MORE UMNO CHALLENGES TO ABDULLAH'S AUTHORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUALA LUMPUR 000195

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR EAP/MTS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/19/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM MY
SUBJECT: MORE UMNO CHALLENGES TO ABDULLAH'S AUTHORITY

REF: A. KUALA LUMPUR 193 - NEW CABINET


B. KUALA LUMPUR 184 - POST-ELECTION SCENE

C. KUALA LUMPUR 178 - ELECTION AFTERMATH

D. KUALA LUMPUR 160 - ELECTION SHOCK

Classified By: Political Section Chief Mark D. Clark for reasons 1.4 (b
, d).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) More challenges to Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's
authority within his United Malays National Organization
(UMNO) party emerged in the wake of Abdullah's March 18
cabinet announcement. The powerful Youth wing, led by an
ally of Deputy Prime Minister Najib, contradicted Abdullah's
instruction and decided to take no action against Mukhriz
Mahathir for calling for the Prime Minister's resignation.
After being ejected from the Cabinet, "Iron Lady" Rafidah
Aziz vowed to stay on as head of UMNO's influential Women's
wing and voiced frustration with Abdullah. A Women's wing
protest forced the Prime Minister to bring in the wing's
deputy as a special advisor in the Cabinet. UMNO Secretary
General Radzi resigned with some bitterness from his party
position, having failed to regain a Cabinet post, and
Abdullah immediately replaced him for yet unclear reasons
with Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, a Mahathir crony aligned to
DPM Najib. Meanwhile, veteran UMNO leader Tengku Razaleigh's
call for an extraordinary UMNO meeting in May, a seeming
vehicle to remove Abdullah prior to the UMNO party elections,
has failed to gain traction. End Summary.

UMNO Youth Takes No Action Against Mukhriz
--------------


2. (SBU) Following a March 18 meeting, leaders of the
powerful UMNO Youth wing announced that they would take no
action against Mukhriz Mahathir, the son of former Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad, for Mukhriz's March 12 letter
asking PM Abdullah to resign (ref B). When the letter became
public, Abdullah stated that he had tasked UMNO Youth to take
appropriate action against Mukhriz, who is a Youth wing
executive. Rather than supporting Abdullah, however, the
UMNO Youth Executive Committee (exco),decided to take no
action at all. UMNO Youth chief Hishamuddin Hussein, who is
also Education Minister and ally of DPM Najib, told the press
that the letter was damaging because it was made public. The
letter represented Mukhriz's personal view, however, and
therefore was not a subject for UMNO Youth response. "There
are so many other more important issues faced by UMNO Youth.
The main challenge is now the opposition, not Mukhriz,"
Hishamuddin explained. Mukhriz later reaffirmed that he
stood behind his letter's content.

Women's Wing Forces Last-Minute Cabinet Addition
-------------- ---


3. (SBU) The influential UMNO Women's wing (UMNO Wanita)
held an emergency meeting on March 18 after its members
learned that Abdullah's new cabinet line-up had excluded both
the UMNO Wanita chief, former International Trade and
Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz, and her deputy, Shahrizat
Abdul Jalil, the former Women's Minister. Shahrizat and
Johor state Wanita chief Halimah Sadique chaired the
emergency meeting without the presence of Rafidah. The group
complained that UMNO Wanita was unrepresented in the cabinet,
with only UMNO's Azalina Othman Said in a ministerial
position. Azalina is not a Wanita executive but is a rival
to Shahrizat as future Women's wing leader. Following the
emergency meeting and a subsequent protest in front of the
PM's offices, the PM's Department released a press statement
announcing Shahrizat as Special Advisor to the Prime Minister
for Women and Social Development Affairs with ministerial
rank (ref A). Local sources opined that the PM could not
ignore the pleas of UMNO's Women's wing as more than 52
percent of the party's members are women, who also represent
UMNO's most loyal voting base.

Hell Has No Fury Like Rafidah Scorned
--------------


4. (SBU) Despite being left out of the cabinet, UMNO veteran
Rafidah Aziz, known as the "Iron Lady," decided defiantly to
stay on as Wanita chief. In yet another UMNO press
conference held on March 19, Rafidah admitted that she was
shocked to be dropped from the Cabinet and wished Abdullah
had advised her before his press announcement on March 18

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(ref A). Nevertheless, "I will not resign, I will continue
to head the Wanita (wing)," she told reporters. She alluded
to the possibility that Wanita members lodge protests with
the Prime Minister over the exclusion from the Cabinet of top
Wanita leaders, and she revealed she had sent a lengthy
letter to Abdullah regarding BN's poor performance at the
polls.

Jilted UMNO Secretary General Resigns
--------------


5. (C) Former Home Affairs minister and UMNO Secretary
General Radzi Sheikh Ahmad abruptly resigned his party and BN
leadership position on March 19, just one day after PM
Abdullah failed to reappoint him as a cabinet minister.
Wearing his emotions on his sleeve, Radzi explained to a
hastily called press conference: "When you are not made a
minister, you cannot work effectively as a secretary-general
for UMNO." Radzi and Abdullah recently had been at odds over
candidate nominations and party leadership appointments in
Radzi's home state of Perlis, a situation in which the Malay
ruler went against Abdullah's choice for Chief Minister (ref
B). When Radzi also sided with Abdullah's opponents, it was
clear the former allies had split, and it came as no surprise
that Radzi was pushed aside. According to local press, Prime
Minister Abdullah immediately appointed former Tourism
Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor as the new UMNO Secretary
General. (Comment: Tengku Adnan is known as a Mahathir
crony and someone more aligned to DPM Najib. The rationale
for Abdullah's appointment of Tengku Adnan is not immediately
apparent. End Comment.)

No Traction Yet for Emergency UMNO Meeting
--------------


6. (C) UMNO veteran and strongman Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah on
March 12 sent a letter to all UMNO division heads calling for
the party to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on
the May 11, the party's birthday, "to address UMNO's
weaknesses." The ex-Finance Minister, who was Abdullah's
only challenger in the 2004 party elections, lamented that
unless UMNO realized the reasons for the electoral set-back,
following the next general election "BN and UMNO will not
govern the country again." The EGM was widely interpreted as
a mechanism to seek Prime Minister Abdullah's removal,
although Razaleigh was not so explicit. Razaleigh's letter
followed his initial comments in the wake of the March 8
election set-back which also implied Abdullah should go.


7. (C) Notwithstanding Razaleigh's impassioned plea, the
call for an EGM apparently fell on deaf ears among most UMNO
division chiefs, and Prime Minister Abdullah quickly stated
that UMNO would not hold an EGM. Even the UMNO Liaison
Committee from Razaleigh's home state of Kelantan refused to
endorse his call. Party leaders appeared unwilling to back
Razaleigh's idea, either because they were content to wait
until UMNO's annual meeting/elections later this year or did
not want to identify themselves with anti-Abdullah
maneuvering and, possibly, Razaleigh's own designs on the
UMNO leadership position.


8. (SBU) Note: The UMNO Supreme Council in September 2006
postponed the scheduled September 2007 party election until
after the general election. Although, the party has until
March 2009 to hold its elections, local observers expect the
UMNO Supreme Council to hold party elections prior to or
concurrent with this year's annual general meeting. The
entire multi-tier election process requires roughly three
months from the time the UMNO Supreme Council determines the
date of the next party election.
SHEAR