• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
The Nut Graph

The Nut Graph

Making Sense of Politics & Pop Culture

  • Projects
    • MP Watch
    • Found in Conversation
  • Current Issues
    • 6 Words
    • Commentary
    • Features
    • Found in Quotation
    • News
  • Columns
  • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Found in Malaysia
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Pictures
    • Videos
  • Corrections
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Vault
    • Found in Translation

“Advantageous” to postpone BN convention

[get_post_meta single=1 key="byline"] | January 30, 2009 2 Comments


(clock image © Ilker / sxc.hu)

KUALA LUMPUR, 30 Jan 2009: Some Barisan Nasional (BN) component leaders prefer letting the new Umno leadership, to be elected in March, take charge of the BN convention which aims to repair the coalition’s tattered image.

This means that the convention could be postponed to after February, once Umno president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi steps down.

The convention was Abdullah’s idea. It was meant to heal rifts within the coalition and to regain public support following the BN’s losses in the March 2008 general election.

It was tentatively set for 14 Feb, although there are unconfirmed speculations of a postponement.

A few component party leaders contacted by The Nut Graph said a postponement to after March would allow the new Umno leadership under Datuk Seri Najib Razak to firmly take charge of strategies moving forward.

Gerakan deputy president Datuk Chang Ko Youn said it would be good for the new leadership to “take over, sit down with us and map a strategy forward together”.

“The convention is not meant to be a farewell function for Pak Lah (Abdullah). It is meant to map out the BN’s strategy for the future. We should let the new leadership give their input.”

People’s Progressive Party president Datuk M Kayveas said Najib’s leadership could provide fresh momentum to BN component parties to reform themselves post-2008 general election.

“Under new leadership, people will have higher expectations and more energy. If the convention is held under Abdullah, it would be more like a going-away convention rather than one for the future,” he said in a phone interview.

Kayveas said Najib had chosen “One Malaysia” as the convention’s theme, which reflected the shared aspirations of all the component parties.

“The convention will identify the changes BN needs to undergo and how to keep it relevant to political stability and unity. It has been actively planned, save for finalising the date,” he added.

Chang said the various component parties have forwarded their views on the convention to the BN management meeting, but the decision on whether to hold it next month or after March is still being debated.

Date not decided

“The BN management committee hasn’t decided when to hold it yet,” BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor told The Nut Graph today.

The BN management committee is chaired by deputy prime minister Najib, who will take over as Umno president from Abdullah in March at the party assembly. The committee’s members include the presidents and deputy presidents of the BN component parties.

Tengku Adnan, who is also Umno secretary-general, added that the party supreme council meeting did not discuss the BN convention last night despite a media report that a postponement of the convention would be on the agenda.

Too late

Kayveas said a postponement might also be good because Umno and MIC were currently distracted by their respective party and presidential elections that will both be held in the same month.

However, Chang said the advantage of holding the convention before the Umno election would be to get Abdullah’s input.

“Since he is stepping down, he might be more daring to make changes. These are the views being taken into consideration by the (BN management) committee,” Chang said.

Kayveas added, however, that whether the convention was held before or after the Umno polls, it was being held “too late” because a year had passed since the general election.

“It’s not a good impression on people, in their minds, they haven’t seen any improvement in the BN,” he said.

No difference

One BN component party leader with a slightly different view was United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.

He said people should not make too much out of whose leadership the convention would be held under.

“It is for the whole Barisan, so it does not matter who is BN chairperson at the time. What is more important is that the convention helps the component parties to work in unison and to tackle issues together,” Dompok told The Nut Graph.

He said all parties should be allowed to speak freely on key issues affecting the country. He identified these as good governance and the use of language, such as the on-going dispute on the use of the word “Allah” in the Catholic publication, Herald.

Another key issue for Upko is Umno’s relationship with the other BN component parties. Umno has been perceived as “bullying” its junior partners into submission.

“Even Umno knows this, they are saying they ought to change,” Dompok noted.

MCA president Datuk Ong Tee Keat declined to comment while MIC leaders could not be reached.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related Stories

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Abdullah, Badawi, Barisan Nasional, BN, committee, convention, Deborah Loh, dompok, elections, hand over, Kayveas, march, najib, Ong Tee Keat, pak lah, portfolio, postpone, Umno, UPKO

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Tremappeals says

    January 31, 2009 at 4:14 pm

    politickler.com – cooooolest domain name.

  2. cheessigh says

    February 1, 2009 at 5:33 pm

    http://www.thenutgraph.com – now in my rss reader.

Primary Sidebar

Search

Twitter

My Tweets

Recent Comments

  • Wave33 on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Adam on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Andre Lai on The Nut Graph stops publication

Recent News

  • The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Nasihat tentang sepupu yang mengganggu perasaan
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: The Sunni-Shia split and the answer to Muslim unity
  • Why Malaysia needs the national unity bills
  • Challenging government in the digital age: Lessons from Kidex
  • Najib’s failure
  • Babi, anjing, pondan: Jijik orang Islam Malaysia
  • Kidex and the law – What the government’s not telling you
  • Beyond Dyana Sofya
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Does Malaysia need hate speech laws?

Tags

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Anwar Ibrahim Barisan Nasional BN Bukit Selambau by-election dap Deborah Loh Ding Jo-Ann Election Commission elections Found in Malaysia Found in Quotation Gan Pei Ling government high court Hishammuddin Hussein ISA islam Jacqueline Ann Surin Khairy Jamaluddin KW Mak Lim Guan Eng Malaysia MCA Menteri Besar MP Watch Muhyiddin Yassin muslim Najib Razak Pakatan Rakyat Parliament Parti Keadilan Rakyat pas Penang Perak PKR police politics prime minister Selangor Shanon Shah Umno Wong Chin Huat Zedeck Siew

Footer

  • About The Nut Graph
  • Who Are We?
  • Our Contributors
  • Past Contributors
  • Guest Contributors
  • Editorial Policy
  • Comments & Columns
  • Copyright Policy
  • Web Accessibility Policy
  • Privacy Policy
The Nut Graph

© 2022 The Nut Graph