Kedah by-election exposes state Umno’s problems

By Adib Zalkapli - The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 — While Umno is expected to retain the Kota Siputeh seat should a by-election be called, the party still needs to overcome a bigger problem — the lack of strong leadership in Kedah Umno.

The state party is currently led by party vice-president Datuk Shafie Apdal, but the Kedah Umno warlords believe a stronger local leader should be appointed to the position in order to win back the state from Opposition-held Kedah.

“The problem now is we do not have a mentri besar candidate. Who are we proposing to the people? In case of an election, whose picture are we going to put up next to Datuk Najib’s,” said a Kedah Umno division chief.

He told The Malaysian Insider none of the 15 division chiefs in the state is capable of leading Kedah Umno due to intense infighting.

“Even if the leadership wants to retain Shafie at least his deputy must be replaced with someone stronger like Datuk Mukhriz or Jamil Khir as the current line-up does not look convincing,” he added.

Shafie was picked by Datuk Seri Najib Razak to lead Kedah Umno last April, but the Sabahan leader has yet to show his ability to unite the state party leaders.

“If they want to promote Mukhriz as the next MB then they must start now and not wait until one year before general elections,” he said.

Both Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir and Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom are in the federal Cabinet but are also serving in the Kedah Umno liaison committee.

Yesterday Mukhriz said that he was willing to be fielded as the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for Kota Siputeh.

The seat was declared vacant after its representative, Umno’s Datuk Abu Hasan Sarif, failed to attend two consecutive sittings of the Kedah assembly without applying for leave from the Speaker.

The Election Commission (EC), who was ordered by the High Court to hold the by-election yesterday, will appeal to overturn the decision at the Court of Appeal today.

Umno desperately needs to win the state seat to show that it has succeeded in winning over the support it lost in Election 2008.

Last year Pakatan Rakyat (PR) led by PAS, won control of the state after winning 22 of the 36 state seats.

In August, PR’s share of the seats was reduced when Lunas assemblyman and state executive councillor Mohd Radzi Salleh quit PKR and declared his support for BN.