Mahathir and The Umno General Assembly. PM Plays The Conciliator?
Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who failed to get elected as a delegate of the Kubang Pasu Umno division, will be invited to attend the Umno General Assembly in November, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said. "We invite all our party members and Tun (Mahathir) was never left out," the prime minister told journalists.
Dr Mahathir, who was former Umno president and headed the Kubang Pasu Umno division for 30 years, secured 227 votes and came in ninth of the 15 candidates who contested for the seven elected delegates. Asked what was Dr Mahathir's role in Umno following his defeat, Abdullah said the role of an Umno member was to support and ensure the success of the party's struggles and programmes initiated by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government helmed by Umno.
Firstly I don't think that Pak Lah has much of a choice on whether to invite Dr M or not, and is in a bit of a tricky situation actually. If he does invite him he will be described, as in this blog, as trying to smoothen ruffled feathers and attempting to be a conciliator after the fact, which may just be adding insult to injury to Dr M. However if the PM bites the bullet and adamantly refuses to invite the Tun, he will come across as a mean person, which is not exactly very appropriate for a God fearing politician like him.
So he takes the the less hazardous route and keeps to tradition by confirming that whatever may happen, Dr Mahathir will definitely be invited and of course accorded all respect befitting his status during the proceedings. He may secretly be hoping that Mahathir turns down the invitation and doesn't show up. That will spare anxiety all round.
The worst case scenario for Pak Lah will be, if our Tun were to attend, and during the meeting walk up to the lectern uninvited and start saying his piece! Anyone else and the security can be instructed to throw the person out, but can it be done to the former PM? And will Pak Lah even dare to contemplate it? The very thought of it is frightening and may turn into a major international embarrassment for the country.
So now, after what may turn out to be a pyrrhic victory in Kubang Pasu, the Umno leadership must be bracing for real trouble. But when, or in what form it will materialise is anybody's guess. Still there is time before the general assembly convenes and some arrangement can yet be worked out between the two parties. After all isn't politics the art of the possible?
Dr Mahathir, who was former Umno president and headed the Kubang Pasu Umno division for 30 years, secured 227 votes and came in ninth of the 15 candidates who contested for the seven elected delegates. Asked what was Dr Mahathir's role in Umno following his defeat, Abdullah said the role of an Umno member was to support and ensure the success of the party's struggles and programmes initiated by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government helmed by Umno.
Firstly I don't think that Pak Lah has much of a choice on whether to invite Dr M or not, and is in a bit of a tricky situation actually. If he does invite him he will be described, as in this blog, as trying to smoothen ruffled feathers and attempting to be a conciliator after the fact, which may just be adding insult to injury to Dr M. However if the PM bites the bullet and adamantly refuses to invite the Tun, he will come across as a mean person, which is not exactly very appropriate for a God fearing politician like him.
So he takes the the less hazardous route and keeps to tradition by confirming that whatever may happen, Dr Mahathir will definitely be invited and of course accorded all respect befitting his status during the proceedings. He may secretly be hoping that Mahathir turns down the invitation and doesn't show up. That will spare anxiety all round.
The worst case scenario for Pak Lah will be, if our Tun were to attend, and during the meeting walk up to the lectern uninvited and start saying his piece! Anyone else and the security can be instructed to throw the person out, but can it be done to the former PM? And will Pak Lah even dare to contemplate it? The very thought of it is frightening and may turn into a major international embarrassment for the country.
So now, after what may turn out to be a pyrrhic victory in Kubang Pasu, the Umno leadership must be bracing for real trouble. But when, or in what form it will materialise is anybody's guess. Still there is time before the general assembly convenes and some arrangement can yet be worked out between the two parties. After all isn't politics the art of the possible?
posted by The Malaysian. at 9/10/2006 08:45:00 PM
4 Comments:
I hope Tun Mahathir will go and speak on that day. Baru semua orang ni kan rasa. You cannot keep back the Tun. He's a great man. Hidup Mahathir!
wira pro-mahathir, I understand your sentiments and hopefully Dr Mahathir will speak at the assembly.
How magnanimous Pak Lah!
After having given the green light to Umno leaders and using the well-oiled party machinery to whack Tun Dr Mahathir prior to the divisional election, he now says TDM will be invited to the Umno GA in November.
The invitation sounds so hollow and so unikhlas...after you have been responsible for TDM's defeat in Kubang Pasu.
I invite you but you bloody well shut up - that's the message I read.
And TDM is supposed to be grateful for that?
Hani
Hani, exactly my sentiments. To expect Dr M to accept the results let alone be grateful is ridiculous.
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