Who does UMNO have to offer as PM material?

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia--Malaysia's on-going political crisis caused by a political coup that seized power undemocratically will come to an end sooner or later, but who will emerge as the Prime Minister (PM) once the dust settles?

 

To be fair this is not the first time an undemocratic transfer of power has happened in this country, with a recent example being Ahmad Badawi being forced to step down in favor of Najib Razak by none other than former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.

 

Will Anwar Ibrahim finally make a successful bid at the top seat? More power to him if he does but what we are more likely to see is a new political alignment headed by UMNO in one form or the other.

 

So the next question is who does UMNO, the country's long standing and for a long time dominant Malay-centric party have to offer by way of Prime Minister material, excluding Najib himself and current UMNO resident Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, both of whom are too toxic to consider and Mohamad who is not a member of parliament.

 

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah

 

An eight term MP, the veteran UMNO stalwart is frequently raised as at least a possible and acceptable interim PM, one that could warm the seat until a more realistic candidate can be brought in. But this will not sit well with a large number of voters. Should he have been genuinely popular, with the grassroots support within and outside of UMNO, Ku Li as he is popularly known would have been PM at least once by now.

 

But the uninsiring 84-year-old just does not cut it. Not only would it be unwise to place the country's future in an aging political dinosaur for a second time so soon after placing trust in a certain fickle 96-year-old, the young voters coming in under UNDI-18 will want to see someone who is from their generation, relatable and understands their struggle especially in the face of the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Hishammuddin Hussein

 

Being bred of a good political pedigree, Hishammuddin is a political survivor but he leaves a lot to be desired as a PM. To call his his tenure as Defense Minister during the Barisan Nasional (BN) days controversial would be an understatement and in his current capacity as foreign minister he just cannot shake off the image as a man who is subservient to foreign powers, particularly to his "Big Brother" China. Despoite being handed a golden oppourtunity to shore up his nationalistic credentials, he failed to capitalise on the intrusion of Chinese military jets into Malaysian airspace.

 

But his proximity to the corridors of power, a relatively "clean" reputation at least compared to his peers, and a certain "charm", Hishammuddin would  find it difficult to rally support from his own party around himself, much less from the other political operatives who have grown to distrust him due to his association with certain individuals in Bersatu. It would be a longshot to say the least. 

 

Khairy Jamaluddin

 

Now this is a strong contender, young energetic and seemingly untouched by the corruption of the BN days. Khairy has had many opportunities to shine, and has even proven to be quite daring in taking on Zahid and Tengku Razaleigh for the post of UMNO president, ultimately losing the party elections. He would seem like a natural choice.

 

But he is not free of allegations of corruption, previously during his tenure as Youth and Sports Minister, when he was slammed over his responsibility as he embroiled in the controversy surrounding the RM100 million corruption scandal plaguing the ministry in 2016. Khairy's performance as the minister in charge of the national immunisation program (PICK) has also left much to be desired. But make no mistake, he is very much a preferred option among many, including yours truly.

 

Ismail Sabri Yaakob

 

While currently being the best positioned for the post of PM, considering his current hold as Muhyiddin Yassin's deputy, Ismail Sabri will always be remembered for an incident involving turtle eggs (though he apparently managed to clear his name later on). He will also be remembered for his ill-fated foray into the electronics market, setting up the infamous MARA Digital Mall initiative which did not pan out so well in hindsight.

 

While racial politics has been UMNO's forte, a true statesman would have attempted some form of compromise and bringing together of Malaysia's diverse communities. Ismail Sabri would not have risen so high, so quickly without the patronage of Muhyiddin and he is likely to follow his boss into the political wilderness, having defied UMNo and Zahid with his short-sighted support of Muhyiddin.

 

Johari Abdul Ghani

Now here is a truly low profile but capable administrator, someone who even during theheight of the Najib years managed to avoid controversy, even over the 1MDB scandal. Unusually he even "vowed not to come to the defence of any Umno leader found guilty of committing an offence" when he was explaining controversies surrounding 1MDB as the then Second Finance Minister.

Consider, Johari only lost his Titiwangsa seat to Bersatu's Rina Harun by a relatively small margin, 19,701 votes to Rina's 23,840 only due to the overwhelmingly anti-BN sentiment in 2018 and PAS acting as a spoiler. And we have all seen what kind of ministerial capabilities Rina has. The 57-year old is also not only younger than most of his peers, but has a proven track record as an accountant and a successful businessman, able to keep track of numbers and push KPI's, something our current crop of so-called leaders severely lacks.

 

So what happens now?

 

So let us see who will be the ultimate winner of this close and often confusing contest over the top seat. It could very well be one of these four or it could be someone unexpected as Muhyiddin was. Time will tell but whoever it is will have the unenviable task of rebuilding a Malaysia that has clearly been brought to within a hair of its breaking point.

 

Malaysia's health, economically, socially and in terms of its reputation has suffered heavily during Muhyiddin's short and disastrous stint in power. poor policies and poor execution of the same by failed technocrats, unprincipled politicians and untalented cronies have left an indelible mark on the country.

 

We need real leadership, not a party president who failed to remove the traitors from his camp when he had the chance, not by those skilled at cutting backroom deals and certainly not by those whose only goal is self-enrichment.