The scions of Malaysia’s top two political families faced off yesterday as the party that has ruled the nation for more than 50 years reshuffled its leadership after a disaster at the polls.
The son-in-law of Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is vying with the son of his predecessor Mahathir Mohamad, as well as a third candidate, to become youth leader of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO).
The heated contest spilled over into a show of force yesterday at the party’s annual meeting before delegates cast their votes, with hundreds of supporters of the rival candidates staging an impromptu rally.
PHOTO: AFP
Mostly supporters of Abdullah’s son, Khairy Jamaluddin and the third candidate, Khir Toyo, they brought proceedings at the party’s annual congress to a standstill as they squared off to chant and sing songs at each other.
Political commentators said that Khairy had likely lost his lead in the race after his representatives were rapped for vote-buying and that either Khir Toyo or Mahathir’s son Mukhriz were likely to be victorious.
UMNO’s youth wing is a nurturing ground for future leaders and the results that were to be announced late yesterday would be seen as determining which of the clans would control Malaysia’s future.
The two patriarchs have had a very public falling-out since the 2003 leadership handover, and Mahathir’s constant sniping after disastrous elections a year ago helped force Abdullah to agree to quit.
Today he is to stand down as party president in favor of his deputy Najib Razak, who will be formally sworn into power in coming days.
Also up for grabs at the conference, which concludes on Saturday, are the posts of head of the party’s women’s wing, three vice-presidencies and 25 seats on UMNO’s policy-making supreme council.
The UMNO-led coalition, which has run Malaysia since independence in 1957, suffered its worst-ever setback in elections one year ago, when the opposition gained control of one-third of the seats in parliament.
Abdullah had been criticized as weak and ineffective, but many Malaysians believe a major factor in his downfall was the role of his 33-year-old son-in-law.
The Oxford-educated Khairy was an aide to Abdullah before marrying the boss’s daughter in 2001, sending him on a meteoric rise that landed him the deputy youth chief position in 2004.
Eloquent and expensively dressed, Khairy’s big ambitions and alleged influence with his father-in-law have seen him vilified on political Web sites.
Mahathir has accused Abdullah of pandering to the demands of Khairy, whom he said was influencing government policy, contracts and appointments — charges he denies.
“I’ve gotten used to it. As far as I’m concerned, nobody has substantiated any of this innuendo with any facts or evidence,” Khairy said in an interview last year.
Mukhriz Mahathir, a 44-year-old businessman, wants to be seen as his own man but remains under the colossal shadow of his father, whose controversial two-decade rule brought prosperity to Malaysia.
He said yesterday he was “cautiously optimistic” of a victory.
“My chances are good. Since it is a three-cornered fight, I can win by a slim majority,” Mukhriz said.
Although Najib has declined to throw his support behind any candidate, some delegates said he was believed to favor Mukhriz.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
MILITARY’S MAN: Myint Swe was diagnosed with neurological disorders and peripheral neuropathy disease, and had authorized another to perform his duties Myint Swe, who became Myanmar’s acting president under controversial circumstances after the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi more than four years ago, died yesterday, the military said. He was 74. He died at a military hospital in the capital, Naypyidaw, in the morning, Myanmar’s military information office said in a statement. Myint Swe’s death came more than a year after he stopped carrying out his presidential duties after he was publicly reported to be ailing. His funeral is to be held at the state level, but the date had not been disclosed, a separate statement from the
RSS