UMNO 'ZOMBIES' SET TO RISE AGAIN - US BLACKROCK THE TRIGGER: WITH MAT HASAN SEEN REALIGNING SIDES WITHIN UMNO, CAN ZAHID-ANWAR LAST?
Written by Stan Lee, PoliticsNow!
KUALA LUMPUR (politicsnowmy.blogspot.com) - Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi is trying to move swiftly to nip in the bud a long-simmering feud in his party to oust him - but chances are he will fail, according to analysts familiar with Umno.
"Many people have forgotten it is not Mat Hasan alone who may be unhappy with Zahid," an analyst told PoliticsNow!
"There are many other warlords who are just as powerful as Mat Hasan such as Ismail Sabri the former prime minister and Hishammuddin Hussein but they went into self-imposed beauty sleep after Mat Hasan decided to join Zahid and this in turn allowed Zahid to sack other warlords such as Khairy Jamaluddin, Shahidan Kassim and Annuar Musa."
"But now with Mat Hasan realizing he will always be suppressed by PM Anwar Ibrahim and perhaps ready to break off with Zahid, we will see these 'zombie' warlords rising from their temporary coffins. If they can agree, a concerted push with Mat Hasan on their side will not only make history of Zahid but also Anwar. Will this be enough to revitalize Umno and bring the Malay voters back to their fold? I think so. I believe this is the exact spark that will reignite the flame for Umno."
'ZOMBIES' WILL RISE AGAIN
Indeed, despite their anger at Umno over ex-premier Najib Razak's humongous 1MDB corruption scandal that led to the party's historic loss of a six-decade political hegemony, many Malays will still unabashedly say they "love" Umno - but it became "too much".
But with Mat Hasan or Mohamad Hasan, the deputy president of Umno as well as Foreign Affairs minister in Anwar's cabinet, at the helm of a long-awaited move to remake Umno in the image of what Malays in their heart of hearts want as the top choice party representing their interests and future, the chances for success cannot be underestimated.
The roots that Malays feel for Umno, which ruled Malaysia with a nationalist and pro-Malay agenda from 1957 to 2018, are not only deep but inextricably intertwined by time, culture and sense of community.
That Umno's racial extremism and the massive mask that provided, shielding its corrupt leaders as they plundered and looted at will, had also led to Malaysia's economic downfall unfortunately appears to be still of secondary importance to Malays.
CODEPENDENCY IS NOT 'TRUE LOVE' - CAN ANWAR-ZAHID LAST?
No surprises then when Zahid, amid censure for failing to stand up to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim over a mega deal seen as favoring US interests but against Palestine and the Muslim world's, rushed to declare that Umno will contest the next general election using its own BN coalition logo - rather than Anwar's Pakatan Harapan flag.
“Insya-Allah in the upcoming GE, we will use the Barisan Nasional logo. This does not mean we are moving away from the unity government alliance. It means that PH can contest using their PH logo and we will contest with our own, but in terms of cooperation, we will maintain it," Zahid told reporters over the weekend.
“As long as the constituencies we contest in are not contested by them and we do not contest in the areas they are contesting in."
But Zahid's words were seen as hollow and deflecting attention as they contained no new information and have been spouted many times - in fact since the very beginning of Umno's controversial entry into Anwar's unity government. Then Zahid had kept repeating those assurances - that Umno would not lose its Malay 'soul' or veer from its nationalist agenda by joining a multiracial unity government.
Many critics have described Zahid's ties with Anwar as co-dependency - in that neither can survive without the other. For Anwar, it is clear that without Zahid's grip on power in Umno, he could not have become PM and till now, since the 2002 election that swept his unity government to power, he has not been able to diversify or bolster his political support. Instead Anwar is still reliant on Zahid's support and will have to fight to stay PM until 2027 as the economy turns more sour by the day.
As for Zahid, his shock acquittal from a barrage of corruption charges is still seen as his reward for backing Anwar instead of joining forces with more Malay-centric groups, such as Bersatu led by ex-premier Muhyiddin Yassin and the Islamist party Pas, now the country's most powerful Muslim party.
OUSTER BACK ON THE CARDS
A savvy politician, Zahid acknowledged the growing uneasiness over the US BlackRock deal, insisting no Islamic agenda had been sidelined under his watch.
But the Malay ground is again unimpressed. Instead many are enraged and foresee a leadership ouster after Zahid claimed that Umno’s position was consistent with Anwar's on the deal to sell an effective 30% stake in airports operator MAHB to Blackrock's unit GIP.
Not only would the deal impinge on national security as MAHB controls and manages almost all the airports in the country - but BlackRock has been revealed as among the top suppliers of deadly arms and weapons to Israel, even as Palestine conflict gets bloodier and more violent.
The majority of Umno leaders including those holding Cabinet positions have voiced objections to Anwar over the deal including Mat Hasan and Umno Youth chief Akmal Saleh.
“The impression one gets is that Mat Hasan and Akmal better represent the grassroots’ sentiments in Umno, whereas Zahid is merely appeasing his ‘boss’ in government and long-time mentor, Anwar,” analyst Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid of Universiti Sains Malaysia was reported as telling the FMT.
Written by Stan Lee, PoliticsNow!
https://politicsnowmy.blogspot.com/
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