KUALA LUMPUR, March 21By Alan Ting -- BERNAMA
The post of Umno deputy president should be de-politicised so that it would no longer be perceived as a platform to gain the country's top premiership, an Umno division leader said.
Pulai Umno division chief Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said the time had come for the party leadership to seriously reconsider the norm of appointing the deputy president as deputy prime minister, and later, prime minister.
"Maybe, it is time we just have a deputy president, and not neccesarily for the deputy president to become the deputy prime minister or prime minister. We should just focus on the PM (prime minister). (A) Deputy president doesn't need to be PM," he told Bernama here.
He said by doing so, it would defuse the situation where one can create a perception that there are two leaders at any time when in actual situation, there should be only one leader, namely the prime minister.
"The problem is that people tend to tie the No. 2 to (being) the next prime minister. This creates a two-leader situation and everyone would try very hard to push up their leader so that they can have something in return later," he said.
This, Nur Jazlan added, had caused friction, just as what happened previously in Umno between (former prime minister) Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Musa Hitam, which led to the resignation of the latter as Umno deputy president and Malaysia's deputy prime minister.
A similar scenario also led to friction between Dr Mahathir and his then-deputy, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
"All these frictions were caused from the top. Top to bottom, not from bottom up," said Nur Jazlan.
Therefore, he said, when Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam was barred from contesting the deputy president's post, it caused some friction because the perception was that the job as deputy president was very important, when actually it was not that important.
"Do you know that all three candidates vying for the deputy president's post are older than Najib?
"Because of this system of according the government position based on seniority in the party, it has made the position of deputy president so important when actually, all three are older than Najib and there is no issue of the deputy president succeeding Najib," he said.
Nur Jazlan said, now was the best time for everyone in Umno to de-politicise the position of deputy president as the attention should be focused on the current unfavourable global economic situation and address problems arising from that.
"This is important for Umno's survival," he added.
Nur Jazlan, who has offered himself to contest the Umno deputy presidency but withdrew later during the nominations process, said he knew for a fact that by suggesting such notion, he was bound to be criticised.
However, for the son of the former Umno secretary-general Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat, he is steadfast in his belief that "extraordinary situations call for extraordinary measures".
Pulai Umno division chief Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said the time had come for the party leadership to seriously reconsider the norm of appointing the deputy president as deputy prime minister, and later, prime minister.
"Maybe, it is time we just have a deputy president, and not neccesarily for the deputy president to become the deputy prime minister or prime minister. We should just focus on the PM (prime minister). (A) Deputy president doesn't need to be PM," he told Bernama here.
He said by doing so, it would defuse the situation where one can create a perception that there are two leaders at any time when in actual situation, there should be only one leader, namely the prime minister.
"The problem is that people tend to tie the No. 2 to (being) the next prime minister. This creates a two-leader situation and everyone would try very hard to push up their leader so that they can have something in return later," he said.
This, Nur Jazlan added, had caused friction, just as what happened previously in Umno between (former prime minister) Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Musa Hitam, which led to the resignation of the latter as Umno deputy president and Malaysia's deputy prime minister.
A similar scenario also led to friction between Dr Mahathir and his then-deputy, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
"All these frictions were caused from the top. Top to bottom, not from bottom up," said Nur Jazlan.
Therefore, he said, when Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam was barred from contesting the deputy president's post, it caused some friction because the perception was that the job as deputy president was very important, when actually it was not that important.
"Do you know that all three candidates vying for the deputy president's post are older than Najib?
"Because of this system of according the government position based on seniority in the party, it has made the position of deputy president so important when actually, all three are older than Najib and there is no issue of the deputy president succeeding Najib," he said.
Nur Jazlan said, now was the best time for everyone in Umno to de-politicise the position of deputy president as the attention should be focused on the current unfavourable global economic situation and address problems arising from that.
"This is important for Umno's survival," he added.
Nur Jazlan, who has offered himself to contest the Umno deputy presidency but withdrew later during the nominations process, said he knew for a fact that by suggesting such notion, he was bound to be criticised.
However, for the son of the former Umno secretary-general Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat, he is steadfast in his belief that "extraordinary situations call for extraordinary measures".
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