| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Malaysia ruling party in disarray |
| 2009-03-19 |
| MALAYSIA'S ruling party was in disarray on Wednesday after an internal probe found a top leader and 10 officials guilty of vote-buying ahead of elections for office bearers. The revelations Tuesday exposed the depth of corruption and venality in the United Malays National Organisation party, which have long been whispered but rarely admitted or confronted openly. 'This will send a shock wave through Umno,' said Mohamad Mustafa Ishak, a political analyst at North Malaysia University. 'They just cannot simply ignore (problems in the party) by not taking any action at all.' The trigger for the self-examination was the drubbing the party received in last year's general elections at the hands of a disgruntled public, which made leaders realise their position was no longer secure after 51 years of uninterrupted power. 'The public perception is that Umno is arrogant and has unhealthy practices. We have to clean up Umno,' Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said. 'We have to change or be changed.' The Umno disciplinary committee, which investigated 29 politicians, found a prominent politician, Mohamad Ali Rustam, guilty of violating party ethics and barred him from contesting the deputy president post. Mohamad Ali said on Wednesday he will appeal the ruling and urged his backers to remain calm. He has strong grass roots support, and his followers are not likely to accept his ouster quietly, deepening party divisions. The party will hold a vote March 24-28 to elect top office bearers to occupy senior government positions. The party's deputy president usually becomes the deputy prime minister. |
| Posted by:Fred |