Tun wins another round in his battle against his hand-picked successor Finally, the long-awaited meeting between the old strong man and his successor took place on Sunday. If there was any hopes of burying the hatchet between the two, Tun Dr Mahathir with his no-nonsense style, made it abundantly clear that the meeting has not resolved anything and that his outstanding list of grievances remain. It is clear that Tun has pushed the ball in the Prime Minister’s court, by shrewdly talking to reporters for three days in a row, ensuring that all attention will be on Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi’s next move. It is disheartening to note that the Prime Minister has not responded publicly to Tun’s comments; he refused to talk about the meeting at a public function today. If he is thinking of applying his much-ridiculed “elegant silence” approach once again, UMNO members and Malaysians will not take too kindly to it although the public face of the rakyat’s “happiness” will be highlighted in the media. Truly, this is not a time for such a silly notion such as an elegance silence. The King of Thailand does that very effectively but Abdullah is not in the same league - he certainly has not demonstrated any exceptional ability as Malaysia’s leader thus far. Tun revealed that during the two-hour meeting, Abdullah spent most of the time listening and jotting notes. Is that because he needs to consult his spin doctors before making any comments? It is clear that Tun dominated proceeding from the first minute; that is not a good sign of Abdullah’s quality of leadership. At worst, the public will infer from the revelations made by Tun post-meeting that the Prime Minister is indecisive and incapable of making a stand on issues. Perhaps that was what the formidable Tun wished to convey. Already, there is much grumblings about the state of the economy. This eye-opener, offered by Tun, could convince many undecided UMNO members that they are being led by a man not worthy of wearing Tun’s large shoes. The fact that Tun brought up his concerns about the business activities of Abdullah’s son and son-in-law during the two-hour meeting would have also convinced many about the many rumours swirling around in the corporate sector and in the coffee shops across the country.

Even the UMNO dailies like Berita Harian and the New Straits Times, gave much coverage to the words and criticisms of Tun. It is evident that a news blackout is out of the question as that would further dent their credibility, especially amongst the Malay ground and to a smaller extent, the Malay professional class. UMNO can no longer count on giving simplistic answers to their members and expect them to unquestioningly accept it. Dissent within the party is by no means, invisible. Abdullah will not get a easy ride from now till the end of his term. Doubt has been seeded into mainstream Malaysia about his abilities, further compounded by a lack of direction in his handling of the economy and his less than satisfactory handling of several national issues close to our hearts. This meeting, controlled by Tun from the start until he decided to end it two hours later, is a stark warning to Abdullah that the remaining months of his tenure will be under an intense spotlight. Another point about the meeting is that Tun made his way to see Abdullah – from what I have read and known, the Prime Minister will always go and see his predecessor as a mark of respect and not the other way around. I guess when Tun said power has changed Abdullah, I have to agree with this assertion. A few months ago, Abdullah confidently said he was just into the first fifteen minutes of holding power and that he needs times to make contributions, making references about the length of his administration to a 90-minute football match. I find such statements arrogant, for him to think that his grip on power will go on indefinitely in the foreseeable future. If the Prime Minister do not ring in significant changes soon, there is a likelihood that he may be substituted from the playing field sooner than he expects. UMNO has demonstrated in the past that the incumbent Prime Minister can be unseated if the ground wills it.  ¶ 8:09 AM