Sunday, October 20, 2019

The Hishammuddin Poser: How Real Was It?


A Kadir Jasin


PREAMBLE: Views expressed herein are entirely mine. I am writing in my personal capacity as a blogger. It has nothing to do with whatever position I may hold.

The good old days: Dr Mahathir went on to succeed Tun Hussein in 1981
IN the modern, Internet-driven world of everything, a discussion about a certain popular subject is referred to by the spooks and the spies as “chatter”.

A spike in such a discussion is interpreted to mean that something significant is happening behind the scene.

So lately in the ever-noisy Malaysia political arena, the chatter is centred around the so-called attempt to break up the Pakatan Harapan (PH).

It may not be an unfamiliar chatter at all. Breaking up PH has always been the objective of the Barisan Nasional (BN).

But in the run-up to the 2018 General Elections (GE), the BN was so weak that it not only failed to break up the PH but went on to lose to it.

The BN was further weakened when several of its top leaders, led by the former Prime Minister, (Datuk Seri I Mappadulung Daeng Mattimung Karaeng Sandrobone Sultan Abdul Jalil) Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, were charged with corruption.

Others include the former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is now Umno President, and Najib’s right hand men, Datuk Seri Panglima Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim and Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad.

Since then, however, with the PH seen as losing popularity and the people are becoming disinterested in the lengthy Najib’s trial, some elements in Umno have broken rank and are promoting their own brand of Malay-Muslim agenda.

Najib’s prolonged trial could turn to become a liability to the PH government. Even senior journalists are asking if Najib is guilty of those hideous crimes that he was charged with, why does it take so long to prove his guilt?

It may sound like an uninformed question, but they may be right. Look at the hero treatment Najib is getting from the “bossku” crowd. The court of public opinion could be turning to his favour.

The softening of attitude towards Najib and his cohorts – partly because of the slow progress of their criminal trials – is emboldening some Umno leaders.

They may not necessarily be on Najib’s or Ahmad Zahid’s side. On the contrary, they want to take Umno away from these tainted people.

In the absence of a clear stewardship and with the current Umno leadership line-up being seen as throwback of the Najib's era, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, has emerged as a de facto leader.

It appears that his words are being taken more seriously by Umno members and the public than those of Najib and Ahmad Zahid.

For a while, the party’s deputy president, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, was seen as a ray of hope when he was acting as president. Not far behind was the Rembau MP, Khairy Jamaluddin.

But when Ahmad Zahid came back to run the party, Mohamad appeared to have lost his shine and the hope for change diminished.

Thus, the rise of Hishammuddin and, to a lesser degree, Khairy is a very exciting development. Personally, I believe these two moderate Malays could be the answer to Umno’s leadership conundrum.

If they could laugh together, why can't they lead together
Bringing Umno back to its original moderate stance is the key to its survival. In the current form, it is in danger of being overwhelmed by its ummah collaborator, PAS.

During Najib’s final years, in order to counter the 1MDB and other corruption scandals, he resorted to hiding behind the Malay supremacy and survival slogan.

After the May 9, 2018 defeat and the handing over of leadership to Ahmad Zahid, Umno donned the Islamic cloak in order to entice PAS. This had culminated in the Unity of the Ummah Assembly in Kuala Lumpur last month.

But not everyone in Umno is comfortable with the “rojok” (reconciliation) with PAS. They know that PAS will sooner or later take over the household. PAS operates on religious zeal and Umno on cash. And cash is short for Umno right now.

People like Hishammuddin, whose late father, Tun Hussein Onn was among the founders of Umno, and Khairy are out of place in this Umno-PAS ummah movement.

As for the Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, he meets whoever that wants to meet him. So, what is so terribly surprising if he meets Umno and PAS leaders? He is the Prime Minister for all!

If he can work with his worse political adversaries to topple the BN, why can’t he meet Hishammuddin or Khairy?

But the story becomes a bit more sensational when the Najib’s era Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism, Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin, came into the picture.

Hamzah was an important member of Umno and became entangled in the 1998 sacking of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim from the government and Umno.

Earlier this year, he joined Dr Mahathir’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and was one of the key players in the recent Malay Dignity Congress (Kongres Maruah Melayu), which was purportedly organised by four public universities.

So, when Hishammuddin’s name was linked to Hamzah and the congress, it gave birth to the theory that the two are working to bring Umno closer to Dr Mahathir, and this is then linked to the PH succession plan.

But I think people like Hishammuddin and Khairy are more important to the survival of Umno than to the PH succession plan. Left to current leadership, Umno will be fighting an uphill battle to stay alive.

Whereas the PH succession plan is a done deal in as far as the transfer of power from Dr Mahathir to Anwar.

But still we have to accept that fate is not always in our hands and the democratic process is never straight forward.

Remember, had a certain monarch had his way, Dr Mahathir would not have become the PH Prime Minister.

So don't get too uptight. Sit back, relax and keep your heart beat steady. 

Wallahuaklam.

19 comments:

chocolatedreams said...

If perception is more powerful than reality, and sending the right messages to investors create good perception, then the succession plan is a mess. Firstly, the flip flop in handover timeframe. Secondly the purpoted successor was snubbed out of the optically sensitive kongress baruah, i mean, maruah.

herman adnan said...

..... "Najib’s prolonged trial could turn to become a liability to the PH government. Even senior journalists are asking if Najib is guilty of those hideous crimes that he was charged with, why does it take so long to prove his guilt?" ....

WE MUST FOLLOW THE DUE PROCESSES & ABIDE BY THE RULE OF LAW DATO'... TAK BOLEH MAIN LANGGAR JER.. INIKAN MALAYSIA BAHARU!

Abitpusher said...

Orang Melayu dah tak percaya PH laa dato'.

Powerranger said...

Datuk. Give a break to PAS lah.

Jgn di keji sgt perjuangan PAS tu. Mereka dah buktikan mereka relevan dalam landskap politik negara.

Biarlah mereka wujud sebagai parti yang dapat melindungi kaum muslim. Nam harapkan Bersatu, bisu seribu bahasa tiap2 kontroversi melibatkan Islam.

Tak usah la cakap sebab tangan terikat. Mmg rakyat dah tahu.

NamaSamaran said...

Salam Dato'
Saya berpendapat lebih baik Dato tumpukan perhatian kepada BERSATU..kenapa setelah lebih 3 tahun wujud tetapi masih belum buat AGM,Pemimpin2 masih bertaraf PENAJA ,Pengerusi lebih dominan dari Presiden (banyak diam diri sebab banyak keputusan penting Pengerusi telah buat keputusan).
Ini lah yang ahli2 bawahan & akar umbi nampak .
Kebanyakan nya ahli2 adalah berasal dari Parti Politik lain antaranya UMNO, ahli2 arif soal AGM ini.
Dari sibukkan hal ehwal Parti lain ,lebih baik selesaikan urusan BERSATU dahulu & fikirkan macam mana nak kekalkan kerusi Tg.Pian .
Terpulang lah kepada Dato'

Unknown said...

baruah and maruah..interesting😊

jumbeaux said...

Salam Datuk

We can see a political plan being played in front of us. What is not clear yet though, who is the puppet master?

Unknown said...

Datuk Seri I Mappadulung Daeng Mattimung Karaeng Sandrobone Sultan Abdul Jalil)
😂😂 What in the name is that?

wansee c said...

Supportive to any plot of whatever sorts, including those of mischief and the likes, just to play up a little with the so-called 'throne-claimer'. It is indeed a real 'treat' to see him agonizing over the imaginary fears which must have caused him some level of restlessness and sleepless nights. Then his haters get the chance to witness more and more of his true colours of ugly sides. More often than not, his proxies would bring up the matter of power transition at their whim with the intention to stir things up, exercising their boorish best to jostle for the #1 seat in order to be presented to their ambitious master, the sooner the better. Don't they realise that their overzealous actions have been overly stretched beyond the limit which also, in fact, become ever nauseating and rancid for the public to digest. So undoubtedly, their master is the main culprit of the uncertainty and instability of the nation. If anyone is to blame, it is him, the self-important very person.


Let's delve deeper. He is now facing his past nemesis which has resulted him cringing in fear of his own shadow. Presumably, the little inner voice of his guilt has been constantly whispering into his ears and keeping him perplexed and lost of direction. That makes him insecure and forever suspicious of others altogether, all the time. In a situation like this, the easiest way out to console himself is to look for a scapegoat to take all the blame. That is totally a 'kiasu' stance; only will a loser opt for it. The question is, do we want a leader from this category to be the captain of our nation? What more to mention, a local like him who couldn't even pronounce the word 'maruah' properly and got mixed up with 'barua'? Well, spot on to fool the fools. Worse still, the disease of his denial syndrome keeps relapsing with no sign of curing. Unless he is some sort of wizard with a magic wand that can miraculously resolve people's woes and make Malaysia great again in the blink of an eye. But, is that possible? No? Then, in a nutshell, don't touch on the transition matter any more nor try to knock Tun out of the office. Leave him alone to finish whatever he needs to finish as he has a bunch of novices in the cabinet especially his incapable double-salary puppet deputy. What a waste of tax-payers' money, sigh!

Law and justice said...

Datuk,

Najib's prolonged trial, this is why the courts and learned judges must never accept silly excuses from Najib's lawyers!
Let the trials continue without these stupid delays. The rats will be caught one by one. To circumvent the rule of law will mean PH's manifesto will be diminished.

Datuk, you urged the National Professors Council (MPN) to fulfil its role as a council of academics in the wake of a spat between the group and Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy over a speech at the recent Malay Dignity Congress.

We should go further than that, we should get rid of the council of professors. IT is a fat body enriching themselves with handsome emoluments at our expense. They have done nothing notable for the country thus far. Chop them off and we are rid of one unnecessary expense.

Law and justice said...

Datuk,
Tun Mahathir endeared himself to the people in his tireless campaign for GE14.
He went here and there at the risk of his health, even the younger politicians were put to shame.

He spoke to the people, humbly, asking for our support and we gave him our support without reservations. Here was our elder, asking us to help to win the election and catch the pirates who ravaged, pillaged and robbed our nation. Yes, we agree it was a near miracle we won GE14 otherwise Malaysia would have become bankrupt and worse still the many hundreds of thousands of civil servants would not be receiving their pay or pensions today.

Let no one be deceived, it is because we have a freer press, every tom, dick, harry and jane can bash the govt and its policies.
BUT do not out of anger, knee-jerk reaction, etc. flip the coin and say, let's teach the PH govt a lesson by losing them the PH by-elections. This is the fastest and shortest route to getting back the rule of the pirates and kleptocrats.
Be very careful what you wish for, because once the devils are back to rule, your short-lived freedom is over, your children will never have a place to call home,
the many thousands of civil servants will lose their handsome salaries and pensions.
The only ones to survive and enrich themselves again will be the very devils we invited back.

There is no ideal world, but better the PH rule than the alternative!
So PKR, DAP, Amanah, Bersatu in the peninsular, go and campaign as Tun did before.
Stop the silly bickering among yourselves and stop the wanabee heroes in each party who want to have his/her say and bash your own leaders.

OKJ said...

Salam Dato Kadir Jasin

Aduh !!!! Dato’ sebok cerita pasal UMNO dan PAS, rupa-rupanya ada pemimpin DAP bagi clue suruh BERSATU keluar dari kerajaan PH. Kemudian Menteri Pendidikan dibelasah DAP dan kata beliau mewakil UMNO bukannya PH sebab tak sokong komik tu yg katanya nak diedar disekolah…… Kesian betul saya tengok BERSATU ni. Kena hentam dgn geng sendiri bertalu-talu DAP dan PKR. Orang BERSATU buat apa, tersengeh je macam kerang busuk…….. Pendekar Melayu apa macam ni.

Itulah Dato’, saya dah pesan dari dulu lagi, buat baik berpada pada, jangan sampai dipijak kepala. Sekarang apa cerita ???? Saya selalu berpesan-pesan agar Dato’ menghayati kandungan Al Quran termasuklah hubungan dengan kafir tapi Dato’ tak nak ikut. Degil. Mereka dulu cuma nak test power dlm isu Dr Zakir Naik, tengok apa respon pemimpin- pemimpin Melayu PH. Rupa-rupanya ramai juga yg ‘blur’ yg termakan umpan mereka. Apa lagi, naik minyaklah mereka.

Akhir kata, kalau pemimpin BERSATU termasuk Dato’ sendiri tak nampak lagi, tak tahu nak cakaplah. Sekian TQ.

Anees Khan said...

Salam DAKJ,

I think we need a new set of leaders for our country. Those in the system are not sensible enough.

I think ordinary people are getting fed up with those H2O alike, Ronnie Liu, Sperman Hew, 'PM in waiting' and many others.

Another things la Dato, please remind those who are in power that nobody is above the law. There is only 1 set of law and it applied to all of us.

OKJ said...

Salam Dato Kadir

Boleh ke saya sambung sikit lagi. Tengok apa jadi semasa convo UM baru-baru ini. Seorang anak Cina tunjuk samseng. Katanya itu hak beliau untuk berdemonstrasi. Nak berdemonstrasi pun biarlah kena pada tempatnya bukan di majlis orang lain. Buatlah majlis sendiri kalau nak berdemo atau nak menjerit-jerit pun. Pemimpin-pemimpin Melayu PH pula semuanya KORO, tiada telur, senyap sunyi, tiada pun yg membantah. Menteri Pendidikan Melayu pun takut nak bersuara…. Kata ikut Universitilah nak buat apa. Itu baru 2 tahun PH memerintah, habis tunggang langgang negara. Tak tahu nak cakap apalah. Nak memerintah sangat tapi tak reti. Itulah masalahnya. OKlah sampai di sini dulu. Sekian TQ.

Hj Nabawi said...

OKJ ni masih ketinggalan dalam era gelap & masih belum terbuka payung pemikiran untuk berlapang dada.

wansee c said...

Their duplicitous master is seen busy kissing golden hands. Showing desperate signs of going head to head with Tun that a motion of a vote of no confidence is ensuing? Really? Seriously that he is playing hard, real hard, this time around to accomplish his unfulfilled overdue monkey business of 2 decades? God forbid, he will never make it, NEVER! Tell me, what pride do we have if an icon of sodomy were to lead a nation that the majority of the population are Muslims? What about the China-doll adultery scandal? A tainted person would bring us nothing but shame.

Mak Na said...

Datuk,
At the end of the day tun has again
Proven he's correct...tun selalu kata bila kuasa politik melayu lemah maka kita kena give in to others punya demand in order to stay in power..I think tun wants us to see what happens if we don't stay united...Tak mungkin tun tak peka terhadap tindak tanduk Dan kata kata yg keluar daripada mulut komponen ph..
it's showing now..therefore if the Malays are still blind to see ...entahlah...
I think it is the most appropriate time for the Malays to put aside all our political differences and work hand in hand to build the country together with the non Malays...bersatu teguh bercerai roboh... Tak mustahil tapi tak mudah😢...betul tak datuk...
Maaf tak bertujuan menyinggung sesiapa










Anonymous said...

Ramai org melayu masih tak percaya anwar meliwat walaupun bukti dlm kes liwat 2 amat jelas. Tapi ramai juga yg percaya. Mereka2 yg percaya ni tak mahu anwar jadi PM kerana mereka takut negara akan ditimpa bala dan akan hancur kalau mendapat PM seorang peliwat. Bersatu dan amanah terikat pada janji utk melantik anwar sebagai pengganti tun. Tapi ini berbeza dgn pkr kerana anwar dari pkr. MP2 pkr tak ada janji utk melantik anwar sebagai PM. Tu hanya andaian sahaja. Ertinya mereka sebenarnya bebas utk tidak menyokong anwar sebagai PM. Kalau mereka melakukan itu, anwar terpaksa menampung kekurangan ni dgn mendapat sokongan dari MP2 pembangkang. Kalau tidak dia terpaksa letak jawatan PM. Adakah anwar mempunyai sokongan majoriti dlm parlimen?

kusufian write said...

Tun DrM Berundur secara hormat. NoW, I don't think so..

About Me

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I was born in 1947 in Kedah. I came from a rice farming family. I have been a journalist since 1969. I am the Editor-in-Chief of magazine publishing company, Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd. I was Group Editor NST Sdn Bhd and Group Editor-in-Chief of NSTP Bhd between 1988 and 2000. I write fortnightly column “Other Thots” in the Malaysian Business magazine, Kunta Kinte Original in Berita Harian and A Kadir Jasin Bercerita in Dewan Masyarakat. Books: Biar Putih Tulang (1998), Other Thots – Opinions & Observations 1992-2001 (2001), The Wings of an Eagle (2003), Mencari Dugalia Huso (2006), Damned That Thots (2006), Blogger (2006), PRU 2008-Rakyat Sahut Cabaran (2008), Komedi & Tragedi-Latest in Contemporary Malaysian Politics (2009) and Membangun Bangsa dengan Pena (2009).