29 April 2009

Mahathir the happiest man Part 5

Mahathir won the 1987 great contest by paper thin majority and it clearly showed the force against him were very formidably redoubtable.

In fact, many were talking about the votes being rigged by Sanusi Junid, the Secretary General of UMNO, but let that be a personal thing to Sanusi and let us not even mention it.

TR, as perfect gentlemen went up the stage to congratulate Mahathir and called for everybody to close rank and to go forward in the party’s struggles but Mahathir did not reciprocate that gesture.

TR then called all leaders who were in his team both the ones who won and lost in the election to give some good advice and to do what they should do being in the losing team.

TR advice those in his team and who were still in the cabinet to resign as the group failed to secure the mandate from the delegates to go for a change.

As a perfect gentlemen and a perfect democrat, he was in the opinion that going against Mahathir was a crudely real illustration of no confidence to the leadership and going to the delegates was to get the mandate to replace him (Mahathir).

Since the delegates were not giving to him (TR) and the team the mandate, it is always proper that his team should gentlemanly resign and that is the practice of a real democracy, the Westminster like.

Except for Rais Yatim, the rest did not heed all the advice of TR and chose to remain in the line-up of the cabinet and the government. Rais resigned from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs instantaneously.

We knew Mahathir had the right to drop them, and he had the liberty to choose leaders who had the confidence in him.

Abdullah Badawi, Shahrir Abdul Samad, Rahmah Osman, Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, Zainal Abidin Zain and few others did not resign.

TR felt that it was tough for Mahathir to maintain them in the line-up as he was all out as that was democracy at work; the winning party has to have the liberty and right to choose his team and the losing party has to follow through in the real spirit of democracy.

In the first cabinet meeting 10 days after, I was at Pak Lah’s office and he said that nothing had happened and there was no reshuffling or anything like that, and he looked happy thinking that everyone was accepted and status quo maintained.

But soon after his post cabinet meeting, a terminating letter came from PM’s office and it was apparent that everyone from the B team was dropped from the cabinet, the decision that Mahathir had every right to do.

Abdullah took it as a very lousy and awful experience. He went straight back home and I saw the high ranking army officer carrying his brief case in one hand and holding Abdullah’s spectacle in his other hand to his car.

I was again at his Medang Kapas house at dinner time, in Bukit Bandaraya, and I remembered Dato' Mohammad Hamzah and few others joining us for the dinner.

Abdullah felt crushed being dropped by Mahathir from the cabinet and we could read clearly that his mind was in serious disorder.

I innocently asked him, “Pasai apa Pak Lah nampak teruk sangat?”, and he instantly answered me, “Hang tak tau, jadi Menteri ni…hang tengok tadi spec Pak Lah pun colonel yang pegang”.

I answered him back, “Kalau Pak Lah utamakan perkara itu, in the first place kenapa nak lawan-lawan?”. He didn’t answer me and I excused myself and went back to sleep.

Since that incident I had been quite disappointed with Abdullah as he did not have finesse as a leader and I was wrong to look at him as an original UMNO member per se because of his answer to my question.

He displayed his weaknesses that he was all for his own glamour and had nothing to do with intentions to correct the party which was slowly meandering to the dock.

I made few visits to his house but only when my friends drove me there.

I saw a number of his supporters especially the Biro Tata Negara (BTN) boys were trying to cheer him up and among the many were a group of members who intended to bring UMNO to court to nullify the General Assembly as some of the members who attended the Assembly and voted were illegal.

In actuality, Abdullah was the real man behind the move to bring UMNO to court, but to say this after over 20 years would only cause a lot of interpretations against me. May be one should ask Marina Yusoff for confirmation.

But Radzi Sheikh Ahmad and Rais Yatim were certainly doing all the backings to this group of 11 and finally the case went to court and presided by the Judge late Harun Hashim.

When the group of 11 filed the petition at the High Court, and while waiting for the trial, Sanusi was working hard to talk to the group.

He requested them to withdraw. Sanusi, then the Secretary General of UMNO, knew that the group was to win the case and a chance of going through another process of election was then very imminent.

This was the main worry as Mahathir did not want any more kind of re-election as he would be a definite loser.

Mahathir is not like Hussein. Hussein felt that he couldn’t secure solid support when there is somebody went and contested his Presidency in 1978, and he swiftly decided not to retain the position he won handsomely.

Hussein didn’t want the party to split and respected the spirit of democracy. Conversely, Mahathir was far from gentleman and he took everything as personal and he started to find every bit of space to save his personal self even at the expense of the nation and the people.

The group of 11 were just asking the court to declare that the election to be null and void but in desperation Mahathir went further to defend his position by declaring UMNO as an illegal organization, hence UMNO disappeared instantaneously.

Mahathir rather put the party in demise rather than having to face another round of election. He wanted to continue in power at all costs.

Everybody who understands even a bit of Law was talking legal subjects for a long while.

Many quarters in UMNO reminded him that as he was also the Minister of Home Affairs he had the power to give life to the UMNO by using the Akta Pertubuhan (Seksyen 70). The act provided that a Home Minister can revive any deregistered organization by a stroke of a pen and if he had done it UMNO would have come to life again.

Everyone was shock and astonished to see that Mahathir just refused to used that Act as he may have to face the members by having the second round of election as decided by the High Court Judge Harun Hashim.

He had no love for the party as he only loved himself more than anything else. He didn’t want to sacrifice for the party but he sacrificed the party instead, as long as he can continue in power.

This incident invited a lot of animosities within the party and the split was evident. The party was split into 2 halves as a large number of divisional and branch members were exasperated by the action of Mahathir refusing to use the section 70 of the Societies Act.

The refusal of Mahathir to use the Act to keep the life of UMNO was met by strong resistance from the members.

The quality members who understood what went wrong just refused to follow him to the newly registered party called UMNO (Baru), while those who were nowhere in their leadership at the Division then became leaders at their respected Division and that was when UMNO leadership at all levels were of less quality.

Many who were not supposed to be leaders then became leaders to fill in the vacuum left by leaders who refused to accept Mahathir's decision to change history; by proposing a New UMNO in which he is member no 1 instead of Onn Jaafar as in the original UMNO.

This UMNO (Baru) is an entirely a newly registered party formed in 1988, and it is much younger than even my youngest son.

Out of 26 committee members and officers in my Division in Kuala Pilah, 18 opted to be with me and just refused to be the protem committee of the new UMNO. But some said even if I were to agree with the New UMNO, I wouldn’t be appointed to the protem committee by Tan Sri Isa Samad because of my open disagreement with the decision.

More than half of the Divisional leaders were not appointed to the protem because they were the supporters of the team B.

I went around the country with the other leaders giving speeches attended by tens of thousands of people but more often than not we were stopped from continuing our speeches by the police.

At that point of time I felt like I was living in a total police state. I and Radzi Sheikh Ahmad were met by FRU when we reached Kg Terusan in my hometown and their numbers were not small.

We were not allowed to use loudspeaker to speak to thousands of people who were eager to listen to the truth of what we wanted to say. In my next posting I shall be touching on issue of UMNO (Baru) and UMNO (Lama) in order to make known the significance of the issues to the people and their struggle.

It should be a really interesting issue as many of the young didn’t know. I may be met with strong confrontation but I am prepared to face them because of the truth.

After all, I am a nobody and of no consequence to anybody.


Thanks…………………………………………………………Aspan Alias.

19 comments:

dua sen said...

Dear Sir,

I am reading 5th installment with my jaw wide open..in disbelief. TDM said that our younger generation should read more about our history, I wonder when will our young ones ever get to read 'real' history like this.

Waiting eagerly for your next installment! Thanks for sharing.

fauzi said...

Ini pandangan saya yang cetek tentang keadaan negara sekarang. Apa yang telah terjadi dan terbentuk adalah berpunca dari pembentukan “Melayu UMNO”. Melayu yang di luar UMNO bukan di anggap Melayu. Malahan kelebihan hak Bumiputera hanya diberikan kepada “Melayu UMNO”. Mari saya terangkan. “Melayu UMNO” begitu mudah dapat projek walaupun tak berkaliber dan berkebolehan. Yang jadi “Melayu UMNO” sentiasa dapat perhatian dan keistimewaan, malahan pegawai pegawai kerajaan sendiri sudah muak dengan keangkuhan “Melayu UMNO”. Pergerakan dan pemerintahan “Melayu UMNO” sudah melampaui batas sehingga kan harta harta kerajaan adalah seperti harta “Melayu UMNO” sahaja.

Malahan, bangsa bangsa yang lain harus berdamping dengan “Melayu UMNO” untuk mendapat apa yang di hajat. Dan percayalah, setelah sekian lama ini, hanya “Melayu UMNO” diberi perhatian oleh kerajaan. Kesimpulan nya, UMNO adalah perjuangan “Melayu UMNO” dan tiada yang lain. Maka, kita lihat sekarang setiap lapisan masyarakat dan bangsa sudah muak dengan UMNO atau lebih tepat lagi “Melayu UMNO”.

Secara tak langsung, penolakan Barisan Nasional (BN) adalah kerana “Melayu UMNO”. Rakyat membantah kepada BN kerana “Melayu UMNO”. Oleh itu, bagi saya, UMNO sudah tidak relevan dalam arus pembangunan dan pembentukan negara buat masa kini.UMNO adalah hanya untuk “Melayu UMNO”. UMNO bukan seperti dulu. Dulu UMNO bertungkus lumus untuk negara, sekarang UMNO merompak secara terang terang untuk “Melayu UMNO”. Maka itu, rakyat telah menolak UMNO dan secara langsung BN. Kerana, kalau kita menerima BN bererti kita membiarkan “Melayu UMNO” berleluasa.
Saya akhiri pandangan saya ini dengan kata kata yang pernah saya dengar dari seorang pegawai yang amat tinggi pangkat nya di dalam kerajaan. Kata nya “Apa yang dia orang ingat, yang dalam UMNO sahaja kah Melayu. Dan apakah Malaysia ini hanya untuk UMNO sahaja kah”.

Muhammad Firdaus Christopher said...

Juicy stuff brother Aspan and really heart wrenching to know what really transpired.

Keep em coming and stay safe.

Muhammad Firdaus Christopher

fazilogic said...

As they say, history is written by the victors. But Aspan proved otherwise. But how can we tell which versions is the truth? By the victors or by the losers?

Anyway, thanks for the memoir, Sir.

Anonymous said...

Teruskan Bro Aspan,

Luahkanlah apa yang terpendam didalam hati. Semoga generasi muda dapat mengambil iktibar drpdnya.

I believe you are writing from real experience NOT fiction of one's imagination.

TERUSKAN !

salam,
Zin Dahari

hang nadim said...

salam tuan, saya mintak permission copy artikel ni

Aspan Alias said...

Tanjungkasau,
I am more than happy to give you the permission to copy the article bro.
Thanx for you support.

Aspan Alias said...

Fazilogic, In actuality the loser would watch things in a clearer angle.
But what I have written is the real experience and can be read in the newspapers then.
It would be good to read all these printed proof from the National Archive.
Everything is there and I can bet you will enjoy reading them.

how said...

i do not know you but what you wrote and going to write is history and history is only about the truth. our country need more people like you as the happiest man is trying hard to make a comeback or maybe had already reached the front door

Anonymous said...

Saudara Aspan,
Dalam artikel saudara, bahagian ini membingungkan saya, '..... in desperation Mahathir went further to depend his position by declaring UMNO as an illeagal organization...' Adakah Mahathir ada kuasa membuat keputusan tersebut? Satahu saya hanya hakim yang membicarakan kes berhak membuat keputusan tersebut!.
Untuk makluman saudara, saya ini golongan Otai yang telah dewasa dan matang ketika peristiwa itu berlaku. Saya sebagai peminat politik mengikut perkembangan ini dengan penuh minat melalui akhbar perdana dan media 'akhbar-akhbar nyamuk' yang menyokong team B supaya dapat cerita kedua-dua belah pihak. Satahu saya hakim Harun Hashim yang mengisytiharkan UMNO haram!
Pada saya tidak salah TDM tidak menggunakan kuasanya sebagai Menteri Dalam negeri untuk menghidupkan UMNO lama. Kalau hendak tuduh dia takut kalah kalau diadakan pertandingan semula, terpulanglah mengikut tafsiran masing-masing.Tetapi oleh kerana ia tidak berlaku, 'We will never know!"
Tetapi bagi pandangan saya yang telah hidup di zaman itu, sekiranya diadakan semula pertandingan tidak tahulah apa yang akan terjadi kepada umat Melayu kemudiannya. Fitnah menfitnah, caci maki dan malah bergaduh sesama keluarga berlaku dengan hebatnya. Mereka yang melakukannya seolah-olah hilang akal bahawa yang dikutuk adalah mereka yang sebangsa dan seagama.
Dari tulisan-tulisan saudara, jelas saudara dari golongan Team B. Yang sudah tu sudahlah!. Ikutlah kata-kata keramat arwah ibu saya, "Jangan dibasahi taik yang telah kering, nanti terbau lagi busuknya!" Lagi pun UMNO telah diselamatkan, baru ke lama ke tidak penting. Malah menteri-menteri yang diberi "notice" oleh TDM, kebanyakkan telah kembali dalam UMNO, malah mereka yang menjadi dalangnya, sudah menjawat PM. Apa lagi yang hendak diungkit-ungkit!TDM pun bukan lagi PM. Tapi perlu diingat dia turun dari jawatan PM dengan kehendaknya sendiri.
Tidak salah bagi saudara untuk menulis peritiwa ini sebagai bahan sejarah untuk tatapan anak-anak muda. Tetapi tolonglah tulis secara objektif dan tidak berpihak! Semoga bangsa kita lebih bersatu. Ikutilah idola saudara TR yang begitu gentleman, menerima kekalahan dengan hati terbuka. Kelebihan satu undi juga, dianggap menag dalam sistem demokrasi.

Rakyat Setia

Aspan Alias said...

how,
some people say that Mahathir is fascinated that his influence in the current government is BIG. I don't know how big.

Aspan Alias said...

dua sen,
What is writtenby me is just the tip of a gigantic iceberg.

Anonymous said...

En Aspan Alias

kalau boleh dibukukan kisah sejarah ini lebih bagus dan boleh dirujuk oleh generasi akan datang.

ajip

Anonymous said...

Sdr aspan , patut ceritakan kisah Rais "bakar jambatan" dan di majlis yang sama Paklah nak tunjuk dia juga bersemangat waja mencabar TR " kalau ikut undang undang tentera sekiranya Tengku undur hukumnya tembak" ( bermaksud Kalau Tengku berundur menentang Mahathir... dan dia gunakan nama tentera pasal dia menteri pertahanan waktu tu..ingat tak peristiwa di Terengganu...Dan Di Terengganu juga Mahathir telah menyatakan bahawa dia akan pasti kan TR tidak akan jadi PM walau pun dia( Mahathir) dalam kubur...
Sebenarnya Nama Pemimpin Besar Kita seperti Dato' Onn, Tunku, Tun Abd Razak dan Tun Hussein Onn tidak kena mengena dengan Umno baru ..Mereka ini tidak pernah jadi UMNO baru...Mahathir patut merasa malu ...apa nak buat dia memang muka tebal...you patut Tulis ini.

Anonymous said...

komen dari Anonymous yg kata tahi kalau dah kering jangan di basahi nanti berbau busuk balik...tapi kalau najis ,kering ke basah ke, tetap najis, mesti di bersihkan..tak apa lah bau busuk sekejap lepas tu tidak ada kerisauan tentang najis itu sebab sudah di bersihkan....Seterus nya beliau berkata Sdr Aspan dari team B dan beliau yg baca dua dua akbar dari dua belah pihak sudah tentu ada lah dari team A...pokoknya kenapa Mahathir tak gunakan kuasanya nak selamatkan UMNO yg sudah di haramkan ? Kenapa ? Umno baru adalah parti baru tiada kaitan langsung dengan UMNO yg diharamkan,Setuju dgn komen dari seorang lagi yang kata Dato" Onn ,Tunku ,Tun Abd Razak dan Tun Hussein tidak ada kena mengena dengan UMNO hari ini sebab mereka bukan ahli parti ini ...dan hujah Hidup UMNO lama akan membawa pergaduhan ? Meleset..kalau nak gaduh masa pengharaman UMNO itu patut bergaduhan besar berlaku tapi tidak pasal orang Melayu kebanyakan nya masih waras...
Sdr walaupun baca akbar dua pihak tapi tak mengikuti perkembangan dalam mahkamah..Peristiwa bagai mana Hakim Harun Hashim terpaksa mengharamkan UMNO kerana telatah peguam yg mewakili UMNO, Sri Ram,yg berhujah sampai mahu UMNO itu sendiri di haramkan (arahan siapa). Saya rasa Sdr Aspan akan menerangkan bab ini di postingnya yang akan datang seperti janjinya...Saya hairan Mahathir sebaik saja UMNO haram dia buat deklarasi di luar Bangunan Parliment bahawa dia masih PM! patutnya buat lah dalam Dewan dapatkan mandat dari Dewan Rakyat...memang rakyat dan orang Melayu bulat bulat di tipu mamak ni.

Aspan Alias said...

A few say that I am wriritng shit and I wonder where the shit is.
I am merely writing what the sequent of events that happened at that material time and all were printed in the mainstream media. Please go to the National Archive and read all the papers printed at during that time

Anonymous said...

Saudara Anon 15.22,
Saya menggunakan istilah 'taik kering' semata-mata untuk menegaskan tidak ada guna mengungkit-ungkit cerita lama, terutama perkara itu telah berlaku dan tidak akan mengubah apa-apa pun. Tengoklah kita sekarang telah berpecah belah kepada beberapa parti politik yang seolah-olah tidak ada titik pertemuan.Saya bimbang dengan keadaan ini.
Saya sebenarnya malas hendak komen lagi sebab tidak ada apa-apa faedah pun. Cuma saya terpanggil untuk memberi pendapat bahawa sudah semestinya, Penguam bela mengikut kehendak anak guamnya. Saya belum membaca Nasional Archive, adakah tertulis di situ Hakim Harun Hashim terpaksa mengikut kehendak penguam bela TDM?
Saudara Anon 15.22,
Cukuplah polimik setakat ini. Apa yang terjadi, terjadi! Tidak perlu kita menjadi seperti keluarga Montagues dan Capulet. Persengketaan mereka sampai matinya anak mereka Romeo dan Juliet. Atau permusuhan antara keluarga Bani Taghlib dengan Bani Bakar di zaman Jahiliah sehingga berlaku Perang al Basus selama 40 tahun!
Saya menyokong penuh usaha saudara Aspan menulis bab ini dalam sejarah UMNO. Ini akan merperkayakan lagi khazanah sejarah kita dan menjadi bahan rujukan anak-anak kita di masa hadapan. Saya rasa lagi cantik kalau ada bahan sokongan dari sumber-sumber yang sahih seperti Nasional Archive. Hasilnya nati akan bersifat lebih ilmiah.

Rakyat Setia.

Anonymous said...

Kpd Rakyaat Setia,

From your comments above, you are clearly a victim of the deceits by Mahathirs spin doctors, although an Otai at that time. My sympathies to you and many other citizens who have been deceived by this incredible 'statesman'. The Judgement by the late Hon Harun Hashim was that The Umno General Assembly was declared illegal, as some of the delegates in attendance were from unregistered Umno Branches.He then recommended that Umno have another General Assembly reconvened.Dia tidak kata Parti Umno itu HARAM, hanya Perhimpunan yang TIDAK SAH. History must be factual and not be based on untruths spinned.You at least owe that to your children and future generations.I bear witness to the event. Aspan speaks the truth. ZB

AGRO BISTRO said...

Tuan Aspan,

Your account is very vivid. I was 28 years old then. I quit as a teacher due to my involvement in S46. I was made like a ball, tendang sana tendang sini.

I still remember all of you. I met one Mat Kawaid lately. We spoke lengthly about those days.

Your accounts is really refreshing.

Faisal Kuala Selangor