Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Proxy War Heated High Up

Who are their backers - who is the King Maker?

Who is the master planner strategising and setting the center-stage of the next decade?

Who needs to harness power and badly wanted the position at top of political hierarchy?

What is the price the political oligarcy is willing to trade-off in exchange for power and wealth?

Stage 1: GPMS Proxy Fight - Veteran Datuk Suhaimi Ibrahim v Reeza



I had known Suhaimi for more than 10 years. He is a soft-spoken UMNO leader. During the heydays of Ex-Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, he was seen as the protege of Anwar. Since the Anwar-Mahathir tussle which culminated in Anwar's political demise, he had been conjured as Mahathir's supporter. He graduated from University Malaya with a degree in Malay Studies.

Everyone in UMNO knows Suhaimi's political stand and alignment. But he is now being contested by the young turks which belongs to the anointed Oligarchy - the young turks of UMNOputera.

Representing the Oligarchy is former GPMS Vice-President, Mamakmia Reezal Merican Naina Merican who is a well-known proxy of the Oligarch master-tactician.

The crisis in GPMS started with a leadership challenge by Reezal, worsened in October following the sacking of two top office bearers – former deputy president Shahrir Rejab and former Terengganu GPMS secretary Syed Anuar Syed Mohamed – by Suhaimi, who has been GPMS president since 1997.

On Sunday, the two factions appointed different office bearers at separate meetings, with one group retaining Suhaimi as president and the other electing Reezal Merican Naina Merican, a former vice-president. The meeting held by Suhaimi was attended by 188 delegates from GPMS branches nationwide while 358 delegates attended that organised by Reezal Merican, who is also the Prime Minister's political secretary in the Finance Ministry.

At the meeting organised by Suhaimi, he and Assoc Prof Dr Sharifuddin Zainuddin won the president and deputy president posts unopposed, while Mohamad Mustafa Latif, Sohaimi Shahadan and Mohd Fauzi Zulkifli also won unopposed the vice-president posts.

At the other meeting, Reezal won uncontested while Syed Anuar was elected deputy president and Hang Tuah Din, Rosdi Amir and Jais Abd Karim, the three vice-presidents.

Stage 2: MAYC Proxy Fight - SYED HAMID ALBAR V Mustaffa Mat Arof



The fracas at the Malaysian Association of Youth Councils (MAYC) annual general assembly yesterday was the result of a power struggle between two factions vying for control of the body, the country’s largest youth organisation.

Chairs were broken and fistfights broke out when one faction tried to suspend the meeting after their nominations for the body’s national office-bearers were declared null and void.

Based on video footage, the faction aligned to the incumbent MAYC leadership had blocked the nomination of Jerantut MAYC vice-chairman Mustaffa Mat Arof for president.

The nomination had come from Pahang MAYC, which is aligned to Mustaffa. The nomination was rejected ostensibly for failing to comply with MAYC regulations, which state that branches have to complete their own AGMs to nominate national office-bearers 14 days before the national meeting.

A shouting match erupted between delegates from Bandar Tun Razak MAYC (Kuala Lumpur) and Jerantut MAYC (Pahang). A brawl broke out when one of the delegates put a choke hold on president Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Syed Albar.

What's Next? Is the PM blind to the power struggle or is he in concurrence?

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