Umno push for PM to reshuffle Cabinet, drop dissident ministers

Umno push for PM to reshuffle Cabinet, drop dissident ministers

KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 — Over the past few weeks, senior Umno officials have been urging Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to reshuffle his Cabinet and drop ministers who are not on the same page with him.
These calls have grown louder in the last 48 hours after an episode at the party’s retreat on Friday where Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim was criticised by some of his supreme council colleagues for attempting to package demands by him and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for Abdullah to step down before the party elections in December as a group resolution.
The party’s highest decision-making body met on Thursday and Friday to discuss the election results and seek new strategies to make Umno and Barisan Nasional relevant.
As part of the retreat programme, the supreme council members broke out into three groups. The groups were led by Rais, Datuk Ali Rustam and Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib.
After the discussions, each group was to present their resolutions before the whole council. The group’s led by Ali and Muhammad Taib did so and talked about the need to get closer to non-Malay voters, criticised the space given to the Opposition before and after the elections and other issues.
Rais stunned his audience when he said that his group wanted Abdullah to effect the transfer of power soon, before the Umno elections. His group included Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Azim Zabidi, Datuk Azalina Othman Said and others.
Some council members did not accept his word and wanted to find out if this was really the position of the group. They grilled several members of the group and discovered that while the succession plan was discussed during the breakout sessions, besides Rais and Muhyiddin, others did not support an immediate transfer of power. The others were happy to allow Abdullah to contest the party elections and then hand over power to Datuk Seri Najib Razak not too long after the party polls.
No specific timetable of succession was discussed by supreme council members in Rais’ group nor did they agree on a resolution calling for Abdullah to step down as party president before December.
Hearing this, several council members tore into Rais for passing off what were essentially his and Muhyiddin’s opinions as a group resolution.
Everything settled down only when Najib intervened and said that Abdullah should not be pressured to state the time frame for the succession plan.
Since then, some of Abdullah’s supporters have told him that there is a need to reshuffle his Cabinet and drop the few ministers who are undermining him or who seem to be working with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to push him out of office soon.
It is unlikely that the PM will move against either Rais or Muhyiddin. He knows that sacking them will only turn the duo into martyrs and give them a platform to attack him in the run-up to Umno branch and division elections.
Also, he will be painted as someone who cannot tolerate dissent. Deep down, Abdullah has to accept that the attacks from Rais and Muhyiddin will continue.
They genuinely feel that he was the reason why voters rejected Umno and BN candidates, and are convinced that the party will not be able to move forward if he continues to be at the helm. Muhyiddin has an added reason for wanting Abdullah out before December – it paves the way for him to move into the number 2 spot in the party.
Both Rais and Muhyiddin also realise that Abdullah is much weaker in the party than he ever was, and is not a decisive leader. As such, they can take their chances that he will not cut them from his Cabinet.