The announcement by Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday of a 24-month transition plan for him to step down as Umno President and Prime Minister in June 2010 and hand over power to his deputy, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is clearly the product of an intense multi-faceted power struggle involving various factions inside Umno as well as players outside Umno.

It was only two weeks ago that Najib made the startling public statement after a back-to-back Umno and Barisan Nasional supreme council meetings on the same day that the Prime Minister presented the Ninth Malaysia Plan Mid-Term Review in Parliament that he did not dismiss the possibility that he might contest the Umno presidency in the coming Umno party polls.

Such a statement did not really square with Najib’s declaration yesterday after Abdullah’s announcement that he had never won positions in the party through challenges against incumbents, adding: “Why then should I start now? I will not do something (challenge my boss), something I do not want to be done to me.”

It has been reported that Abdullah and Najib had discussed the power transition plan over five meetings in the past month, and if so, the public ultimatum by Najib two weeks ago that he could go for the Umno President’s post would have factored prominently in yesterday’s event.

It will continue to be an intriguing question as to who has got the upper hand, Abdullah or Najib, but whether Abdullah’s announcement yesterday will end the Umno turmoil is most problematic, especially with the rise of the chorus of dissent both inside and outside UMNO, viz:

• Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin – “Some have expressed concern that if the duration is that long, the situation will not become more convincing.”

• Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah – “This handover thing is unconstitutional and it is not something that should be passed down from one leader to another. The matter of Umno’s presidency and in turn, Malaysia’s prime ministership, should be endorsed by the grassroots.”

• Tun Dr. Mahathir - “Najib akan dijanji peralihan kuasa akan dibuat pada 2010. Sebelum sampai tarikh keramat ini tuduhan akan dilempar terhadapnya supaya dia ternampak tidak lagi layak untuk menjadi Timbalan Perdana Menteri.

”Seorang yang dianggap lebih setia kepada Dato Seri Abdullah akan menggantinya. Pengganti tidak akan ambil alih jawatan Perdana Menteri pada 2010 kerana kurang pengalaman. Dato Seri Abdullah akan bermurah hati untuk mengisi jawatan itu hingga Pilihanraya Umum ke-13.”

But what really raised eyebrows of Malaysians is Abdullah’s statement yesterday that the 24-month power transition will give him time to carry out reforms as promised.

Abdullah should come to Parliament on Monday during the winding-up of the Ninth Malaysia Plan Mid-Term Review debate to list out the reforms he would accomplish in his last 24 months in office which he had failed so dismally to deliver in the past five years.

It was Abdullah’s very failure to deliver his reform pledges in the 2004 general election for which he was given the unprecedented mandate of 91 per cent of parliamentary seats which produced the March 8 “political tsunami” in the 12th general election, ending Umno and Barisan Nasional’s unbroken two-thirds parliamentary majority and causing their electoral debacle in five states.

In the past four months, despite Abdullah’s assurances that he had finally heard the voices of the people and repeat of his reform pledges, nothing has been delivered in the critical areas of restoring national and international confidence in the police (there has been no word on the establishment of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission), the judiciary and in an all-out war against corruption.

Can Abdullah achieve anything in carrying out national reforms before the end of the Ninth Malaysia Plan in the next two years when he had failed so dismally in the past five years?

This is the question he must answer in the final government winding-up of the parliamentary debate on the Ninth Malaysia Plan Mid-Term Review on Monday.