The Umno curse strikes, again

The Umno curse strikes, again
MAY 19 – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad quit Umno today.

Surprise, surprise. Then again historically, it is not a surprise for surviving Umno presidents to leave the party because of conflict with successors. The party carries a curse with it where every president since Datuk Onn Jaafar has quit the party later.

Only Tun Razak was spared the curse because he died in office.

While the other party presidents had quit over disagreements on party policy – Datuk Onn because of the failure to convince Umno to turn multiracial, Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Hussein Onn over the deregistration of Umno — I suspect Dr Mahathir's intention are more personal in nature.

I don't think that his call for Umno members to leave the party in droves would be answered by members. I wouldn't be surprised if Dr Mahathir would form a new Malay party if his call to quit Umno fails.

I also worry whether Umno can survive in its present form much longer if Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi does not step down as prime minister soon. Five weeks ago I told Pak Lah to resign to prevent Dr M from disturbing the party. I feel vindicated after today's announcement by Dr Mahathir.

The question we need to ask now is whether Pak Lah can rebuild Umno in a situation where the young have deserted it. With Dr Mahathir's announcement, I suspect that many veterans may opt to leave the party too, either physically or in spirit.

Will Pak Lah's effort to rebuild the party result in a weaker party? Will the party members deny him the mandate to do it or find somebody else this December?

Whatever the outcome, the party has to overcome another prophecy. The RAHMAN theory has been proven to come almost true as every president that Umno has chosen since Tunku Abdul Rahman has followed the letters in his name.

And we are now at the last letter N.

The ironic situation would be that if Umno picks Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak as the successor to Pak Lah, as it should, it would complete the RAHMAN theory and thus also complete the demise of Umno as the government in the country too?

It is something worth thinking about.

Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed is a two-term MP for Pulai who writes a weekly column for The Malaysian Insider.