Pak Lah Still Refuses to Resign!

The best news that came out of the UMNO MT's marathon meeting this afternoon was the top 2 posts, well all the posts can be contested and the UMNO party polls will be held in December this year.

Unfortunately, the much expected news for PM Abdullah to resign still fell on his deaf ears.

I wonder if PM Abdullah and Khairy think this will give them enough time to buy as much nominations and votes.. since they have collected enuff loots in their warchest for the last 4 years. Luckily, the Terengganu RM1.3 billion source of income is being cut off by Tuanku Mizan.


Jawatan Presiden, Timbalan Presiden UMNO boleh dicabar
27/03/2008 7:50pm

KUALA LUMPUR 27 Mac - Majlis Tertinggi (MT) UMNO hari ini memutuskan semua jawatan termasuk Presiden dan Timbalan Presiden boleh dicabar dalam pemilihan parti yang akan datang jika ada pencalonan.

Presiden UMNO, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi malah berkata, beliau sendiri sedia untuk dicabar. - Utusan.

Umno party polls in December
Thursday, 27 March 2008

(The Malaysian Insider) KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 – Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will face his day of reckoning this year. The Umno Supreme Council decided that the party will not be postponed till early next year and will be held instead from Dec 16 to 20.

Their rationale: The party needed to allow its grassroots to vent their anger and frustration over Election 2008. Only after this catharsis could Umno realistically embark on a period of reform and move to win back the support of Malaysians.

This decision was not surprising given the fact that the management committee comprising Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and other senior party officials decided unanimously yesterday to push for elections to be held this year. The party bigwigs know that there is a lot of anger and confusion on the ground about the gains made by the opposition at the expense of Umno and the future of the party. Much of the anger is targeted at Abdullah.

Some of the party foot soldiers want him to step down now, blaming him for leading his army into battle without realising that the terrain had changed and the enemy was much stronger. There remains strong support for Abdullah among supreme council members, but they know that shielding him from the full force of criticism could have serious consequences for themselves and also for the party president.

The council members could be open to charges of self-preservation and any move to prevent Abdullah being challenged for the Number 1 position this year could invite even more negative feelings towards him.

Abdullah will be able to beat off the challenge of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah for the party president’s position as long as his deputy, the supreme council members and state liaison chiefs stand by him. In such a scenario, it may be difficult for any challenger to obtain the 60 nominations from divisions to take on Abdullah.

Says Professor Shamsul Amri Baharudin, a political commentator: “It makes sense for elections to be held as soon as possible. Even though there are a lot of negative feelings towards Abdullah, I expect him to come through. But he will not be unscathed as he will realise the depth of anger towards him, his family and anyone connected to him. Some of this will be irrational and based on rumours but the rank-and-file are in the mood to let off steam.’’

Shamsul believes that the sentiment at the assembly will persuade Abdullah to hand over the baton to his successor after he had strengthened the party and stability returned to the government.

“In some ways, this is also why some supreme council members are in favour of early elections. They know that the party delegates can pass a message which they may be unable to," he said.