ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING NOW POSSIBLE FOR MOHAMAD HASAN - AS ZAHID FALLS ON HIS OWN HADI SWORD - WITH A ZAHID OUSTER BOUND TO TRIGGER AN ANWAR OUSTER

Written by Stan Lee, PoliticsNow! 

KUALA LUMPUR (politicsnowmy.blogspot.com) - Death wish, self-harm, self-sabotage or whatnot, it looks like Umno president Zahid Hamidi has signed his 'death warrant' yet again.

Even worse than when he showed dogged support for the alleged 'pro-US, pro-Israel but anti-Palestine' BlackRock deal that made him appear to be Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's 'boy' at the expense of Muslim and Umno interests, Zahid in his latest clumsy salvo only opened the door wider for his rivals within his own party to 'go for the kill'.

In comments made after a disastrous showing at a key by-election lost by the Anwar regime, Zahid had called Hadi Awang, the president of Malaysia's most powerful Muslim party, a liar -  adding that Umno would not work with Pas, which had just won the by-election with a thundering majority, so long as Hadi headed it.

This drew a sharp and quick response from Pas deputy president Tuan Ibrahim that his party would only work with an Umno that was not led by Zahid, pointing out that Umno was "weakening due to its current leadership".

"Put it this way. Both men are correct, it's a draw because Hadi has often been accused of being a serial liar, whereas it is also spot on to say that Umno which is already very clearly on a weakening trend has weakened even more since Zahid became president and sacked those who opposed his decision to take Umno into Anwar's unity government," a veteran political insider told PoliticsNow!

A GIFT TO ZAHID'S RIVALS

Indeed, since the Anwar regime announced a stake sale in national airports operator, amounting to an effective 30%, to a unit of US investment giant BlackRock, the long-simmering murmurs of discontent in Umno against Zahid had erupted into the open. 

Even Zahid's number two in Umno, Mohamad Hasan, had spoken out against the deal amid revelations to the press that Umno ministers in Anwar's cabinet had also voiced their objection to Anwar. 

Not only is BlackRock a major supplier of deadly arms and weapons to Israel in the Palestine conflict, the sale is seen as unnecessary as the airports operator MAHB is highly profitable due to the monopoly given to it by the government over the industry. Analysts had also warned the deal could expose Malaysia's national security to risk of interference from the US as the battle between Washington and Beijing for control of the South China Seas continues to escalate.

"Battle lines are being drawn in Umno against Zahid. His unwise words are a gift to those in Umno who want him out because Zahid seems to have forgotten that Pas is now the most powerful and influential party for the Malays and many want to see an Umno-Pas tie-up and not an Umno-Anwar tie-up," said the insider.  

ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE FOR MOHAMAD HASAN

In the race to become the new Umno president, Zahid's replacement could include power brokers such as the very popular Mohamad Hasan, who is also Foreign Affairs minister; Ismail Sabri, the prime minister who preceded Anwar; and Hishammuddin Hussein, a former senior minister who was suspended by Zahid for trying to tie Umno to the PN opposition bloc instead of to Anwar's Pakatan Harapan coalition in the aftermath of the general election in 2022."

Among them, Mohamad Hasan is increasingly seen as the frontrunner to replace Zahid. An ouster appears inevitable and can happen either before or after the next general election due in 2027. Many political watchers believe a Zahid ouster would almost certainly translate into an Anwar ouster.

"If Mohamad Hasan replaces Zahid as Umno president, he can carry on Zahid's role as Deputy Prime Minister in which case Anwar is already confirmed as only a one-term PM. It's something Anwar has to accept since his PKR party is even weaker than Umno and this augurs very badly for the entire Pakatan coalition. Voters won't rush to back them or bother that they are the incumbent government because Anwar would practically be a lame-duck PM once Zahid loses his post in Umno," opined the insider.

"Given the explosive nature of politics, the chances are higher that Anwar will have to step down before the next general election as it's unlikely Mohamad Hasan's supporters or Umno itself would let him wait. Better they join PN as a gesture of Malay unification and if PN could previously allow Ismail Sabri to front their government, everything and anything is possible for Mohamad Hasan."  

LIES AND MORE LIES

Meanwhile, according to Tuan Ibrahim, it was Zahid who had lied to Umno grassroots that he did not want their party to work with Anwar and DAP, the Chinese-dominated component party in the ruling Pakatan coalition that is feared by many Malays. 

Yet in the end, Zahid threw in Umno's 30 seats into the unprecedented cocktail proposed by Anwar to form a historic unity government - that unfortunately proved unpopular with Malay voters who feared working with the likes of DAP would dilute their political dominance, while non-Malays now shun team Anwar for failing to carry out election promises and doing little to lift the country out of a still-deepening economic and social rut caused by decades of racial and racist government policies.  

“Pas, too, will not work with Umno as long as Zahid is their president,” Tuan Ibrahim had told FMT, adding that the PN opposition coalition, which Pas is now part of, was strong enough to pull in the votes needed to trounce team Anwar.

“The Sungai Bakap by-election result serves as a yardstick to measure the level of the public’s support and acceptance of PN,” elaborated Tuan Ibrahim.

The Pas number two was referring to the poll that took place over the weekend and which was convincingly won by its candidate despite team Anwar dishing out government projects, funding and rolling out the full might of federal and state government machineries.

As for Zahid, whose support had been instrumental for Anwar to become prime minister in 2022, his words about Hadi were seen as aimed to shore up confidence that Umno would not switch coalitions despite the Sungai Bakap poll, which was contested and lost by a candidate from Anwar's PKR party.

“Pas has been lying from the beginning until now. I’m a living witness to the four-point discussion with Hadi," Zahid was reported as saying by Sinar Harian..

“When we were face-to-face, we agreed, but the next day, he changed his mind and said he disagreed. “Don’t believe it, as long as that person is its president. Don’t expect Umno to cooperate with a party that rides on Islam,” Zahid added.

Written by Stan Lee, PoliticsNow!

https://politicsnowmy.blogspot.com/