Malaysia’s Besieged PM May Concede Power

It looks increasingly like Adbdullah Badawi will call it quits later this year or early next

Jed Yoong, ASIA SENTINEL

Reports that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has promised shell shocked stalwarts in the United Malays National Organisation that he will step down in 2009 leave the party open for a free-for-all that appears likely to be won by his nemesis – former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has done his best to drive Badawi from power.

UMNO lieutenants have been baying for Badawi’s head ever since the unprecedented gains by opposition parties in the March 9 election broke the ruling Barisan Nasional’s 50-year chokehold on power. The 82-year-old Mahathir, who has been hammering away at Badawi virtually since the latter succeeded him in 2002, had been largely regarded as irrelevant as late as last year, when Badawi’s forces engineered a putsch that kept him from even being seated at the UMNO national convention.

Mahathir gained, however, by conspicuously not campaigning for UMNO in the most recent election, particularly after Badawi replaced a lot of Mahathir’s allies in an effort to bring in some fresh blood. According to one political figure, “His [Mahathir’s] phone hasn’t stopped ringing since the election.” Despite Badawi’s efforts, the former PM is still a force.

Although most observers outside the party believe the poll debacle happened because Badawi didn’t go far enough in attempting to reform the political process, top UMNO figures want to return it to its previous strong-arm state – a recipe for disaster to the public, perhaps, but one that would keep them at the trough. Although new names are starting to rise to prominence in the wake of the election , they appear to be figures determined to perpetuate the policies that got UMNO into trouble in the first place – especially the ethnic nationalism for Malays over the minority Chinese and Indian populations, which has resulted in cronyism, political favoritism and corruption in parceling out government contracts to a rent-seeking class that critics have dubbed “umnoputras,” a play on the word bumiputra, or “son of the soil” in Malay.

Certainly, UMNO's gentle hints asking Badawi to resign have become impatient nudges. His own state constituency in Penang asked him to step down after the Barisan lost the state to the opposition Democratic Action Party.

"If changes are not made immediately, UMNO will also lose power and never make a comeback....I worry if there are no changes made, as demanded not only by UMNO members but also by people from outside the party, the people will reject Barisan Nasional and UMNO. I think sentiments are boiling at the grassroots. Therefore, if change does not happen in UMNO, many adverse things will surface," Muhyiddin Yassin, who is one of four party vice-presidents and Minister of International Trade and Industry, told reporters.

Bernama, the national news agency, reported Sunday that Badawi said that Najib Tun Razak, the UMNO deputy president and deputy prime minister “would be his successor and he would hand over the post when it is time.” However, Najib is lumbered with a variety of procurement scandals from his continuing tenure as defense minister as well as the fact that his best friend and his two personal bodyguards are involved in a marathon trial for the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006.