Mentri Besar walking on thin ice

SOME in Umno had jokingly referred to Datuk Seri Jalaluddin Alias as “yang amat berhormat mentri besar” shortly after the Negri Sembilan crisis erupted.

For a while, it did seem like the Negri Sembilan Umno chief, who often goes around on a big bike, was on his way to the dream post until everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

The coup attempt on Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun has backfired, and Umno appears to have recanted.

The Umno leadership said the party will continue supporting the state government while respecting the position of its 14 assemblymen who declared they had lost confidence in Aminuddin’s leadership.

The party is propping up the state government out of respect for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, but it appears to have given its tacit support to the move against the Mentri Besar. The Umno leadership also had no appetite for a "tebuk atap" or backdoor government.

Jalaluddin tried to pull the plug on Aminuddin but ended up getting electrocuted instead. On the other hand, Aminuddin has been crippled and is running the government with only half the lights on.

Aminuddin simply had no clue how to manage the tussle within the aristocracy. He bungled, and it ballooned into a political crisis.

The Mentri Besar has lost so much face after being called a “liar” by the powerful Undang Yang Empat and losing the support of the Umno team in the state legislative assembly.

The saying that a week is a long time in politics has been painfully true in the volatile situation that embroiled the state.

A well-placed source in PKR is concerned that Aminuddin is too damaged to lead Pakatan Harapan into the next general election. The source does not see how Aminuddin can survive beyond the next state assembly sitting.

“He is a lightweight and not an asset to the party despite being an MB,” said the PKR source.

Aminuddin, known in the party as Tok Min, is aligned with Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli, and he is where he is today thanks to the former PKR deputy president.

Rafizi surrounds himself with cerebral types, and it was assumed that Aminuddin was also the brainy type. But those who have dealt with him beg to differ.

The scrutiny on Negri Sembilan had also swung the national spotlight on Aminuddin, and stories are trickling out that he is an unremarkable Mentri Besar, lacks confidence and ideas and struggles to speak English.

Aminuddin’s biodata states that he furthered his studies in UiTM after his SPM, but is silent on whether he graduated.

He compares poorly to his predecessor, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

Aminuddin is also the Port Dickson MP but is quite invisible and insignificant in Parliament.

He has also been somewhat of a rolling stone in PKR. He began his politics in the Seremban PKR division before parachuting to Tampin.

He failed to take control of the Tampin division leadership and hopped over to the Port Dickson division upon news that Anwar was moving to Tambun in Perak.

One might say he rose up thanks to cronyism but he can no longer run to Rafizi, who is fighting his own death and life battle.

However, Aminuddin still has a powerful trump card - the Ruler, Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir, is standing by him.

Whoever intends to replace Aminuddin needs the palace doors to swing open.

The Umno political bureau meeting that met on Wednesday was less critical of what Jalaluddin did than the way he went about it.

They pointed out that Jalaluddin should have brought the issue to the political bureau, where hard questions can be asked and where he could be guided through the process.

Jalaluddin, who is the state Umno chief, also did not go through the state liaison committee.

Instead, he went directly to Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He told Ahmad Zahid he had secured statutory declarations of support from the Perikatan Nasional assemblymen and that Tok Mat, who is the Rantau assemblyman and Foreign Minister, was also on board.

Ahmad Zahid is said to have asked him to work out the details and report back to him in 10 days' time for more discussion.

An Umno supreme council member said Jalaluddin “terpijak kulit pisang” (slipped on a banana peel) by rushing the declaration of no-confidence in the Mentri Besar.

The Mentris Besar from states where Umno is in a coalition with Pakatan were deeply concerned about the backlash.

“We are aware Jalaluddin was pushing his party’s interests, but people have been scolding us every day,” said another supreme council member.

Perhaps the oddest thing about the crisis is that there are no winners.

The issue has crippled both the sitting and aspiring Mentris Besar, while the feud between the palace and the Undang Yang Empat has left one like a roof without pillars and the other like pillars minus a roof.

It has also exposed the vulnerability of the unity government, which can be shaken to the core if one party decides to pull away.

Jalaluddin is one of those political creatures who regard everyone as a friend, and he actually got on well with Aminuddin. His emotions flowed over, and he shed tears during the political bureau meeting.

In his haste to force down Aminuddin, his own political career is now in question.

Aminuddin’s troubles are far from over. His head is barely above water, and clinging to the coattails of the Ruler is not going to keep him afloat for long. It is also puzzling why the palace is holding on to a sinking ship.

Aminuddin is on thin ice with the uncertain numbers in the state assembly.

> The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own