MAHATHIR'S BLACK EYE.

• Author: Chin, James
• Position: Mohamad Mahathir - United Malays National Organization

James Chin reviews the recent General Assembly of Malaysia's ruling party UMNO.

The triennial General Assembly of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in May 2000 was interesting to say the least. Many observers regard the assembly as the `real' election in Malaysia. Not only is UMNO the dominant party in the ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) but also its president and deputy automatically become the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia respectively. Hence many observers and UMNO delegates saw the party elections as the barometer for Mahathir's support and standing within UMNO. The 2000 assembly was held amidst much expectation for two reasons. First, it was the first to be held since the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim, once Mahathir's political heir and Deputy Prime Minister. Second, UMNO performed disastrously in the 1999 general election -- it not only lost a large chunk of the Malay (its raison d'etre) vote but also, more importantly, lost these votes to the opposition Patti Islam Se Malaysia (PAS), an Islamic party that vows to establish an Islamic state in multi-racial, multi-religious Malaysia, and to a certain extent the Parti Keadilan Nasional (Keadilan). Hence many people wanted to see if Mahathir was still capable of dominating UMNO.

In September 1988, a day after capital controls were enacted in Malaysia, then Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was sacked in public by Mahathir. Although Anwar had disagreed with the capital controls plan and other economic policies favoured by Mahathir, his main sin was his secret scheme to challenge Mahathir for the UMNO presidency at the next general assembly, due by 2003. Anwar's subsequent detention, beatings by the nation's police chief and trial for sodomy and corruption unleashed strong public reactions against Mahathir and his regime. Many Malaysians began to agitate for `reformasi' and a new party, Parti Keadilan Nasional (National Justice Party), was set up by Anwar's supporters. Together with PAS, the Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party (DAP), and several other smaller opposition parties, a united opposition alliance, Barisan Alternatif (Alternative Front), was assembled for the first time to challenge the Barisan Nasional's political supremacy.

The November 1999 general election turned out to be a virtual referendum on Mahathir's 19-year authoritarian rule. While the Chinese and Indians basically stayed with the Barisan Nasional, the Malay vote for UMNO collapsed. PAS became the major beneficiary of the backlash generated by the Anwar crisis and the reformasi movement. UMNO not only failed to recapture Kelantan from PAS but it lost Terengganu as well. UMNO's share of parliamentary seats fell to 72 from 94. Five Cabinet ministers lost their seats, while all other UMNO ministers saw their majorities slashed significantly. Although the opposition made impressive gains, it was not enough to topple the Barisan Nasional. Mahathir won a record fifth term.

Dismal performance

When the election results were announced, it was clear that UMNO's dismal performance was due mainly to anti-Mahathir sentiments; many Malays voted against Mahathir rather than against UMNO. Rumours began to circulate within UMNO circles that plans were afoot to mount a challenge to Mahathir at the next UMNO General Assembly, which was rescheduled to 11-13 May 2000.

Attention centred on Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, widely regarded as the best candidate. A former Finance minister, he had previously challenged Mahathir for the UMNO presidency, albeit unsuccessfully in 1987. After losing by less than 50 votes, he left UMNO and established the Parti Melayu Semangat 46 (Spirit of 46 Party) (1946 was the year that UMNO was established.) S46 led the challenge against UMNO in the 1990 and 1995 general elections but was unsuccessful. Although it failed to dislodged UMNO at the federal level, S46 played a crucial role in helping its ally PAS to capture Kelantan state in 1990 and retain it in 1995. However, the S46-PAS alliance fell apart when PAS began to sideline S46 in the Kelantan state administration. By this time, Razaleigh was in secret negotiations with Mahathir about re-admission to UMNO.

Mahathir demanded and got the dissolution of S46 as the price for re-admission in 1996. Mahathir had another reason for Razaleigh's re-admission. He wanted Razaleigh to check the growing power of Anwar Ibrahim within the party. Anwar was known to be a political rival of Razaleigh. Although not given any government position, Razaleigh was made Kelantan UMNO chief and became an appointed member of the UMNO Supreme Council (Majlis Tertinggi), the party's highest decision-making organ.

Money politics

One reason why Razaleigh was rated highly by UMNO members as a potential party leader was his reputation as someone who was relatively clean when it came to `money politics'. During the time Razaleigh was outside UMNO (late 1987-mid 1996), money politics had become a major problem within UMNO, and it was common for ambitious members and incumbents to spend millions to win or retain seats in the higher levels of the party, the coveted Supreme Council. When Razaleigh returned to UMNO, he made it clear that he did not want to get involved in money politics, largely because he was not in a position to match the...