UMNO must focus on survival beyond its president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who faces a litany of criminal charges, instead of engaging in a campaign to maintain his innocence, said analysts.
They said the party should now be looking at Plan B after Zahid was slapped with 45 charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and graft on Friday.
“Umno’s survival depends on its leaders’ capability. Who is now the better person to lead the party? What is the next step?” Dr Ahmad Zaharuddin Sani Sabri of Universiti Utara Malaysia’s Institut Permikiran Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad told The Malaysian Insight.
But, he was quick to point out, potential replacements for Zahid had their own problems as well.
“(Deputy president) Mohamad Hasan faces an election petition (to nullify the election results) for his state seat Rantau,” meaning Mohamad could be too preoccupied with the legal tussle over his seat to focus on rebuilding Umno which is struggling to grow into its new role as an opposition party.
Zahid, who took over the party presidency after Umno’s crushing GE14 defeat, faces 27 charges involving RM72 million under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act, 10 counts of criminal breach of trust involving RM20 million under Section 409 of the Penal Code, and eight counts of bribery involving RM21 million under Section 16 (a)(b) of the MACC Act 2009.
He pleaded not guilty to all 45 charges and is out on a RM2 million bail.
Mohamad said it was standard operating procedure since 2009 for the party president facing criminal charges to go on leave.
“(The) new SOP states that those charged have to take leave but they can resume duty if they are found not guilty in the trial,” said the former Negri Sembilan MB.
“Previously, if you are charged, you get suspended, but in 2009 the new SOP was introduced.
Mohamad said the party committee would discuss the matter before bringing it before the Umno Supreme Council.
Several senior party leaders believe the action against Zahid is politically motivated and intended to further weaken the party. They believe they should defend the president against persecution.
These leaders, along with Zahid’s family members, draw parallels between Zahid’s criminal charges now and Anwar Ibrahim’s sacking and subsequent prosecution in 1998 for corruption and sodomy, saying the two cases were both politically motivated.
Zahid’s daughter, Nurulhidayah, in a solidarity gathering for her father on Thursday night following his arrest by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, had asked where were the reform activists who had protested the treatment of Anwar by then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s “cruel” government.
She had said her father was now a victim of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir’s “cruel” government.
Zahid’s wife Hamidah Khamis, meanwhile, had said she would go on a nationwide roadshow to defend her husband.
Reform activists and political analysts reject any parallel between the two cases.
Political analyst Jeniri Amir of Universiti Sarawak Malaysia said Anwar’s case was far different from Zahid’s.
“The people’s perception at the time was that Anwar was a political victim of Dr Mahathir. However in Zahid’s case, it is a case of abuse of power and corruption,” he told The Malaysian Insight.
Jeniri said he did not see the people hitting the streets in support of Zahid. As a matter if fact, he said, Malaysians were eagerly waiting for more Umno leaders to be investigated and charged with corruption.
“Even if there are some protests, they would only involve some members of Umno, and a small group of supporters,” he said, adding that the government’s stern action against corruption was in tandem with its election promises.
“I simply don’t think they (Zahid’s supporters) can replicate the sort of people’s movement that took shape during Anwar’s time,” he said.
Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi of Universiti Malaya, meanwhile, said Zahid’s prosecution could be due to reasons unknown to the public.
He said it would be difficult for Zahid’s wife to get the support of other opposition parties, especially PAS, to defend Zahid.
“Others such as MIC amd MCA do not have the strength of the opposition parties during the reformasi period,” he said.
Reformasi activist Badaruddin Ismail, 78, also rejected claims of similarities between Zahid and Anwar’s prosecution.
“The case again Zahid is not political revenge,” he said. – October 20, 2018.
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Posted 7 years ago by MELVILLE JAYATHISSA · Reply
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Posted 7 years ago by Azis Yusoff · Reply
if UMNO can do this, WHICH IS HIGHLY UNLIKELY & IMPOSSIBLE, then Peoples trust in the political party will begin to grow
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