominations available, no one else can garner the 58 nominations necessary to qualify to contest the presidency.

Najib will be officially declared as the new Umno president at the party general assembly scheduled for March 24 to 28 next year.

Should the UMNO transition plan in mid-2010 be challenged?

Pursuing the persuasion of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to rejoin Umno and Muhyiddin's call for the PM to rethink his transition plan, it seems that the intensifying pressure on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi to quit ahead of the timetable is exerting.


Umno vice-president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recent statement said that the time frame for the national leadership transition in mid-2010 is too long and should be hastened.

He said he had no intention of hurting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s feeling but felt that it was his responsibility to convey the views.

Interestingly, Deputy Prime Minister and Umno deputy president Najib Abdul Razak said he would leave it to party members to decide if they wanted to accept a power transition pact knocked out between himself and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi whereby the latter would hand over the top post in both the country and party to him by 2010.


The new scenario arises after former Umno secretary-general Tan Sri Sabaruddin Chik, who disclosed that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been persuaded to rejoin Umno and the decision to support Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah for the post of Umno president in the party election in December. These were among the matters discussed at a private meeting at Dr Mahathir’s Cyberjaya residence last Saturday.


Besides Dr Mahathir and Sabaruddin, the meeting also involved Umno vice-president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Tengku Razaleigh and former secretary-general Tan Sri Sanusi Junid.

Abdullah had said he was taken by surprise over the party vice-president's statement. Could the PM be forced to consider appointing Najib as the acting PM sooner than he had envisaged, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah is the next Umno president or business is usual? Politics is the art of impossible, let’s wait and see.

UMNO POLITICAL BATTLE IS ON

Getting ready to see the political battle for life and death between Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in December 2008. It is a fierce zero sum political battle and the price is UMNO presidency.

The announcement made by UMNO president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that he is willing to accept Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s challenges to the presidency can be seen as the beginning of the political battle.

The Umno supreme council meeting decided that party elections will be held Dec 16-20, 2008 which coinciding with the party's annual general assembly.

UMNO president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who chaired the meeting, which ended at 7.30pm, Mac 27, 2008 made the announcement.

On Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah's proposal to hold a party extraordinary general meeting on May 11, Abdullah said the issue did not come up for discussion.