Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Umno in shambles and may even implode By P Gunasegaram
Thursday, July 07, 2022
Malaysiakini : The issues are many ranging from who will be Umno president if Zahid
is convicted, when GE15 will be called, the possibility of royal pardon
for convicted criminals, who get to pick candidates for GE15, who will
be the candidates for GE15ā¦ to whether Umno will win given the state of
complete uncertainty and even chaos within the party.
Embattled Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
In
this first part, I will outline some of the latest revelations and
their implications while in the second part, which will appear next week
on Tuesday, I will venture hazardously to conjecture about the
possibilities for the future.
Power struggle within Umno
In the last two
weeks, what has become increasingly obvious is that Umno is not a single
monolithic structure which uniformly wants to see cases against felons
and possible felons to be dismissed and/or pardoned but disparate groups
whose agendas conflict with this.
For all the talk of support
that Zahid and Najib are said to enjoy within the party, the brutal
truth is that if these two cannot contest in future party polls because
of convictions, then the rest below them will rise to the top faster
because two rungs on the ladder will be removed.
It is therefore
naive to think that other leaders close to the top, such as Ismail
Sabri, Tok Mat and Khairy, would allow Zahid and Najib to remain at the
top and to rise to a position of massive influence respectively. It is
in their interests to see them go for good.
It is unreasonable and
illogical to think that Zahid and Najib can remain/return and that
their cases will be terminated/withdrawn/pardoned so that they will have
free passage to be the leaders/power brokers in future.
Zahid
became president after Najib stepped down following his loss in the 2018
general elections. Najib holds no party positions but has positioned
himself as a powerful person with his āMalu Apa Bosskuā slogan, taking part in election rallies and taking joyrides on trains to preview the lines before they become operational, amongst others.
In a famous or notorious move, depending on your point of view, Zahid pushed Ismail Sabri out
and pulled Najib in at a victory celebration following the Johor
elections. Earlier, in his speech, Zahid said: "Although officially, Tok
Mat was the election director (of Johor's state election) and Hasni
(former Johor menteri besar Hasni Mohammad) its chief coordinator, the
main campaign manager was Yang Berhormat Datuk Seri Mohammad Najib Tun
Abdul Razak."
Umno leaders Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Najib Abdul Razak and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi celebrate partyās victory in Johor state election
That
was an unwarranted endorsement of Najib, which really could not be
supported by facts and which would have angered, disappointed and
irritated a number of big wigs, including Ismail Sabri and Tok Mat. It
also meant Zahid and Najib were allying with each other.
In a show of strength among Umno delegates, Zahid and Najib convinced them to unanimously vote
for a change in the Umno constitution in May which would allow party
elections to be postponed until six months after the elections or up to
18 months from the end of the leadership term.
Zahidās position secure for now
That
secured Zahidās position as president for the time being. However,
there are criminal charges hanging over his head and his position may
change if he is found guilty of any of them. The immediate problem for
both Zahid and Najib is the criminal charges.
For Ismail Sabri
then, who as PM appears to hold the decision as to when to call
elections, what is in his interest is to postpone the elections as long
as he can so that the ongoing resolution of criminal charges will remove
or considerably reduce the influence and power of Zahid and Najib,
making it more likely that he will remain PM.
Ismail was chosen as
PM by Umno because he was the next ranking available person in Umno
when Zahid could not be considered because of ongoing court cases. After
all, you canāt have a sitting PM facing charges in court.
Actually
Tok Mat, as deputy president, was the most senior but unfortunately, he
is only a state assemblyperson and therefore could not be chosen as a
PM which requires a person to be an elected MP under the Federal
Constitution.
Ismail Sabri, little known before his ascension to
becoming the PM, had secured the largest votes among candidates for the
vice-presidency in the Umno 2018 elections and therefore the next most
eligible person, earning him the unkind moniker of accidental PM.
Friend or foe: Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan
However,
in the event of general elections, it is entirely likely that Tok Mat
will demand a parliamentary seat to improve his chances of becoming PM,
becoming a threat to Ismail Sabri continuing as PM.
Some speculate
that the seat could be the one that Khairy holds now - Rembau in Negeri
Sembilan - as part of a move to take Khairy out of the federal arena
and get him to spearhead the retaking of the state which was lost to
Pakatan Harapan at GE14 in May 2018. But that is mere conjecture so far
and Khairy will oppose such a move if it comes.
Tok Mat a serious contender
Khairy
lost in the Umno presidential elections of 2018 but did creditably
well, coming in well ahead of Razaleigh. He secured 61 electoral votes
against eventual winner Zahidās 99 and twice Razaleighās 30.
In
terms of the popular vote, under Umnoās complicated voting system, he
captured 35.3 percent against Zahidās 42.4 percent and Razaleighās 22.1
percent, indicating very significant support at ground level, which far
eclipsed that for Razaleigh and was close enough to Zahidās. He cannot
be discounted.
What is evident from recent events is that the
much-overlooked Umno number two, deputy president Tok Mat has begun to
flex his muscles. In a style favoured by some local politicians, he did
this through a frank and rather illuminating and controversial interview with the foreign media.
He
said in the interview: āWe want to avoid a struggle for power in Umno,
because once that happens, Umno is finished. Thatās why we decided ā Iām
the one who decided ā that Ismail Sabri will be the poster boy. Because
he is the sitting prime minister. It doesnāt make sense if a sitting
prime minister is there, but the party nominates someone else.ā
He denied the headline of the article āUmnoās No 2 thinks Najib should go to jailā but did clearly say:
āThe court is the place where you can prove whether youāre innocent or
not. He didnāt prove it. He couldnāt prove it. Everybody has to pay
their dues. But if we want to pardon, he (Najib) has to go through the
process. Heāll have to go inside first.ā
His message is very clear
- Najib (and Zahid) cannot expect any help on the court and criminal
charges front. A pardon can be considered but only after due process,
and, importantly, time spent in jail. That could finish the political
careers of both Najib and Zahid, leaving Tok Mat as a serious contender
for the top post if Umno leads a coalition into power.
Tajuddin spills the beans
Meantime, letās go to Tajuddin Abdul Rahman whose litany of alleged controversies and issues are listed here. This is the man who was appointed non-executive chairperson of public transport holding company Prasarana in May 2020.
Tajuddin Abdul Rahman drops bombshell at a press conference
He was subsequently removed by the finance minister for poor handling of a press conference related to a collision of public transport trains but again inexplicably chosen by PM Ismail Sabri recently to the important and sensitive position of ambassador to Indonesia.
Last
month, Zahid removed Tajuddin as a nominated member of Umnoās supreme
council, signalling he has power within the party and indicating to
Ismail Sabri that he has. But Tajuddin unleashed a torrent of revelations about Zahid and expressed his support for Ismail Sabri.
Among
other things, he charged that Zahidās āno Anwar, no DAPā mantra was a
lie and that he was personally a witness to a statutory declaration
signed by Zahid in support of Pakatan Harapan leader Anwar Ibrahim for
prime minister. This was clearly to paint Zahid as a political animal
who will make deals with anyone.
These revelations and others were
ugly, to say the least, and together with other long-simmering issues
which are now brimming over the pot, represent an Umno which has not
been so badly divided since the 1987 episode resulting in the formation
by Mahathir of Umno Baru.
What is clear is that Umno is in
shambles as its leaders start posturing aggressively and very publicly
to ensure their place in the party and their political and other
longevity, giving no thought to the party and the rakyat.
Will
Umno survive this greedy, self-serving fight among its top leaders, or
descend finally into obscurity? Will the leadership ever regain the
confidence of their support base as they engage in deadly combat and
destroy each other, and the party implodes?
Will, as alleged, Mahathirās dream to destroy Umno finally materialise?
Next: Permutations and combinations for the future.
