The Canon is out

Ku Li has declared publicly his intention to “clean” UMNO by challenging Pak Lah. This charismatic leader who challenged Tun Dr M in 1987 is doing it again. He ended up with Semangat 46 which in the end faltered because its foundation or cause of struggle was never defined. He maybe 71 but seeing things in disarray at the moment may have prompted him to act rather than just wait and see things crumbling. He knows Pak Lah ’s position is dodgy , and with the increasing number of enemies he is making by day ; you’d never know the kind of support that Ku Li can get. Radzi was his stalwart soldier in Team B and I am sure Radzi still wants to be a relevant factor in UMNO. Lets see if Musa would join him again !I’m sure there’ll be lots of silent supporters out there who will come out and voice their dissatisfaction against Pak Lah. Rais Yatim , the then Deputy President of Semangat 46 is really quiet since his promotion to Foreign Affairs .As for Tun Dr M , He’ll just be applauding to see the current scenario.

( from NST )

KOTA BARU, Wed 19 March 2008 :

MP for Gua Musang Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has made public his intent to challenge Umno president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for the presidency. He has offered himself to lead Umno to “heal the party”, which he described to be “in a bad way.”

While acknowledging that his advancing age might be used against him, the 71-year-old former Finance Minister, who held the Gua Musang parliamentary seat since 1969, expressed willingness to take up the challenge if he was given the opportunity.
Tengku Razaleigh, who challenged but lost to then Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the 1987 party elections, said he was “young” then and ever ready to challenge anyone with his ideas.

“I still have ideas, I am still brave because I am independent and I don’t depend on anyone. If my service is still needed and my strength can still be used, I am offering myself to work for the rakyat,” he told a press conference here today. “Even though I am old but I am still strong. If there are enough nominations for me to contest in the Umno election, I will give my service if I am needed.”
The Gua Musang Umno division chief, who described Umno’s defeat in the recent general election as the most painful and horrible moment in his political career, said he would call for a special meeting in his division tomorrow to discuss his proposal for the party to hold a special meeting to discuss the defeat.

Tengku Razaleigh had recently distributed letters to all Umno divisions and branch heads, urging them to utilise a section in the party’s constitution to call for a special Umno EGM on May 11, the party’s anniversary, to discuss the dismal polls performance. He felt the meeting should be held before the annual general meeting in August to “avoid confusion.”
“I felt the general assembly has to deal with lots of issues, so let us have this special meeting to discuss the election results. I hope the other Umno divisions will consider this. This can be done according to the party’s constitution and it is an abnormal thing. We need to discuss this defeat. Haven’t the Umno members realise we’ve lost five states? Are they still sleeping?”
On the desire of the five opposition-led state government’s desire to do away the National Economic Policy, Tengku Razaleigh said the topic was questioned because some quarters tasked with implementing the policy had “abused their powers to the point of raising ire of both commoners and Umno members.”
“The discrimination should not have happened as the NEP was a trust for the rakyat,” he said. “The policy is not meant solely for a group of people but the rakyat should view its overall objective which is to bring unity to the country. I support the policy in principle but I feel that it should be continued to remain as it was formulated back then.”