Setback for Mahathir's rival in party

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, MARCH 12. The maverick Malaysian political leader, Mr. Razaleigh Hamzah, has suffered a setback in his campaign against the Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, within a day of his threatening to mount a serious challenge.

The theatre of a possible tussle was the electoral forum of the governing United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), and the core issue was the presidency of the party.

Under the current political conventions of the UMNO- led coalition, the country's prime ministership will remain in the hands of the president of this party. Mr. Razaleigh's tussle with the Prime Minister within the UMNO forum has, in this context, assumed importance.

In the latest turn of events in the UMNO, three party divisions in Mr. Razaleigh's home State of Kelantan chose to ignore his claims and nominated the Prime Minister for the top organisational post. The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was proposed for the second-ranking party post. In the process, the three party units, the presumed stronghold of Mr. Razaleigh, merely endorsed the slate of candidates for the top two positions as recommended by the UMNO Supreme Council.

This is seen in political quarters in Kuala Lumpur not only as a slap in the face of Mr. Razaleigh but also as a possible failure of his calculations about creating a so-called bandwagon effect in his favour.

The theory worked out was that the political courage displayed by a solitary party unit, which chose to throw its lot with Mr. Razaleigh, could induce the other UMNO divisions to act similarly and buck the current trend of nominating the Prime Minister and his deputy for the top two organisational posts.

Overall, with far fewer than one-half of a total of 165 UMNO divisions having nominated candidates for the organisational polls scheduled for May this year, Mr. Razaleigh's battle was far from over. Yet, his failure to carry conviction within his home State, as also a parallel setback that he suffered in party division headed by an opponent of the Prime Minister in the latter's native State, jolted the Razaleigh camp.

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Section  : International
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