The Great One has Left the building and it ain't Elvis! | Malaysian Sentinel : Malaysia's Politics from a Malaysian Citizen Blogger


Monday, May 19, 2008

The Great One has Left the building and it ain't Elvis!

The great One has left the building and folks I am not talking about Elvis (that dude's dead though he was sighted in Memphis), I'm talking about our very own, Tun Mahathir and he has left UMNO.

From Malaysiakini:

Former Umno president Dr Mahathir Mohamad today announced that he was quitting the party with immediate effect and urged other members to emulate him.

Source: Malaysiakini


From The Star:

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced Monday at 12.35pm that he is quitting Umno, citing a lack of confidence in the current leadership.

He said this during a talk here on Monday.

He has been critical of his appointed successor Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, blaming the current Umno president for the party's disappointing performance in the 12th general election.

Source: The Star



Tun Mahathir has thrown down the gauntlet and I am sure this will send a strong message up the levels of UMNO. Could this indeed be the turning of the ride for Abdullah Badawi? Tun Mahathir has thrown it back to UMNO members to choose the side they wish to stand on. If they wish Abdullah Badawi to step down, then they are to quit the party and if they are for Abdullah Badawi, stay on.

In the next few days, be ready for rally calls by various leaders from within UMNO - who are expected to throw their support behind Abdullah Badawi but watch the movement by the grassroot Malays. I foresee that the leaders will be behind Abdullah Badawi but the grassroot members would quit on mass.

What good are leaders without followers?

Tun Mahathir has called upon the various ministers to also quit the party. It would be interesting to see who would actually take up that call. Would Najib take it up (I heard he's a Tun Mahathir man) or would those on the UMNO board take up the call?

Smart move Tun Mahathir but it can also be reverse on you. There is potential for the current establishment to spin the tale of a bitter former prime minister, unwilling to give his successor a chance. Would Berita Harian spin this tale (the paper is UMNO own)? Could this spell the end of UMNO? It has happened before. Kill the party and throw out the deadwood. It has worked before.

So this is an interesting turn of events, if not amusing because for the pass month; the management of this country has taken a backseat to political bickering, back-stabbing, sulking politicians and crazy statements by the guy in charge of the EC.

So where are we heading Malaysia?

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Malaysiakini reported today that former PM Mahathir has quit Umno. It also reported that former Kedah MB and former Agriculture Minister Sanusi Junid has also quit. It appears to me that Mahathir is trying to use Kurt Lewins philosophy of change management by asking Umno members to leave Umno now but rejoin it after Badawi 'has left the building'. This is akin to Lewins’ Freeze-Change-Unfreeze mechanism in Managing Change.

The only problem here is that the Umno members by now wouldn’t want to gamble with their political careers but would be pretty enticing and justifiable for them to be Independent MP’s, meaning they are neither BN or Pakatan Rakyat (PR). When this happens, we would actually have an interesting scenario where Pakatan Rakyat will come to power by default without even needing the ‘kataks’ (frogs) as PR will be able to form a minority Government with BN fragmented.

Why to do think former DPM Musa Hitam’s protégé Shahrir Samad is talking about a possible snap election? These UMNO racists will try anything now just to stay in power, as they know their days are numbered. The greatest fear the BN/UMNO politicians and their benefactors have is that when PR comes to power, you can just imagine the amount of dirt the new Pakatan Rakyat government will expose for all to see. You can expect even Bukit Aman to be turned inside out. Even IGP Musa Hassan’s toilet will not be spared. Say your prayers folks, for the Day of Judgement is at hand for BN/Umno and their cronies!

As for Mahathir’s use of Kurt Lewin’s Change Model for Umno, I’m afraid Mamak Tongkang’s plan will only backfire. You see, Umno, Gapena, Majlis Pemuafakatan Melayu must come to a realization that communal politics in Malaysia is history. No amount of Keris rattling is going to bring Malay support back to Umno. The same goes to non-Malay support for non-Malay BN component parties. Today, a new dawn has come to Malaysia. Today, we call ourselves as Bangsa Malaysia. Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans, Eurasians don’t exist in this country any more. It only exists in our DNA. We are Malaysians for Ketuanan Rakyat! We are Bangsa Malaysia! Hidup Malaysia!

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