THE RACE FOR UMNO YOUTH LEADERSHIP

Who will it be? Will it be Khairy Jamaludin or KJ as he is popularly known? He had been touted as the most likely person to win the post before. But not now, especially after his father-in-law the Prime Minister announced his exit in March next year. Instead Mukhriz is fast coming into the limelight now, already meeting his quota for the nomination, whilst the other two contenders KJ and Khir Toyo are still running behind and not there yet. With Pak Lah going into oblivion, Mukhriz has now received an extra vigor and clout from his father Tun Mahathir, who of late has been coming more and more into the public limelight.

The media seems to have more sympathy on him giving him quite ample space to say what he wants. May be the media too realizes that it has to do this now and even later under the PM in waiting Najib. That is why many people believe that Najib is basically Mahathir’s “protégé” who will not push hard for the Judiciary Reform, let alone to seek the truth on the “Lingam tape” debacle where Tun Mahathir is implicated. Mahathir is getting bolder by the day and even throwing, this time a challenge to the judiciary to prove his guilt or wrong doings, if any. He did throw a similar challenge before to the public. He knows too well that under Najib he will be safe and protected, but not under Abdullah.

Of course under Anwar he is sure to be brought to Court and prosecuted. In fact not only Mahathir but also other political leaders in the BN, like Samy Vellu. Anwar has made Reports to the Police and the ACA on Mahathir which had been lying there for years now with no action taken. So we can expect the fate of these reports more or less when Najib takes over as PM.

But what has this got to do with the UMNO Youth leadership contest?

KJ – Mukhritz is a proxy battle between Pak Lah and Mahathir or more specifically between Mahathirism and Anti Mahathirism. The battle has already started but Pak Lah’s exit has stifled this initiative somewhat. That is why he is rushing to get the THREE vital Acts, on the Judiciary, Anti Corruption and the Police get through to Parliament as these are KEY OPENERS to UNFOLD all past corrupt practices and PREVENT future corrupt activities besides ensuring Transparency, Integrity and Accountability in the administration. But unless some ONE continues persistently pushing these reforms that brought through these Acts, it is going to be business as usual.

Knowing Najib’s feeling for the Tun, that’s what we anticipate will happen eventually. Najib will not go to the extent of TREATING Mahathir as what the present Indonesian government did to the late Suharto. Come on Najib! It is not that difficult to PIN him down for his misdeeds. Just check the Petronas record. And this is one example. If you need more just see what Anwar Ibrahim had submitted to the Police and the ACA Anwar knew it all as he was Mahathir’s deputy for years when all these misdeeds were committed.

Why the people want to go after him is just to get back the public money that had been squandered during his administration through the abuse of power, nepotism and cronyism just like what Suharto did in Indonesia, no more no less. Were not these issues raised by no other person than the present Minister in the PM’s Department, Zahid Hamidi during one of the UMNO’ General Assembly where he made an indirect scotching attacks on Mahathir?! And it was during this meeting that the words CRONISM, NEPOTISM were first used to label; Mahathir’s doings. And of course Zahid was speaking on behalf of Anwar Ibrahim at that time! The result – Anwar was kicked out of UMNO and sent to jail. But Zahid survived and repented and NOW making a comeback! You see how dirty politics is. To day Zahid becomes a strong critic of Anwar who used to be his “mentor”!

Tun Mahathir wants his son to wrestle the Youth head post by all means as this will be a good stepping stone for his political future carrier. And of course he has the FINANCIAL resources to do that. And his long term mission is to put his son to become the Prime Minister one day. Only then can he be assured of the PROTECTION of his LEGACIES and most importantly his PRIVATE INTERESTS which according to grapevine stories are locked in here and overseas under various proxies.

HOW MUCH is the Tun WORTH you think? Have a guess! He is smart. What he owned or where his financial interests are located can never be traced as all ot most of them are under PROXIES. Who are these proxy holders? Everyone can guess. Those direct beneficiaries and close associates of his who became prominent corporate figures during his two decades in power! This is the BEAUTY of our proxy laws and our banking secrecy acts. People can hide behind their cloaks. Just imagine if the Banks were allowed to REVEAL who and who owns what in this country, sure HELL will let loose!!

JUST THINK the Study made by a US Research private institution that came out with the findings that over the last 30 years, the amount of CORRUPTION involve in Malaysia is US 300 billion!!. Who are the recipients of these huge sums of money? Can any political party dare make this as its MANIFESTO? At least to liberalise the provisions relating to these two issues, PROXY LAWS and BANK SECRECY LAWS?
KJ is now the underdog. And from now on he will have to behave like the business cliché “DOG EAT DOG” if he wants to survive and continue to survive politically. Or else he just retire from politics, get his MP’s pension and start some business on his own using all the money he had accumulated which presumably is a healthy sum!. At least grapevine stories had it that he made MR 100 million out of the Malayan Banking deal with Kalimullah and backed by the Second Minister of Finance Nor Yakcob who according to some source controls the WINE business in this country!!

For KJ, it is going to be a long and tiring battle because he also aspires to become the Prime Minister one day. The “MARATHON” race requires resilience not only by him but also Mukhriz. Resilience here means mental strength.

And most importantly “FINANCIAL STRENGTH”.

KJ who already started accumulating his financial resources whilst his father in law is in power, and aided by people like Kalimullah and Patrick Lim ( read the various articles in the press and most importantly the various BLOGS on this) is going to face real problem after Pak Lah’s exit. Because he will no longer have anymore ACCESS to money making. Furthermore those individuals who played the in- between or king maker roles in all these deals are leaving the scene following Pak Lah’s exit. These individuals are mercenaries of sort, and have no qualms whatsoever on what they did in this regard. After all it had happened to other people like them before who had played such roles under the previous administration. Such people come and go. So in terms of financial strength, KJ lacks far behind Mukhriz and no matter how hard KJ tries from now on, he can never beat Mukhriz on this score. Remember too the corporate leaders who were running high during Tun’s reign of power, but had remained under low profile during Pak Lah’ era, may make a come back under Najib and realign themselves with Najib . And this will be good for Mukriz too to see his father’s OLD FRIENDS rejuvenated after possibly SUFFERED IN SILENCE during Pak Lah’s time. So you may want to put your BET on the TWO. But I tell you if Mukriz wins the contest, what we have been saying about the GODFATHER is a prophecy coming true.

If all what is said comes true, then we have a dynasty of sort developing in the country’s future leadership. Whether this augers well or otherwise for the future of the nation is anybody’s guess at this time. But whatever it is, we would like to remind the young generation on one important and vital thing. Since independence and even before God has been very kind to our country. HE has blessed this country with rich natural resources and HE has spared this country from natural calamities and disasters like earthquakes, typhoons and other calamities like the outbreak of diseases and above all the ravages of civil wars of any kind, except the minor skirmishes during the May '69 riot. The country’s leadership has managed to keep our multi racial, multi religious and multicultural people to live in peace and harmony although the stability of our social fabric gets threatened from time to time by irresponsible and extremist elements in our society.

This country needs a leader who is a MODERATE in ALL aspects but FIRM and RESOLUTE. But the dilemma is that no way can such a leader emerge under a regime of “MONEY POLITICS” except from PAS possibly because of their religious commitment against Corruption. For PKR is equally doubtful. After all most of the PKR members were really UMNO splinters who supported Anwar and lost everything when Anwar fell from grace. They were all at one time RECEIPIENTS and part and parcel of the Money Politics Culture. Let me LEAVE YOU WITH THIS THOUGHT.

All these while UMNO committee members at the Branch, Divisional levels right to the top have enjoyed the politics of money patronage, as a ruling party in government. Their numbers total about 2,000 in all. They are well fed and financially wealthy. They attend the UMNO ASSEMBLY and they decided who the Prime Minister in this country.

They are warlords in their own right.. How do you expect them to change their “HABITS” when these are their source of comfort in their daily lives? Maybe if you change the RULES or put in place NEW people.

Even if you do that or manage to do that thru the various REFORMS initiated by Pak Lah, there is no GUARANTEE that they will change their habits. So think about it.