Although UMNO leaders put up a bold external front and feigned indifference and even contempt for the new political party being formed by former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, there is no doubt that they are quaking internally.

This is not without basis as illustrated by today’s developments in Johor UMNO, where two Johor UMNO veterans quit the party – the Gelang Patah UMNO permanent chairperson and former State Assemblyman Baharom Abdul Ghani and the Kulai UMNO deputy chief, Tosrin Jarvanti – at their respective UMNO division annual meetings on the ground that UMNO has deviated from its political struggle and could not be salvaged any more as it had become the property of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Equally eloquent are the speeches early today by two UMNO Ministers at the various UMNO divisional meetings in the country which show that UMNO leaders are jittery and some panic-stricken about political developments in Malaysia, particularly in UMNO – the quite hysterical speech by UMNO Supreme Council member and Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who said that UMNO members should torpedo Mahathir’s boat before he sinks UMNO and the speech by the UMNO Youth Leader, Khairy Jamaluddin beseeching UMNO member to remain loyal to the party and cannot be fence-sitters.

The historic meeting between Mahathir and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the first in 18 years, has added to the sense of gloom and doom among UMNO membership, despite the brave front put up by some UMNO leaders – like the UMNO Secretary-General Tengku Adnan who said that “Mahathir can have Anwar, UMNO has the rakyat” and the outburst of the Communications and Multimedia Minister, Datuk Seri Salleh Syed Keruak who likened “Mahathir’s kiss is a kiss of death”. Read the rest of this entry »