WAS IT REALLY NECESSARY TUN?

Wan Ahmad Farid

CHOICES, CHOICES.....

Within 24 hours before Nomination Day in Kuala Terengganu, Tun Dr Mahathir dropped a bombshell by stating that Wan Ahmad Farid was “a very bad choice” to stand as the BN candidate. I’d like to state that the perception that Wan Farid is a proxy and is “someone to be used later if Najib becomes Prime Minister", as was stated in, http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/95821, is weak as Najib will be in a strong position to neutralize Wan Farid when the time comes.

Tun Dr Mahathir had 80% of his men in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s Cabinet as well as the UMNO Supreme Council. As brilliant as he is, was he successful in using any of them from the outside when he needed them?

Wan Farid may not have a likeable face and his smile may seem like a fake but he is the choice of the Kuala Terengganu Division which is 103 branches strong.

One of the major mistakes the federal leadership made during the last General Elections was to pick outsiders and little known personalities who were Putrajaya’s stooges in the divisions instead of picking proven and more deserving leaders in the same. We even saw wishful thinking UMNO Supreme Councilors who were aliens and didn’t hold any of the top three positions in their divisions standing as candidates there. Naturally most of the branches in these respective divisions preferred not to open their operation centers and even decided to sabotage the campaign.

Now let me take you back to Kuala Terengganu. It needs to be said how strong Wan Farid is in this division. He won easily as the Division Chief and his elder brother beat the late Dato’ Razali Ismail for Division Vice-Chief. The latter was the Member of Parliament for Kuala Terengganu and Deputy Minister for Education at the time. It is very rare if not unimaginable for someone with such a position to fail in his bid for only the third highest position in the Division. But it happened as Wan Farid and his brother were the flavour of the day for the Kuala Terengganu UMNO Division. As regards to how they managed that, can be debated at another time.

The late Dato Razali on the other hand was generally popular in his own right with the mass (which included non UMNO members and teachers) in KT but in his absence today, we cannot afford to antagonize the 103 UMNO branches in the division by appointing someone who isn’t their choice. Only the homeboys know how to tackle the locals and although there are many outsiders manning their own operation centers evenly spread across Kuala Terengganu, they are still considered outsiders and at best are only able to compliment the effort made by the local campaigners. In other words, we need the 103 branches and operation centers to seal the deal. I was there for several days recently until the day of nomination. I witnessed how hard the UMNO machinery from the whole nation including Sabah were labouring for a much needed win. They are evidently not there for a holiday in the East Coast. Dato’ Sri Najib too is working double-time. They are there to win it for UMNO and Barisan.Nasional. As a past leader and until now at least, a revered Statesman, Tun Dr Mahathir should give UMNO and BN his full support and not undermine their efforts just because of his lapse in judgment 5 years ago. Whether bad choice or good, wrong or right, Wan Ahmad Farid is our best possible candidate to win at this time.

Under the leadership of the new Menteri Besar of Terengganu, with the oil royalty firmly back in the hands of the Rakyat, with the careful and watchful eyes of the much respected and loved Sultan, Terengganu should see rapid development under Barisan Nasional in the future. Being the Capital of Terengganu, Kuala Terengganu would naturally be enjoying the lion’s share. Barisan Nasional’s win in this by-election should smoothen and accelerate this process. I’m sure the voters are bright enough to do the right thing.

After pondering over Tun Dr Mahathir’s statement these last few days, I wonder if this “very bad choice” in Kuala Terengganu is as damaging as the one he made 5 years ago to succeed him as Prime Minister. He may be right in his comments on the economy and the development of the country, but he is definitely out of his league to comment on political candidates. History has shown that he made three wrong choices for Deputy Prime Minister and one for Prime Minister. Tun should capitalize on his strength and not dabble with this weakness lest people will soon pay less attention to his comments.