The son-in-law of the prime minister but an enemy of UMNO

HE IS THE SON-IN-LAW of the Prime Minister but he has brought UMNO, the leading party in the National Front, to its knees. He caused so much damage that it is probably too late for him to withdraw. His actions to show he is a rich man – by buying 3 per cent of ECM Libra for RM9.2 million, for example – has backfired on Pak Lah and UMNO. But Mr Khairy Jamaluddin thinks he can ride through, going after his critics with defamation suits, answering no questions, riding rough shod over UMNO members. Pak Lah cannot reshuffle his cabinet, as he should have by now, because Mr Khairy wants his men in it. The more power Mr Khairy has in Pak Lah's government, the more split UMNO will be. The National Front is no longer as the first prime minister, Tengku Abdul Rahman, had envisaged it: a meeting of equals, in which the Malaysian Chinese Association and Malaysian Indian Congress leaders in cabinet had as much say as he himself. He used to say that the item on hand was not discussed in the cabinet if either disagreed. It was brought later, after negotiations had removed the objection. That was then. Now, the non-UMNO leaders in the National Front want to be known as the first to support an UMNO proposal. After all, it was their vote that made Malaysia an Islamic nation in practice, or that women are made second-class citizens.

Today, what Mr Khairy says goes in Pak Lah's administration. His only office in government was as his political secretary a few years ago. He is involved in high flying companies because he is Pak Lah's son- in-law. ECM Libra is one such. He does not have any experience after his studies. He got a PPE (philosophy, politics, economics) at Oxford, and LL.M from the London School of Economics. (In Malaysia, he would be a philosopher, politician, economist, international lawyer as his father-in-law is a Islamic scholar because he has a degree in Islam from the University of Malaya!) He tried his best to stand for elections to Parliament from Rembau, from whence he came, but was not allowed to. The opposition to him was too strong there. He made a mess in Pengkalen Pasir, for UMNO could have won with a larger majority there in the byelection had he stayed away. UMNO had already lost votes for insisting on Dato' Annuar Musa, who is hated in the state, as the UMNO chief. Kelantan could have three more byelections, as UMNO state assemblymen may have to vacate their seats. If PAS wins any one of the seats, UMNO would be in the state assembly what it was before Pengkalen Pasir.

What saved Mr Khairy in Pengkalen Pasir was the presence of the deputy prime minister and defence minister, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak. But Pengkalen Pasir was known as "Khairy's preserve". Millions of ringgit was spent on the marginal state seat to win it. But the UMNO crowing stopped soon after it started. Three UMNO state assemblymen are sick and may soon vacate their seats. So, he would have to be in the state should the byelections take place. He cannot refuse to go. He wants to be Prime Minister, preferably after his father-in-law. So far his political moves have alienated the power brokers in UMNO. Questions were asked how he got so much money. To silence his critics, which included a defamation suit against harakahdaily.com and the PAS MP, Mr Husam Musa, he bought into ECM Libra. In the past, he could have got away with it. But UMNO is divided into factions, most of them against Pak Lah's, and this includes that of Dato' Seri Najib. In UMNO itself he has enemies, who will join hands with people outside even if they don't agree with them. Mr Khairy cannot be a leader in Malaysia if UMNO rejects him. UMNO also does not care if he is in a foreign list of movers and shakers in 2006.

UMNO is split into factions. The tendency is to remove those against the leader. But the leader, in this instance the prime minister, is forced to accept those elected by the general assembly. To even the chances that they would not be elected, he calls for general election before the party elections in 2007 or 2008. But this may not work. As it would not work for people like Mr Khairy to move in as leaders by ignoring the party. His attempt to bring the other leaders down has so far failed, even if he got Dato' Isa Samad, the former mentri besar of Negri Sembilan, from the cabinet as federal territories minister, who comes from Linggi, which practices adat temenggong not the adat perpateh in practice in most of Negri Sembilan. He is in the opposition to Pak Lah in the UMNO elections in 2007.

At present, one in two MPs are in the federal government – as ministers, deputy ministers and parliametary secretaries. There are about 90 MPs in government. He wants to reduce that. He also wants to sack, it is rumoured, six cabinet ministers, all of whom had gone to Mecca so that they would not be. Even Tun Mahathir Mohamed, lord of all he surveyed, could not prune it, and his cabinet reshuffles in 22 years of office, was consequential. Pak Lah is stopped in his tracks. He is confused. He son-in-law has made it clear that his men must hold cabinet posts. There is already talk that Pak Lah is not his own man. He informed the cabinet yesterday he has signed a treaty with Japan, which gives Japan most favoured nation status and allows that country to import tax free its cars. In return, Malaysia will get tax free status in Japan for fruits they do not want. The United States has been pushing Malaysia to sign this treaty for a while – Tun Mahathir refused, because it was to Malaysia's disadvantage. It now wants Malaysia to support Australia and New Zealand as members of ASEAN. Pak Lah must explain why he only informed, and not discussed with, his cabinet about the agreement with Japan.

His enemies in UMNO blame Mr Khairy for his father-in-law's moves. He will be blamed whatever he does. The principal question he will have to answer is how he can get access to official papers when he holds no official position. Before he answers he does, how could he hold it when he is paid to work elsewhere. He has stepped on so many toes that he is in trouble with one or other groups. He cannot operate without people on his side, but he believes he can. He therefore attracts enemies from within the UMNO leaders and the rank and file. His presumption that the people do not matter, and they can be brought to his side with a few last minute speeches. It did not work in Rembau. It would not work elsewhere. Or would it?

M.G.G. Pillai