THE UMNO “implosion” over what is right and wrong has taken more than four years to occur.
I had asked last month whether there was nobody in UMNO who dared to say that UMNO should not seek the return of Datuk Seri Najib Razak as prime minister as his years as prime minister when Malaysia became “kleptocracy at its worst” was nothing to be proud of.
Now it appears that I was both right and wrong.
Former UMNO Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman said yesterday that a group of senior and influential leaders in UMNO had gathered at his house to broker a deal that would see party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi step down amicably as early as 2020.
However, UMNO deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and Najib had backed out.
Tajuddin claimed that the former Negri Sembilan menteri besar was “intimidated” by Zahid, his senior in the party hierarchy.
It is for Mohamad to explain why he backed out of the plan but Najib’s presence at Tajuddin’s house was a surprise, as after the discovery of the seeming popularity of his “Malu apa bossku” persona, he has kept his dream of becoming the next Malaysian prime minister alive.
I was wrong in implying that nobody – whether at UMNO leadership or membership level – had heeded the warning of the fourth UMNO president and third prime minister Tun Hussein Onn at the 1979 UMNO General Assembly that Malaysia will be destroyed if its leaders were “dishonest, untrustworthy and corrupt”.
However, I was right that such warnings would not sway the UMNO leadership from supporting Zahid or even Najib’s ambition to return as prime minister and this leaves MCA and MIC out in the cold.
In the past four years since the 14th General Election, no MCA or MIC leader had expressed regrets or concern for the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal.
In fact, in the Malacca and Johor state elections recently, MCA and MIC leaders and candidates were depending on Najib’s popularity to get votes.
It is gratifying that there are UMNO leaders who are beginning to see what is right and what is wrong, something which MCA and MIC leaders and ministers have yet to show. – June 28, 2022
Lim Kit Siang is a DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
