Umno And The Threats From Within

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Money politics rule the day whenever there is an Umno election and candidates must have a strong war chest to vie for top positions.
(New Malaysia Herald) – Umno’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) with the election of office bearers has always been a divisive event. The most sought after post of the president had in the past been the cause of a major split in Umno leadership with the disruptive results on the political stability of the nation.
In 1987 Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah put up a strong challenge on Dr Mahathir for the post of Umno’s president. He lost by a small margin and challenged the AGM election result which caused Umno to be declared as an illegal party by the Kuala Lumpur High Court. Dr Mahathir formed Umno Baru (New Umno) and blocked Tengku Razaleigh from being a member of Umno Baru.
As a protest, Tengku Razaleigh formed a new party called PARTI SEMANGAT 46 which succeeded in defeating Umno Baru in several Parliamentary and State by-elections.
The political climate became unstable with BN Government being challenged by a strong coalition of opposition parties led by Tengku Razaleigh.
Subsequent years saw Anwar Ibrahim toppling Ghafar Baba from the post of Umno’s deputy president and his next target was for the president’s post. Unfortunately for Anwar, Dr Mahathir got wind of his ambitious plan.
The following years saw Anwar being sacked from Umno and losing his position as the deputy prime minister and the party’s deputy president. The whole episode culminated with Anwar being convicted of sodomy charges.
That’s how bad the power struggle in Umno during AGM was and how precarious the position of the president which is always the subject of a political scramble for power, a scramble that will weaken and split UMNO.
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