Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk of Universiti Sains Malaysia said party members, division chiefs and state chiefs who were aligned with Zahid and his deputy, Mohamad Hasan, would believe the “excuse”.
“These state chiefs are appointed by the party president, so it is only natural for them to support him,” he told FMT. “These people rally behind the party president, but what the party grassroots really want is unknown.”
Delegates at the Umno general assembly last week adopted a motion that the posts of president and deputy president should not be contested at the party’s upcoming elections.
Awang Azman Pawi of Universiti Malaya said the approval of the motion showed the members believed that Zahid could steer Umno through the foreseeable future, particularly its participation in the Anwar Ibrahim-led unity government, given his long experience in the party.
He also said it showed the members believed the party unity “excuse” from the beginning.
Those who opposed the motion said it risked making the Barisan Nasional lynchpin look undemocratic.
Responding to their arguments, Azeem said Umno had been adopting this no-contest rule for a long time following the strong challenge mounted by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in 1987 against then Umno president Dr Mahathir Mohamad, which split the party into two camps – Team A and Team B.
Given its history, he said, it would be wrong for one to assume that Umno, as well as other political parties in the country, were democratic.
He said these political parties were “oligarchies” ruled by a few leaders, with the rules tailored to protect their high-level office-bearers from challenges.
“So, leaders of political parties will do whatever it takes to preserve their positions. Therefore, in this (no- contest) case, it is not so much about (preventing) disunity in the party. It is more about protecting the leaders’ positions.”
However, Awang Azman said the issue of whether the no-contest stance was undemocratic or not should not be raised since Zahid himself had left it to the delegates to decide whether the top two posts should be contested.
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