Even as tributes flowed yesterday to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad at his last appearance as leader at the ruling party's general assembly, delegates were looking ahead to a post-Mahathir future for the first time in 22 years.
"With Mahathir gone, the opposition will no longer have a punching bag to score points with voters," said Mur Jazlan Mohamad, a United Malays National Organization (UMNO) delegate from Johor state. "Now, as long as we can solve our internal problems quietly, we will do much better in the next general elections."
PHOTO: AP
While party unity is the official line of debates at the UMNO's annual meeting, Mahathir's scheduled retirement in October and the transition of power is the dominant underlying theme.
Mahathir, 77, is due to hand power to his deputy and anointed successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi just months before national elections, widely expected early next year.
The UMNO, which has formed the core of every government in Malaysia since it gained independence from Britain in 1957, and its coalition partners are expected to win the elections.
But the real gauge of success is how well it holds off a challenge by the Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party, a fundamentalist group that competes with the UMNO for support among the predominant ethnic Muslim Malays. The opposition party made strong inroads into UMNO territory at the last elections in 1999.
Opening the assembly on Thursday, Mahathir lashed out at familiar targets in a speech designed to appeal to UMNO's key constituency.
In typically brash terms, he chastised the US and its allies for using the fight against terror as an excuse to attack Muslims and accused the West of trying to control the world through globalization and military might.
He repeated accusations that the fundamentalist opposition was fomenting extremism, misinterpreting Islam and inciting Muslims to topple the government by force. He urged his own party to stop infighting or face a disastrous loss of support.
The official debate agenda at the UMNO meeting is strictly controlled, and speaker after speaker praised Mahathir for transforming this moderate, mostly Muslim country in Southeast Asia during his 22 years at the helm. But outside the main hall, some members tacitly recognized that Mahathir, after such a long and dominant career, could be blamed for Malaysia's troubles as well as its successes.
Abdullah, considered milder in rhetoric and character than Mahathir, must pick a deputy before calling the elections, a prospect that has already resulted in jostling among senior party figures.
One front-runner, Domestic Trade Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, declared his interest Thursday for the first time. Defense Minister Najib Razak is the other most likely candidate.
Some observers warn that if the UMNO does badly in the elections under Abdullah, an open power struggle will erupt.
Abdullah said yesterday he would name his deputy soon after Mahathir steps down and he assumes power.
"Sometime in October, I think," Abdullah was quoted as saying by the Bernama national news agency. "But not when Dr. Mahathir is still around, it has to be after. But not in November of course."
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