(MalaysiaInsider)ALOR STAR, May 19 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today cast the last roll of the dice in his bid to oust Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi from office. By quitting Umno and inviting other party members to do likewise, and saying that everyone should only rejoin the party after there was a change in leadership, he has:
• Framed the party struggle and its future relevance down to one man – Abdullah.
• Created a crisis environment which the PM will find impossible to ignore.
• Made his resignation one of the issues to be discussed in the coming branch meetings in July.
• Created a well of confusion among the rank-and-file which Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Pakatan Rakyat are well-placed to tap.
• Added just another element of uncertainty to a fractious political landscape.
Speaking before a crowd of 1,000 in Alor Star, Kedah, Dr Mahathir said he was leaving Umno as he had lost confidence in the party's leadership for failing to protect the interests and well-being of the Malays. He would only rejoin Umno after Abdullah resigned as party president and was no longer the country's top leader.
“I will only come back to the party when there is a change in leadership," the ex-premier told a crowd at a forum in his home state of Kedah this morning.
He also called on all Umno ministers, deputy ministers and all levels of party leaders to join him in quitting the party. "Wait till Abdullah quits as the prime minister and party president and then we can return to Umno," he said.
This is a high stakes gambit by Dr Mahathir because there is a possibility that his clarion call for action may be rebuffed.
But he was left with little choice but to take this path. Resigning and upping the ante was the only option available to him. He has been trying to force Abdullah’s hand since Election 2008, where the alliance of PKR-DAP-PAS made significant inroads into Barisan Nasional’s stranglehold on power. Dr Mahathir blamed Abdullah’s leadership and his reliance on family member as the main reasons why many voters rejected the ruling coalition.
Initially, it looked like Dr Mahathir would be able to ferment enough discontent in the party, leaving Abdullah little choice but to step down. But anecdotal evidence suggests that Abdullah has managed to hush the critics and has convinced them that he is allowed to defend his party president’s position in December and then hand over power to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak by 2010.
Dr Mahathir also realised that the power brokers in the party – from the supreme council to the powerful division chiefs – were not on the same page as him. They were not in favour of going outside the party constitution to push Abdullah out. When he met Najib for two hours on Sunday, he did not get any signals that the number two was ready to move against Abdullah.
Against this backdrop of inertia and indifference, the former PM could see that his campaign to oust Abdullah was petering out. Only a sudden and drastic move could help him regain the initiative. This is what he attempted to do today by resigning from a party he joined in 1946.
At a press conference later, Dr Mahathir said he will submit his resignation from Umno as soon as possible.
He insisted that his resignation had nothing to do with the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam video clip. "I am just protesting against the Abdullah’s leadership of Umno and country," he said.
The commission said that Dr Mahathir, lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam, former chief justices Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim and Tun Eusoff Chin, Tan Sri Vincent Tan and former tourism minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor had conspired to fix the appointments and promotions of judges.
Dr Mahathir’s decision to resign from Umno surprised party leaders. Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said: "He is doing more damage than good; whatever it is, the party is still looking for a new direction and we need everyone to remain united and not split."
He feared for the future of Umno because Dr Mahathir had a great influence and a person of his stature could rattle and destroy the party.
No comments:
Post a Comment