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 ©Today
Online, Singapore (Used by permission)
by Leslie Lau
THE political life of Mr Ahmad Ismail — the man who has refused to say sorry —
reads like a primer on the system of patronage by which Umno has, for decades,
maintained order in the party.
From being a little-known albeit powerful state political leader, the Umno
division chief of the Bukit Bendera constituency in Penang has now been
catapulted onto the national stage for all the wrong reasons.
To the Chinese, Mr Ahmad is a racist and a bigot — accusations that he denies
strongly although he has admitted to describing the Chinese as “squatters” and
“immigrants” while on the stump during the Permatang Pauh by-election last
month.
Mr Ahmad, 53, insisted days after the remark was reported that he was quoted out
of context, claiming that he was talking to a Malay crowd about the Chinese in a
historical context.
On Wednesday, Mr Ahmad was suspended for three years from Umno, which had been
under pressure by its Chinese partners in the Barisan Nasional coalition to take
strong action against the defiant politician.
HIS PAST ANWAR LINK
For Mr Ahmad — one of the most powerful Umno warlords in Penang, the homestate
of embattled Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi — this is not the first time
that he has had a run-in with the party’s top leadership.
Ten years ago, he was almost expelled from Umno for being an active member of Mr
Anwar Ibrahim’s reformasi movement.
Following Mr Anwar’s sacking from all his government and Umno posts, the former
Deputy Prime Minister, until his arrest, had toured the country to whip up
support for himself and against then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Constantly
at Mr Anwar’s side during those tumultuous days was Mr Ahmad.
Despite his public display of support for a fallen politician, Mr Ahmad was, in
the end, spared of any punishment as he chose not to leave Umno to join Mr
Anwar’s newly-formed party.Mr Ahmad remained useful to the Umno’s senior
leadership as a local warlord.
It could be said that Mr Ahmad had reason to be loyal to Mr Anwar, a fellow
Penangnite.
When Mr Anwar was Finance Minister, he had approved the privatisation of a
government project to build an outer ring road in Penang to a company controlled
by Mr Ahmad, who comes from a family of contractors. The project was recently
put off by the federalgovernment.
Their close ties earned Mr Ahmad a place in the list of “Anwar cronies” that was
released during the Umno General Assembly in 1998 and 1999 by Dr Mahathir to
counter criticisms from the Anwar camp that the Prime Minister had practised
cronyism.
The list offered a glimpse into the patronage system by which Umno operated,
whereby strong and influential party members, such as Mr Ahmad, were given
business contracts or projects that were reserved for bumiputras (sons of the
soil) under the government’saffirmative action programme.
And in Penang, Mr Ahmad was then — and still is — the most powerful warlord of
them all. Even his business troubles in recent years appear to have done little
to diminish his political standing.
In May 2006, Mr Ahmad was declared bankrupt by the Insolvency Department and was
removed as a councillor on the Penang Island Municipal Council. He was later
reinstated to the post after obtaining a stay of execution of the bankruptcy
order — although he had to give it up again since he had served the maximum term
of four years as councillor.
Earlier this month, the Penang Development Corporation made a police report,
asking for an investigation into the now-defunct Popular Profile, of which Mr
Ahmad was director, for allegedly cheating the state of RM500,000 ($208,000)
following a botched land transaction in 1998. The company wound up in 2005.
In an interview with The Star, Mr Ahmad said the issue had nothing to do
with him since he had resigned from the company before any action was taken
against it.
A MAN OF POWER
As a sign of his importance in the Penang political pantheon, when federal
ministers from Kuala Lumpur fly in for a visit, Mr Ahmad will be invited to be
among the main VIP guests.
So powerful is Mr Ahmad in this Chinese-majority state that he frequently gave
former Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon a hard time for not doing enough to help
Penang Malays.
And Mr Ahmad could get away with such actions because Dr Koh, who remains the
state BN chief, and other senior officials from his Gerakan party were beholden
to the Umno politician for his political support.
As the man who controls the Umno machinery, including party workers , in Penang,
Mr Ahmad’s support can make a difference between victory and defeat for a
Gerakan or any other BN candidate during an election.
“The fact is that even the Prime Minister depends on our Datuk Ahmad for
support,” one Penang Umno official told Weekend Xtra.
Last week, when Mr Abdullah chaired a state-level Umno meeting to discuss the
mounting racial tensions arising from Mr Ahmad’s remarks, many had expected him
to censure the Bukit Bendera chief.
Instead, the Umno president came out of the meeting telling reporters that the
Penang politician was not a racist.
Mr Abdullah’s defence of Mr Ahmad was not surprising given that other local
division chiefs had rallied round him during the meeting. To act otherwise would
put Mr Abdullah at the risk of losing the support of Umno divisions in his own
home state — something that he could not afford given his weakened political
position following the March 8 general elections.
Of course, Umno was eventually forced to suspend Mr Ahmad because of threats
from Gerakan and the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) to leave the BN
coalition — a move which could hand power over to Mr Ahmad’s old friend, MrAnwar.
Still, Mr Ahmad remains unrepentant and insists that he will not apologise — a
position which has turned him into something of a hero among many Umno members.
Such defiance has also given a fillip to forces within the party who wantMr
Abdullah to leave sooner, rather than later, as Prime Minister.
At a time when Malaysia’s economic and political situation has made itdifficult
for the traditional patronage system to function like it used to in the past,
political warlords like Mr Ahmad will continue to hold sway — suspension or not.
The writer is Consulting News Editor for online newspaper
The MalaysianInsider. He has reported on Malaysia and the region for more than
15 years.
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