Ku Li kecut teloq kot?...

Sabtu lalu, 21 September, ramai menunggu ketibaan wakil ahli parlimen Gua Musang, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah menghantar borang pencalonan bagi jawatan Presiden Umno di PWTC.

Tetapi sampai jam 5 petang, wakil Ku Li tidak datang menandakan Ku Li yang dihebohkan sebelum ini akan bertanding jawatan Presiden Umno tidak jadi berbuat demikian.

Menurut pemerhati politik, tindakan Ku Li itu amat bijak kerana beliau tahu bukan mudah untuk menawan 146,000 orang perwakilan dalam pemilihan Umno pada 19 Oktober depan. Kalau perwakilan masih 2,600 orang mungkin Ku Li mencabar Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Sabtu lepas, Najib dan Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin diumumkan menang tanpa bertanding bagi jawatan Presiden dan Timbalan Presiden Umno buat penggal kedua.

Jadi Ku Li tak mahu buang duit dan buang masa. Buat apa beliau habiskan duit (untuk jenteranya) kerana belum tentu perwakilan akan mengundinya setelah “dikepung” oleh semua perhubungan Umno negeri yang mahu kepimpinan Najib-Muhyiddin dikekalkan buat penggal kedua.

Ku Li yang seangkatan dengan Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Tun Ghafar Baba dan Tun Musa Hitam akhirnya mengakui bahawa beliau tidak lagi relevan dalam Umno.

Dicabar

Malah jawatan Ketua Umno Bahagian Gua Musang yang disandangnya sejak 51 tahun lalu dicabar Ketua Pemuda Bahagian, Datuk Bazlan Baharuddin.Sebelum ini Ku Li sudah umum tidak mahu bertanding jawatan Ketua Bahagian tetapi beliau didesak akar umbi agar mempertahankan jawatan.

Memang mustahil Ku Li kalah tapi undi yang dipungut Bazlan akan menunjukkan kepimpinan Ku Li sudah tidak diterima sepenuhnya ahli Umno Gua Musang. Ia tentu memalukan Ku Li yang selama ini dianggap sebagai arkitek pembangunan Gua Musang.

Kalau di peringkat bahagian, sokongan penuh kepadanya sudah tidak jitu, mana mungkin beliau mahu mencabar jawatan Presiden Umno? Inilah yang difikirkan Ku Li semasak-masaknya.

Kali pertama dan terakhir beliau bertanding jawatan Presiden Umno ialah pada 24 April 1987. Beliau mendapat 37 pencalonan tetapi kalah tipis di tangan Dr Mahathir yang menang dengan majoriti 43 undi. 

Kekalahan itu menyebabkan penyokongnya mengheret kes itu ke mahkamah yang menyebabkan Umno dibatalkan pendaftarannya pada tahun 5 Februari 1988.

Ku Li tidak dibenarkan menyertai Umno (baru) oleh Dr Mahathir pada tahun 1988 setelah Umno (baru) dihidupkan. Ini menyebabkan beliau menyertai Semangat 46 untuk memulihkan Umno lama.

Membubarkan

Dua kali Semangat 46 bergabung dengan DAP dan PAS untuk menjatuhkan BN dalam dua pilihanraya umum 1990 dan 1995, akhirnya Ku Li membubarkan parti itu pada tahun 1996 setelah rakyat menolak mereka dan tetap bersama BN.

Ku Li menyertai semula Umno pada tahun 1996.Pada tahun 1996, beliau cuba bertanding kerusi Naib Presiden Umno tetapi disekat kerana tidak cukup kuota (15 pencalonan).

Pada tahun 2000, beliau cuba bertanding kerusi Timbalan Presiden Umno menentang Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah) tetapi tidak cukup kuota. Pada tahun 2004, beliau cuba bertanding kerusi Presiden menentang Pak lah tapi gagal mendapat kuota juga.

Pada tahun 2008, beliau juga mahu menentang Pak Lah yang akhirnya Pak Lah berundur tetapi tidak cukup kuota untuk menentang Najib. Pada tahun 2013, Najib sudah menghapuskan kuota tetapi semua Pengerusi Perhubungan negeri memutuskan jawatan Presiden dan Timbalan Presiden Umno tidak dipertandingkan, maka “kepungan” mereka menyukarkan peluang Ku Li untuk menang. Apatah lagi bilangan perwakilan bertambah dari 2,600 orang kepada 146,000 orang.

Jadi Ku Li fikir sebaik-baiknya tak payahlah beliau bertanding jawatan Presiden Umno. Buang masa dan buang duit sahaja. Najib bukan seangkatan dengannya.

Kalau bekas Menteri Pembangunan Luar Bandar, Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib masih dalam Umno, mungkin Mat Taib yang layak menentang Najib kerana beliau seangkatan dengan Najib dan Muhyiddin menjadi Naib Presiden Umno pada tahun 1993.

Berlalu

Zaman Ku Li yang pernah menjadi Naib Presiden Umno dari tahun 1974 hingga 1981 sudah berlalu. Maka inilah penggal terakhir beliau menjadi ahli parlimen Gua Musang. Dalam lipatan sejarah, jasanya membangunkan Bank Bumiputera, Pernas dan Petronas tetap dikenang.

Ku Li di zaman mudanya (37) dilantik Pengerusi Eksekutif Petronas bertaraf menteri. Ini bermakna Tun Razak mengakui kehebatan Ku Li yang masih muda itu. Ku Li banyak terhutang budi kepada Tun Razak. Maka tidak wajar Ku Li mencabar Najib yang pernah bekerja di bawahnya di Petronas.

Justru itu tindakan Ku Li tidak mencabar Najib merupakan satu tindakan yang wajar walaupun Najib adalah Perdana Menteri Malaysia yang pertama yang gagal membawa BN menang majoriti dua pertiga dalam pilihanraya umum pertama yang diketuainya.

Ketika ada kuota, Ku Li cuba bertanding jawatan Presiden Umno tetapi bila tiada kuota, Ku Li tidak bertanding. Maka keputusan Ku Li kena dihargai Najib supaya Najib memberi jawatan yang sesuai kepada Ku Li. Alangkah ruginya kalau pemikiran Ku Li tidak dimanafaatkan oleh kerajaan Najib.-fmt

The Sabah dilemma...

When a senior police officer makes an official statement that he found himself as if in a foreign country when he visited certain villages in Sabah, the stark reality hits you in the face.

When Supt Mohd Azman Mohd Sapri remarks that he and his team felt "threatened" and that they felt that Kampung Bangau-Bangau near Semporna in Sabah was in Zamboanga (Philippines), it amplifies the problems and repercussion caused by the entry of illegal immigrants.

If it had come from a lesser officer, it could be dismissed lightly but when it comes from the head of the police team investigating claims about illegal immigrants, one is compelled to fathom the damage it has done and will continue to do to the sovereignty of the nation.

Sitting through the last nine days of the Royal Commission of Inquiry and learning more about the problem, one can see the spillover effects and how it can change the economic and social framework of the state.

On Saturday, I picked up a copy of the Borneo Post and the front page shows clear proof of the problems. The lead story was on the conclusion of the RCI but what appeared alongside under the heading "Police nab false MyKad maker in Tawau" gives an accurate picture of the multitude of problems faced by the authorities.

The man who was nabbed had been previously convicted, jailed, caned and deported, but found his way back.

Sitting over steaming hot bakut teh in the evening, one cannot ignore the fact that the little ones who serve food and drinks have not even reached puberty.

"Berapa umur bah?" was the question.

"Dua belas," was the answer.

Before she could answer whether she goes to school, she gets chided by a man who is re-heating the broth.

"He is the father. The mother is at the back washing dishes. The entire family works here. They are not Sabahans, they are Suluks," says the local who took me there.

At the golf courses in Sabah, I was told, some of the caddies were as tall as the golf bags. Having no school to attend, they accompany the elders to the course where the only requirement is to be able to carry about 12kg in weight.

Other witnesses at the RCI testified that foreigners have taken over jobs, trading places and even business operations. On Thursday, a lawyer representing the Sabah Law Association charged that "public transport operations are monopolised by foreigners."

While the panel headed by former Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Steve Shim Lip Kiong says its recommendations will be ready by the end of the year, what happens during the interim?

Mohd Azman testified that people still land in one of the many landing points along the porous coastline and that many of them acquire fake papers by dubious means. So, haven't we learnt enough, especially with the Lahad Datu invasion in March?

For the Sabahans, it is an issue and the presence of foreigners impedes on their status as legitimate citizens, some of whom don't even qualify for the many privileges that the aliens enjoy. (The RCI was told that some of the foreigners have even invested in the Amanah Saham Nasional which is exclusive to the bumiputra community.)

It's not animosity but a sense of helplessness which has descended on them. Despite successive chief ministers reporting the problems to Putrajaya, no action was taken because political expediency over-rode the rule of law.

Even before the RCI can finish its task, the cynicism is overbearing when one talks to locals. They talk about RCIs before this and ask: "What happened to the findings and recommendations? Will they be implemented?"

There is little to offer comfort and solace to their long-suffering except that an undertaking be given by the federal government that the RCI's recommendations will be implemented without delay.

This needs political will and determination which has been in short supply, especially over the past three years.

Having said that, there have been calls from some quarters for the "humanitarian" element to be taken as a consideration when the decisions are made, but it should not be at the expense of legitimate citizens.

Even the head of the National Registration Department recommended that those who attained documents fraudulently be given an amnesty and that their papers be "legalised". This is absurd and unfair to the thousands of Malaysian-born people who have not been issued proper identity documents.

While many of us who were born and bred in this country (this writer included) took the long and winding path to attain citizenship, it will be a travesty of justice if holders of blue identity cards which were traded in coffee shops are made citizens.- R. Nadeswaran@theSundaily.com

cheers.