APRIL 9 — Talk about Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has quietened down. But that doesn’t mean it has totally disappeared. There are still calls for Tengku Razaleigh to be sacked from Umno or quit BN/Umno and join Pakatan Rakyat.
Not so loudly as a few months ago but nevertheless it’s still there. The “reason” we all know. The Umno veteran is seen or have been sounding more like the opposition rather than a BN leader. Hence the pro-Pakatan folks want him to come on board. The Umno crowd wants him to toe the party line and “stop embarrassing the BN.”
But Tengku Razaleigh, or Ku Li as he is fondly known, has always maintained he will speak his mind and speak out against anything he see as not right. The Kelantan oil royalty issue is one. And he has spoken on reforms in Umno before, many times, causing many red faces within the party. And as for the oil royalty issue, his take on it has somewhat put a damper on whatever inroads BN/Umno has made in PAS-administered Kelantan.
First things first. Will Umno take action against Ku Li? So far no and many say not likely. Umno will be accused of being intolerant towards dissent should Ku Li be reprimanded.
So will he leave Umno? After all he has been out of the party before. After the 1987 big Umno fight (when he mounted a serious challenge on then party president Dr Mahathir Mohamad and lost narrowly) Ku Li was left out by Dr Mahathir.
He then formed Semangat 46. But Ku Li has also always said he loves Umno. And said he did what he did in 1987 was because of his love for Umno. The party then, according to Tengku Razaleigh, had lost its original Umnoness (my words not Ku Li’s).
His criticism of Umno then and now, said Ku Li, was for the good of the party so that Umno would remain relevant. And his stand on the oil royalty issue is a question of the BN government fulfilling its obligation and justice for the people of Kelantan. That’s what can be concluded by his statements on the matter.
Seen from another standpoint Ku Li does not want the BN to be accused of going back on its promises and going against what have been agreed upon with regards to the Petronas agreement on oil royalty. So for the good of the BN?
But some say Ku Li’s good intentions for Umno are not appreciated. And even his future in the party is bleak, they say, pointing at Ku Li’s inability to garner more than one nomination when he wanted to vie for the Umno presidency in the last two party elections. And the sole nomination, need we be reminded, came from his very own Gua Musang division? Hence the calls for Ku Li to do the right thing i.e. leave Umno and contribute to the Pakatan cause which they see as similar to that of Ku Li’s.
And we have heard analyses that Ku Li should join Pakatan to take over in the event that something should happen to Anwar Ibrahim. Then there are some who whisper that Ku Li must be encouraged to go to the Pakatan side as he will fight it out with Anwar as both want to be PM.
Of course there are others who say no don’t leave. If Ku Li leaves Umno, they say, he will be accorded the same treatment given to the opposition. In short, he will be hit. Real hard. But Ku Li has endured all that before. During his anti-Mahathir days in Umno, in Semangat 46 and pre- and post-March 2008.
Being hit is not new to him. Many want him to stay in Umno and criticise from inside. Being still an Umno member will somewhat insulate him from the verbal attacks. But then some are asking what’s the point of criticising from inside if the criticism is not heeded?
So what will he do? I asked a long-time Umno watcher which way will Ku Li go. Despite his years of keeping tabs on the goings-on in the party, this Umno watcher admit it’s not an easy call to make. — mysinchew.com