Another meeting on earlier handover

Umno's Supreme Council will meet in an emergency session today - for the second time in a week - in a last-gasp effort to hammer out a smooth handover of power from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi to his deputy, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

The meeting was hastily convened after days of frantic behind-the-scenes efforts to head off a potentially damaging confrontation between the two men in party elections due in December.

Najib yesterday confirmed the meeting would be held today.

"Yes, I believe there will be," he told reporters, but declined to elaborate.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department and Supreme Council member Nazri Aziz all but confirmed that the power transition plan would be the focus of today's meeting, even as he conceded that Umno was currently
split into camps for and against the 68-year-old Premier.

"It is seldom that such meetings take place, so it should be an important one. In the light of what is currently occurring, I suspect that the power transition plan will be the agenda for the meeting," Nazri said.

He said there were two "extremes" in Umno on the issue, with one side wanting Abdullah to stick with the date for his retirement, and the other side insisting that he go earlier.

Sources said today's meeting could be asked to endorse June next year as the new deadline for the handover of power, a year earlier than the original June 2010 date put forward by Abdullah.

There is also speculation that the Umno elections could be postponed to June, with the divisional elections to begin around March.

The divisions are due to start meeting on Oct 9 to make their nominations for top party posts. Candidates for the party presidency must secure 58 of the 191 nominations, and both Abdullah and Najib are expected to
secure enough to head into a showdown.

This would set the stage for a bruising battle.

Observers say the compromise plan could allow Abdullah to leave office with grace, while gradually handing over power to his deputy over the next few months.

But the plan could stumble if it does not go down well with the grassroots.

Abdullah had originally intended to hand over power to Najib in June 2010, but events soon overtook his plans, especially in the face of constant sniping by his predecessor, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Things began to unwind rapidly after Anwar re-entered Parliament last month, and Dr Mahathir appeared ready to endorse Kelantan prince, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, as a challenger to Abdullah.

Soon after that, Najib shifted his stance to say that it was for the party grassroots to accept the power transition plan. This was as clear a signal as any that he was willing to accept nominations for the party presidency.

With supporters pushing the Prime Minister and his deputy towards a battle, an earlier transition date could be a face-saving gesture to avoid the fight that could split Umno.

It would allow Abdullah to retire on his own terms, and the June 2009 date would enable him to avoid being the Malaysian prime minister who served the shortest term.

The third prime minister, Tun Hussein Onn, served five years and six months from January 1976 to July 1981. Abdullah took office in November 2003.

Reports said members of Umno's management committee, comprising top leaders, had been agreeable to a compromise when they met on Wednesday, the same day Najib cancelled an official overseas trip for the second time in less than a week.

Bernama news agency said this was followed by a series of "secret" meetings between the two leaders and their supporters, and speculation was rife that an agreement on the transition was reached late on
Wednesday night, after both parties settled on a deadline for the power transfer.

"We are expecting something positive to come out tomorrow at the meeting," Bernama quoted a party insider as saying.

"It would be a win-win situation between those calling for an immediate handover and those wanting to stick to the original date (June 2010)," he added. - The Straits Times