SHAH ALAM, 22 Oct: The defeat of the Chief Minister of Kedah, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, in the fight for the position of the Vice-President of Umno is deemed as clear evidence of the party’s rejection of influence from former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The Coordinator of Jingga 13 (Orange 13), Fariz Musa, said that Mukhriz’s failure to win the top title in Umno is a signal that there are members of the party who are unhappy with his father’s influence.
He said Mukhriz’s credibility is still doubted by members of Umno because he did not feel the trials faced by Umno Youth Chief, Khairy Jamaluddin, whom Mahathir tried to force out during Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s era as Prime Minister.
“We can see that the majority of Umno members reject Mukhriz and indirectly, reject Tun Mahathir. We see the majority of Umno members to reject indirect Mukhriz Tun Mahathir rejected. This shows that Tun Mahathir’s influence no longer has a place among Umno members despite his tremendous service This shows the influence of Tun Mahathir has no place among his services even big enough for Umno.
“Mukhriz is still untested by any kind of situation and this proves that he is still being doubted by Umno members. In addition, we see Tun Mahathir’s strength can no longer give confidence to members to elect his son to hold office at the highest level of the party,” he said when contacted by TVSelangor today.
At the Umno supreme election recently, Umno members unanimously maintained the incumbent for the position of Vice-President; Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal and Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.
Meanwhile, Fariz is of the opinion that the battle of proxy between the two young leaders of Umno will continue for a long period because certainly, Mukhriz does not want to miss out in competing with the Minister of Youth and Sports.
He said the clash between the two young leaders will lead to a bigger and worse divide in Umno.
“This clash will continue and will become the seed of discord in Umno. There is no great leader that is capable of leading the party in a better direction that the list of leaders elected in the overall Umno election There is no great figure capable of bringing the party into a better direction selected from the list in the overall leadership of the party elections this time, “he said.
