Lost at sea

Ahmad Zahid has held Umno in the palm of his hand at many Umno general assemblies but the coming one will be the most challenging in his political career.

Will Umno's mood boil over at the AGM?

IT has not been easy to be a wartime Umno president; Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has aged visibly and there is probably not a single black strand left in his hair.

But that has not sapped his energy level. The Deputy Prime Minister seemed to be everywhere, be it the landslide tragedy in Batang Kali or checking on the flood evacuation in Kelantan and Terengganu.

He also made time to visit former Umno permanent chairman Tan Sri Onn Ismail at the Klang Hospital earlier this week. Onn, whom he calls “abang,” was his former teacher.

Ahmad Zahid had phoned Onn’s son-in-law Datuk Faizal Abdullah a day earlier to say he wanted to make a private visit and not to tell anyone but the hospital’s top brass got wind of it and was there to greet him.

“He held my father-in-law’s hand, prayed for him and kissed him on the head. That is Zahid for you, he does not forget his friends,” said Faizal, who was the former Kapar Umno division chief.

Ahmad Zahid’s return to the office that he held from 2015 to 2018 is classic proof that nothing is impossible in politics.

Public opinion about him remains mixed, but it is the opinion within Umno that he is most concerned about and he will be able to gauge the mood when the party holds its general assembly on Jan 11.

The mood will not be high given that Umno is at its lowest after winning only 26 parliamentary seats in the 15th General Election.

Umno members, said deputy Umno Youth leader Shahril Sufian Hamdan, are still coming to terms over the competing versions of the election outcome.

“I’m not sure how much of that disquiet will manifest itself at the general assembly,” he said.

Ahmad Zahid has been pushing the narrative that despite its poor performance, Umno has six ministers and five deputy ministers and was made the Mentri Besar in Perak and Pahang.

In contrast, DAP, with 40 seats in Parliament, has only four ministers and six deputy ministers.

He has also suggested that the formation of the new government is God’s will.

It will be interesting to see how he explains the U-turn over the “No DAP” and “No Anwar” stand of the party because every Umno assembly in the last few years had seen delegates screaming their lungs out to reject DAP and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim

Segamat Umno Youth chief Bastien Onn said members also want to know whether the cooperation with Pakatan Harapan will be temporary or if it will carry into the next general election.

“We don’t trust DAP, they also don’t trust us,” said Bastien.

The party, said Pasir Salak vice-chief Dr Faizal Tajuddin, has not had has a post-mortem or held any discussion on the way forward.

“Until today, no one has taken responsibility for the loss,” he said.

There were a few voices asking the Umno president to take responsibility for the election outcome at a party meeting last month but Ahmad Zahid argued that it was about collective responsibility.

He had reportedly told the meeting that if he had to go, then Datuk Seri Mohamed Hasan and Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob should also resign.

He said Mohamed, who was the election director, had reported that the party was ready and would win.

As for Ismail Sabri, he said: “You were the poster boy, your face was on billboards all over the country but we lost. It means people did not accept you.”

No one will be resigning although a few leaders have been sacked for going against the party.

Given all that is happening, Ahmad Zahid will have to deliver the most convincing presidential address of his career at the general assembly.

The debates will be fierce, there will be criticism and even tears, but the thing is that Ahmad Zahid’s hand has been strengthened rather than weakened.

The Deputy Prime Ministership as well as the Rural Development portfolio has given him immense clout over the party.

Besides, those taking part in the debates are carefully picked and none of them will blame their president for the political debacle.

“He is the ultimate survivor. He will push for a no-contest for the posts of president and deputy president.

“He knows how to play the crowd, we have seen it happen so many time. He’ll get what he wants at the party assembly,” said an aide to a former minister.

But at the heart of all this is the hollow feeling among the members that the party has lost its way.

The rejection by Malay voters has left the party wounded and there will be more humiliation to come in the state elections next year.

“It is better to say nothing for now. I feel like we are living in a house where people are eating durian and we have to put up with it even if we don’t like the smell,” said acting Ketereh division chief Datuk Seri Alwi Che Ahmad.