Rat Race..

It is interesting to see the title race for Ketua Pemuda UMNO Malaysia. So far only a quarter of the total 191 divisions have conducted their meetings. From 73 divisions, 40 nominated YB Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, 20 went to YB Khairy Jamaluddin, 12 to YB Datuk Seri Dr Khir Toyo and Dato' Zahidi Zainul Abidin managed to get away with only 1 division..his own division.

After the political tsunami in March, Khairy was blamed for the overall performance of Barisan Nasional. I personally think it was unfair to accuse him of the bad results. He kept a low profile, at some point the were romours that he was going to resign. Instead he built up his image, was seen to be more humbled and friendly to many parties. This however did not go well with certain quarter of the Youth members.

Meanwhile, in the main body there were movements led by few senior UMNO figures to challenge Pak Lah at the party election. Pak Lah then announced a new transition plan that would see DS Najib taking over as PM in 2010. It somehow softened up the angry voices. Then came Permatang Pauh by election. As Deputy to Dato' Seri Hishammuddin, it's KJ's task to lead the Youth election machinery to the battleground. His graph started to rise again. He was well accepted by Pemuda and the people. His ceramah sessions were packed with even pakcik and makcik kampung. Dato' Mukhriz was also seen at Pemuda's functions but was not as popular. DS Khir was nowhere to be seen..well at least not in the Pemuda's Command centre.

When BN lost with even bigger majority, again people put the blame on Pak Lah and Khairy. Although Pak Lah was not directly involved in the by-election, he was blamed for the weak leadership. This time around there's nothing that Pak Lah could do. MT then decided to postpone the UMNO general election til March and Pak Lah announced he was not going to defend his President post and would like DS Najib to take over.

Did Pak Lah's decision to step down influenced the delegates not to choose KJ as the new Ketua Pemuda? Or the political tsunami is happening again within UMNO? I personally think that we should give back the power of choosing our leader to the grassroot. When a few leaders were seen to be placed by the top leadership, the grassroots were denied their rights in choosing their leaders. It ends now.

I have the liberty to know 2 of the main contender for Ketua Pemuda personally..I adore Dato' Mukhriz. He has inherited many good qualities from his father, Tun Dr Mahathir. A very humble and soft spoken leader, he didn't get much coverage on the mainstream media, but when he goes down to the ground, it is not a wonder why people could easily idolized him. And words spread very fast in Pemuda. To them Mukhriz speaks the Pemuda language.

Khairy is a young, talented but somehow controversial leader. There were many rumours flying around about him and his method in rising to where he is now. But in many meetings that i attended, he never ceased to amaze me with his sharp mind and excellant oratory skills. Had he not been Pak Lah's son in law, he would have still made to where he is today. It would probably take longer time, but he'd eventually get there.

Well, we have another 3 weeks or so for nominations. I think KJ and even DS Khir would easily get enough nominations to be eligible to contest for the post. Let's just hope that everyone would cast their vote with an open heart and mind, for the future of our party and country. There are many factors how one can form a decision..let's hope emotion isn't one of it.

P/S: All the best to my abang Mukhriz and abang KJ. Looking forward to working with you...if you'd still have me.. haha