Ku Li for President of UMNO?

Dear readers, can anyone explain to me the logic behind Tengku Razaleigh challenging Pak Lah for the Presidency?

I dont mean to be rude, Tengku Razaleigh, but you left UMNO Baru for Semangat 46. And Tun Dr Mahathir accepted you back into the fold graciously to once again unite UMNO after a democractic process of General Election and UMNO elections.

Some might argue that Tengku Razaleigh did all these for UMNO. But to me, forming a party outside of UMNO wasn't really for UMNO. I am not a Malay but I know about UMNO and their struggles.

Now there are a few reasons why I think someone else should challenge Pak Lah for the Presidency and not Tengku Razaleigh. First of all, obviously it is due to the reason that he went against UMNO with Semangat 46. And Pak Lah was there together with him. So ideology wise, it is still the team from Semangat 46 leading UMNO. Moreover, his actions of leaving UMNO in the past was condemned.

Secondly, age factor. Presidents of UMNO will hold the portfolio of Prime Ministership given the fact that UMNO is the backbone of Barisan Nasional that received the mandate to govern Malaysia for over 50 years and 8 months till today. So is the candidacy of Tengku Razaleigh justifiable by UMNO members? He is 71 years old this year.

Some might argue that Dr Mahathir held on to the post of PM till he was 78. But it was different for Tun because he held on to his policies and vision and governed Malaysia consistently for 22 years. But giving Tengku Razaleigh the PM post now will only see him capable of governing for about 5 years I believe?

Then again, we will have instability of Government. The next leader might not continue his vision as proven over the last 51 years. No PM continue the same policies and vision of their predecessors.

What is the solution then? If UMNO people realise this, they might vote for Pak Lah and give him another term. But then given that UMNO members are beginning to be angry over the mounting issues, they might vote for Tengku Razaleigh to be the new President and PM.

If indeed Ku Li wins, he has the option of leading the country or lead only the party and be the man behind the scenes. This will mean that Ku Li will nominate to the Agong some one from within the ranks of Deputy President and Vice Presidents to be the PM of Malaysia. That will be a better solution.

Some might ask why dont the other person just go ahead and challenge Pak Lah. Let us say the obvious ones now are Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. If one of them challenges the Presidency, will they have enough support? Tun still has his influence in the party and what Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said was true. Age groups below 40 hold every word of Tun true and in Datuk Seri's words, Tun is like an idol to these age groups below 40.

So anyway, yes. Tun is feeling the frustration of Datuk Seri Najib not taking the path cleared by Tun to the top of UMNO. Tun has been getting all the hits about his past administration policies when he opened his mouth to whack Pak Lah. Datuk Seri Najib could have taken the opportunity but he did not and he wants to maintain the UMNO tradition of handing over the PM-ship.

That leaves us with the next challenger called Tan Sri Muhyiddin. No one can deny he has the support for Vice Presidency. But does he have enough backing for the Deputy President and President posts? One can only wonder because no "superpower" in UMNO has backed him yet. One mistake Tan Sri makes, his political career will be smashed. Unless of course a "superpower" backs him and many start to voice their support.

Again, we can rule him out? That leaves us only and I repeat, only, Tengku Razaleigh. He is the only one with the possibility of winning an election against Pak Lah in UMNO's elections. That will then give him an opportunity to either recommend himself to the Agong or someone else to be the new PM of Malaysia.

To be fair, we must also consider the fact that Pak Lah still has supporters and could maintain his Presidency of UMNO.

All right :)