THE supposed fallout over the choice of Johor menteri besar would not derail the bigger focus of Umno delegates at the party’s assembly – the need for a general election to be called soon, analysts said.

They said the louder noise coming from the main assembly, which starts today, would be for the party to take advantage of the momentum of winning back-to-back state elections in Malacca and Johor.

Even prior to that, Umno had been on the ascendancy by scoring big in the Sabah elections while all its rivals had been found floundering.

Ilham Centre executive director Hisommudin Bakar said while there was general unhappiness in the party over the appointment of Machap assemblyman Onn Hafiz Ghazi as Johor MB, the push to dissolve Parliament is, however, stronger.

“I expect there will be some displeasure during the assembly because the candidate promised to the people of Johor was not appointed as MB.

“Johor delegates may view this as the president’s failure to defend the MB candidate chosen by the party,” Hisommudin said.

Umno had promised voters that Hasni Mohammad would return to serve as Johor MB if Barisan Nasional (BN) won the state elections.

However, after winning a supermajority in the polls, there was a twist in the appointment of the MB following the Johor ruler’s decision to appoint Onn Hafiz instead.

Umno also suffered a similar setback in Sabah when its candidate was only appointed as the deputy chief minister despite the party winning more seats than its ally Bersatu. The top post went to Bersatu there.

Hisommudin said such a scenario opens the door to distraction and questions the ability of the Umno leadership.

“It will become the talk among delegates that such issues never came up during the time of Dr Mahathir Mohamad. So it has to do with the leadership.

“While BN was able to win big in Johor, it failed to negotiate with the palace to place the party’s choice of candidate as MB,” he said.

The Umno general assembly will be held over four days until Saturday after it was postponed last year and then again in January due to the floods.

It is taking place right after BN won 40 out of 56 seats at the Johor elections last weekend.

Onn Hafiz’s appointment ‘not as demanding’

Hisommudin, however, said the Johor MB issue was not too demanding that it would stop the delegates from asking for Parliament to be dissolved soon.

He said calls for dissolution have increased because Umno was in a good position to take on the opposition who are still reeling from back to back losses.

“The voters’ mood is also still the same as it was in Malacca and Johor. The percentage and pattern are the same and will give an advantage to BN.”

Political analyst Azmil Tayeb from Universiti Sains Malaysia meanwhile said the delegates would not openly question the Johor palace’s role in the appointment of the menteri besar.

He said the date for GE15 would be an important issue that would be debated as it favoured BN.

“Political stability will also be discussed and economic issues, especially the high cost of living and reintroducing subsidy programmes that were popular during BN’s time.”

Mazlan Ali from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia also expects that Onn Hafiz’s appointment would not be debated during the assembly.

“It involves the palace, so I don’t expect it to come up. We know how the Malays are.

“I don’t expect it to come up because it involves the sultan and people will say that it is treason.

“But, that does not mean that the appointment doesn’t affect the delegation’s mood,” he said.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said yesterday he will address the surprise appointment of Onn Hafiz as the new Johor menteri besar in his opening speech at the 2021 Umno general assembly today.

Zahid said he will also use the address to respond to speculation that not all leaders are in favour of an early general election.

Umno leaders have been urging for the general election to be held soon to take advantage of their winning momentum.

They have also said that they didn’t want to share federal power with Perikatan Nasional.

Similar calls were also made in the assemblies of the party’s wings yesterday.

As for Johor Umno, delegates from the state reportedly want to stay away from any debates following their displeasure on Hasni being overlooked as the new menteri besar. – March 18, 2022.