WHY UMNO SUPREME COUNCIL DECIDED TO DEFER POLLS

It was announced yesterday evening that the UMNO Supreme Council had decided to postpone holding their party elections by 18 months to March 2009, purportly to concentrate on the coming general elections. The UMNO Supreme Council had done this during the previous ocassions in 1999 and 2004, to defer their party polls to concentrate on the general elections. But this time, it seems very suspicious that the main motive is the general elections. Insiders reveal that since former premier and past president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is on a warpath with PM Abdullah, PM Abdullah need to retain these powerful positions to counter-attack Tun Dr Mahathir. It is very obvious that followers only support the powerful and even Tun Dr Mahathir himself had admitted that his crusade is fought by himself alone currently although previously when he was the 'power man', he had a string of people to assist him, even 'kiss his hands' frequently. It is learnt that PM Abdullah has the support of a good group of people to assist him in his trail, since he is currently holding that powerful positions. This could be the main reason for defering the party polls. Being the president of UMNO, he remains as prime minister. Although with the current in-fighting, the Barisan Nasional seems to be of having a poor record, since alot of 'dirt' seems to be exposed, more expected in the days to come, especially with dealings directly linked to PM Abdullah and his family. It seems that from this move, there is more trouble ahead to come. PM Abdullah is fully aware that Tun Dr Mahathir has documentary evidence to justify his allegations and as everyone knows, people tend to believe proof rather than a mere word. Although PM Abdullah is not an angel himself, but may have been force to commit these allegations to show he supports the calls of his family. But PM Abdullah need to realise that his enemy is a great 'actor' who could mesmerize his audicence and PM Abdullah have to be really cautious of his moves. Tun Dr Mahathir had done these things in the past to many leaders like Musa Hitam, Anwar Ibrahim, Daim Zainuddin, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and others. So he knows what to do and when to do it too.

If PM Abdullah is unable to contain his current situation, the likelihood would be that he will team-up with former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Tun Dr Mahathir will be forced to concede once such a move by PM Abdullah is taken, since Anwar will go all out to smear the reputation of Tun Dr Mahathir and finish Tun Dr Mahathir and his legacy. But PM Abdullah knows that Anwar is not an angel too. PM Abdullah may easily admit Anwar into the UMNO fold since Anwar had be acquitted of the crime which he had been sacked for. As such, he need to be reinstated to his former positions - that is Deputy President and Deputy Prime Minister. Anwar was elected as Deputy President in the UMNO General Assembly. The only problem is that many UMNO top officials are not in favour of this move since their propects will also be hindered. The one who will be badly affected with be current deputy president and deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. Najib status of being the deputy president is by way of appointment.

So, we need to wait and see what happens next.