Wednesday May 10, 10:36 AM
Mahathir row may mar Malaysian ruling party's bash
KUALA LUMPUR, May 10 (Reuters) - Malaysia's main ruling party celebrates its 60th birthday on Thursday, but all the bunting and back-slapping may not be enough to hide some deep unhappiness.
The diamond anniversary of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) comes at a time when its presidency, held by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is at its weakest in many years, and facing attacks by former leader Mahathir Mohamad.
UMNO is the
bedrock of the multi-ethnic National Front coalition that has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957. Analysts say UMNO's future could be threatened by a split sparked by Mahathir, in power for 22 years before quitting late in 2003.
Soft-spoken Abdullah, an Islamic scholar dubbed "Mr Nice", has drawn blistering criticism from Mahathir after scrapping plans for a bridge to neighbouring Singapore that hit opposition from the city state and unfurled unease at home.
Mahathir, who had conceived the bridge project near the end of his time in power, accused the government of selling out the country's sovereignty and of lacking "guts". The government has strongly denied this, saying he was meddling in state affairs.
Abdullah has so far stayed above the fray, preferring to keep his views to himself and let trusted ministers respond. "To me, if I
were the top leadership of UMNO, I would just ignore this as a noise," said Anuar Zaini, a close friend of Abdullah.
"(Otherwise) we are actually encouraging this battle to turn into a bigger war."
But Mahathir is one critic not to be taken lightly. He handed Abdullah the premiership and is revered within the party. At 80 years of age, he is still a dangerous political adversary.
UMNO's celebration is to be held in its birthplace of Johor Baru, Malaysia's southern city bordering Singapore, and -- ironically -- the site of the scrapped bridge project.
Abdullah, whose nice-guy image won him a lot of goodwill initially, faces the bigger task of reforming UMNO and forging ahead with a decades-old affirmative-action policy that favours the majority ethnic Malays.
"The party is weaker than it was in the past," noted Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia specialist at John Hopkins University.
"It has less respect among Malaysians in general, including Malays, as a result of allegations of state-linked corruption and office buying. UMNO will need to reform in the future to maintain its appeal."
After 36 years of affirmative action, Malays own just 19 percent of the economy despite making up just over half of the population of 26 million. The policy, say its harshest critics, has chiefly benefited only a few Malays, and has fed cronyism.
It is all a far cry from the days when UMNO led an idealistic struggle for independence from former colonial ruler Britain, said political analyst P. Ramasamy. ![Abdullah Badawi]()
Abdullah Badawi, the Malaysian prime minister, is struggling for control of the ruling United Malays National Organisation as the party celebrates its 60th anniversary on Thursday.
"Unlike those days, Malays simply join UMNO to make money, to rise up the social ladder and others," he said.
Malaysian PM struggles for control of ruling party
By John Burton
Published: May 10 2006 12:29 | Last updated: May 10 2006 12:29
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By John Burton
Published: May 10 2006 12:29 | Last updated: May 10 2006 12:29
In recent days, Mr Abdullah has faced challenges from old guard and reformist factions, underscoring that party tensions are hindering efforts to introduce the political and economic reforms awaited by foreign investors.
Mr Abdullah, who became prime minister in 2003, was the hand-picked successor to Malaysia's long-ruling leader Mahathir Mohamad and his appeal to the Umno chiefs was that he
lacked his own power base within the party.
Since then, he has angered much of the Umno rank and file by curbing construction spending and trying to reform state-owned companies that have normally been a source of patronage to keep the party in power.
Mr Abdullah's biggest challenge has come from Dr Mahathir, who could galvanise opposition to the prime minister from Umno's old guard.
Dr Mahathir harshly criticised Mr Abdullah's decision last month to scrap plans for a bridge to neighbouring Singapore in response to opposition from the city-state.
Dr Mahathir, who had championed the project, accused the Abdullah administration of lacking "guts" by selling out the country's sovereignty. Several
of Mr Abdullah's top ministers accused the former leader of trying to undermine the government.
Mr Abdullah has tried to shore up support within Umno by renewing his support for the country's long-standing policy of affirmative action for ethnic Malays and other indigenous people, who make up nearly 60 per cent of the population.
In the past he criticised the policy, as did Dr Mahathir, for making Malays dependent on racial quotas and creating a class of rent-seeking Malay businessmen.
But in the latest five-year economic plan released in March, the government reaffirmed its commitment to affirmative action. Some foreign investors have cited the policy as a barrier to doing business in Malaysia and had hoped it would be relaxed.
The policy has been criticised by some ethnic Malay political reformers, including Anwar Ibrahim, the former deputy prime minister and prominent opposition leader, for fostering corruption and cronyism.
Mr Abdullah is being urged by a small group of Umno reformers to do more to clean up the party. The issue received fresh attention last week after Shahrir Samad, a leading Umno reformer seen as a Abdullah ally, broke party ranks in parliament by supporting an opposition motion to cite an Umno member of parliament for abuse of power.
Mr Shahrir then resigned as leader of the government's backbench group, threatening to trigger a rare showdown with the prime minister. Mr Shahrir's supporters wanted to re-elect him as backbench leader to assert the right to vote according to their conscience
rather than automatically obeying the party line.
Mr Shahrir said he voted for the opposition motion because he wanted to walk the talk on the government's promises to improve transparency.
Mr Abdullah criticised Mr Shahrir's action, saying he would have removed him as the backbench leader if he had not resigned. In response, the backbenchers decided not to force the issue by re-electing him.
Analysts said Mr Abdullah was forced to quell the revolt by reformers because it would have weakened his grip on Umno by also inviting challenges from the old guard. But the move is seen as a blow to the prime minister's policy of encouraging openness and
debate.
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