my seloka dad 4

The Malaysian insider:

KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 — Newly appointed Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak, dressed in indigo baju yesterday, beamed from ear to ear all day as he sat on stage next to his predecessor Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
He has had a good run these last three days at the ruling party's annual general assembly. He is now safely the party president, and Abdullah is expected to announce today when he will hand over the prime minister's post. The expected date: April 3.

Party delegates have also voted for a slate of new party leaders who are mostly seen as aligned with Najib. This includes Minister of International Trade and Industry Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is now the deputy president.

Najib is likely to take the top winners into his Cabinet, and most of them are fairly acceptable to Malaysians. Of course, he would win more kudos if he were to cast his net wider for better qualified ministers.

His biggest dilemmas will be whether to stay true to tradition and include the Youth and Wanita chiefs in his Cabinet. The new Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin comes with baggage, and Wanita chief Datuk Shahrizat Jalil lost her parliamentary seat to a green horn last year.

Bringing them on board may stir disquiet among the public but leaving them out could spur a backlash within the party.

Delicate as that task is, however, it pales in comparison with Najib's promise to reform Umno. It also pales beside the job of taking charge of a country in economic decline, and whose public institutions are in decay.

Can he deliver?

His new deputy, Muhyiddin, appealed to Malaysians to give the new leadership time. “Give us a chance. It's a new team that means business,” he told reporters yesterday.

The challenges before the team come from all fronts.

Najib himself is under severe attack by the opposition, and from his vanquished challenger, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

Within Umno, he will have to quickly convince the top echelons and the rank and file of the need for reforms.

This, too, is a formidable task. Listening to the Umno debates over the last three days, it appears that the delegates have not taken his pleas to heart.

As an observer noted, “it seems to have gone in one ear and out of the other”.

There were bouts of introspection and soul-searching, but this was overshadowed by the overwhelming belligerence of delegates who feel aggrieved by Umno's declining fortunes, as made clear by the general election of a year ago. The ruling coalition lost five states and its traditional two-thirds majority in Parliament. Since then, it has been beset by internal bickering.

At this week's pow-wow, some delegates blamed the media, the opposition, the government and the people for Umno's diminished standing.

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was the main target of attack. Ismail Kijo, a delegate from Ampang, castigated him for leading a campaign that placed the Malays on equal footing with the other races, when the majority community's special rights ought to be defended.

Youth delegate Nor Saidi Nayan from Langkawi slammed the media for legitimising the opposition coalition by referring to it as Pakatan Rakyat. He said it was an “illegal” organisation as the coalition was not registered with that name.

Such voices drowned out those of a smaller group that urged the party to stop blaming everyone but itself for its woes.

“Don't blame everyone for our loss, we have become greedy, arrogant and power crazy,” said delegate Ismail Yaacob from Langkawi.

Overall though, the tone was of defiance rather than introspection. It does not bode well for the party.

Umno vice-chief from Jerai, Ahmad Ikmal Ismail, said that it did not mean though that the party was in denial. He said the delegates felt that the Malays were under siege, but the party election results showed they were aware of the need for reforms.

“They voted with their heads and paid heed to what Malaysians said.

“They gave Umno the leaders that are needed for this moment. It is an acknowledgement of the need to change,” he told The Straits Times.

Newly elected Umno Youth deputy chief Razali Ibrahim also said it will take time to change a party that is as rigidly structured as Umno and with a membership of three million.

Behind recent calls for party reorganisation is a bid to curb money politics but how and whether this will be undertaken is far from clear.

“There are proposals and we are serious in looking at them,” Razali told The Straits Times.

The top leaders have their work cut out for them but Najib will also have to tackle personal challenges.

Allegations linking him to the murder of Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu have made their way into newspapers around the world in the last two weeks.

Back home, they do not appear to have threatened his impending appointment as Malaysia's sixth prime minister. There is an opposition-led movement to get the King to reject Najib's appointment but this is unlikely to materialise.

This movement is backed by Tengku Razaleigh, who is also eyeing the top post. The Kelantan prince's strong opinions echo the views of civil society and have created a buzz.

But they seem to hold little weight with Umno. MP Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir said it was obvious that Tengku Razaleigh held no sway in the party.

Najib's international image, and to some extent his national one, is not exactly glowing right now.

But he is not without some cards to play. Chief among them is a new Umno leadership that is largely loyal to him. His firm control of the party offers him the chance to make hard decisions without having to deal with internal squabbling.

It gives him an opportunity to deliver on the party reforms that he has promised, and to tackle Malaysia's woes.

Party insiders say he is serious. They say his Cabinet will see an overhaul of the present line-up, and that he has already drawn up plans for policy changes, including moves that address problems faced by marginalised communities.

Yesterday, Najib might have basked in his new role but, after today, when the party wraps up its meeting, the hard work begins. — Straits Times