Rencana di bawah ini berkisar sekitar kajian perjalanan umno dan membandingkannya dengan sejarah lepas dan persekitaran nusantara.

Saya ingin mengulas sambil memetik dan menterjemah sedikit beberapa kekata di dalamnya. Saya menterjemah sebahagian sahaja. Lagipun saya tidak bersetuju dengan semua lukiran di dalam rencana BT ini.

Mahathir adalah seorang pemimpin yang sukar dijangka apakah langkah beliau yang seterusnya. Beliau boleh mengambil setiap apa yang telah diberinya - baik jawatan pemimpin negara, mahupun ketua2 akhbar dan kroni suku sakatnya yg amat digeruninya bila mereka terbabas atau terbebas. Malah Mahathir juga sanggup mentafsir balik - sehingga ugama dan sejarah turut menjadi mangsa dan dicederakan oleh selera nafsu dan keinginannya.

BERALIH NYA KUASA ATAU DOSA

Isu Royalti Minyak menjadi bualan seluruh negara - angkara PM yang sudah hilang sifat2 manusianya. Tetapi dia membisu bila dipanggil membuktikan tohmahanya. Malah dia memarahi orang yang cuba menyiasat bekas pengarah EPU di kementeriannya.

Sebaliknya, beliau membalun berbilion wang rakyat kedalam saku suku-sakatnya sebaik sahaja melucutkan Anwar dari segala jawatan. Wang rakyat lebih layak untuk rangkaian kroni putra. Rakyat yang berhak kepada nikmat royalti minyak pula hendak disanggahnya.

Walaupun Mahathir boleh membuka segala persoalan dengan sedikit kenyataan berundurnya dia - kita masih belum lupa satu kata2 beliau sendiri kepada Abu Hasan Omar.

"Jangan percaya walau kepada sesiapa pun dalam politik"

Kita jangan mudah lupa - yang undur itu hanya nama jijik Mahathir yang memang dibenci oleh rakyat melata, tetapi dia tetap dan masih berkuasa - kerana Pak Lah adalah orang yang dipilihnya untuk mengabui mata. Apa yang Pak Lah dapat nanti selain beban dosa yang terpaksa di iyakan demi kuasa dan wang semata2. Lagipun kita sudah arif siapa Pak Lah yang sebenarnya, boleh ditawar jika bingkisannya ada.

TTRJEMAHAN(sebahagian sahaja)

Menurut akhbar Star, perubahan kuasa negara kini bermula. Tetapi bukankah Mahathir sudah acap kali memungkari apa yang di kata. Ini bukan kali pertama Mahathir menyatakan beliau mengambil kerusi belakang. Lagipun pemandu kereta mewah (hutang) - akan tetap mengikut kata si kaya (bohong) yang duduk di kerusi belakang apabila tuannya duduk di dalam kereta itu. Dikata jalan, maka jalanlah ia. Dikata berhenti, maka berhentilah dia. Jika tidak - dia mungkin dibuang kerja!!

Ya - bukan kali pertama Mahathir membuat kenyataan peralihan kuasa kepada orang nombor dua. Dia mengambil kuasa itu semula selepas Anwar dipecat kerana sebab musabab yang kita sendiri tentu faham mengapa.

Kini, kenyataan terbaharu Mahathir membuahkan benda yang sama, cuma kali ini Pak Lah pula yang menjadi tukang sambutnya. Namun demikian tidak dinyatakan pula langkah2 peralihan itu supaya ia licin sebagaiman dibuai oleh kata. Masih banyak kesamaran yang menjelma sesiapa yang cuba menafsirkannya.

Langkah yang menyerlah ialah Mahathir ingin memberi pemerhatian yg lebih kepada parti daripada kerajaan.

<>UMNO TERPUKUL TERUK

Umno, parti yg diterajuinya sudah mengalami pukulan yang teruk di pilihanraya. Maka umno cuba menciptabalik dirinya. (Umno Melayu Baru ? .... atau umno yang semakin barua).

Para pengkritik menyatakan yang terbaik untuk umno ialah Mahathir berundur segera - tetapi Mahathir tidak merestuinya. Mahathir merasakan umno perlu bimbingan pengalaman dari dirinya.

Menurut penulis BT ini, pelantikan Khir Toyo adalah antara langkah untuk mereka cipta umno kembali - iaitu mempamirkan barisan pemimpin yg muda. Tetapi mengapa Mahathir sendiri masih menjadi kepala sedangkan beliau juga telah tua?

Mengikut tradisi mno yg lepas, tiada PM yg sudah "bersara" naik semula memerintah negara.

Di Cina, Deng Xia Ping tidak perlu menjadi PM untuk terus berkuasa. Beliau mengawal parti dan tentera, dan membiarkan cina diperintah oleh PM pilihannya.

Di Singapura, LKY turun pada tahun 1990 tetapi kekal sebagai s/u agung selama 2 tahun semasa peralihan kuasa kpd Goh Chok Tong. LKY meninggalkan jawatan s/u agung itu bila peralihan kuasa reda dan selesai - tetapi beliau masih memberi sumbangan sebagai menteri yg senior.

Maka adalah tidak memeranjatkan jika Mahathir masih menjadi orang kuat umno walaupun beliau sudah melepaskan jawatannya.

Rencana Asal:

Being Umno's leader comes first

http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/3/views/viewsav.html

13 Sep 2000

Being Umno's leader comes first

Dr M wants to concentrate more on the party than the government

By Yang Razali Kassim

THE news is significant. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has just announced that he would, from now on, be less conspicuous in his role as prime minister. Some of his tasks would be left to his deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, he said.

"I will concentrate more on the party (Umno) than the government, thus there may be government-related events that I will not attend.

"Instead, the deputy prime minister will take over to make the transition of the country's leadership a smoother process," Dr Mahathir told a press conference on Monday after a meeting of Umno stalwarts in Kuala Lumpur.

The transition of the country's leadership has begun, was The Star newspaper's response to the news. To be sure, this is not the first time that Dr Mahathir has announced he was taking a back seat. He did it before when Anwar Ibrahim was his deputy. But what Dr Mahathir gave he took back later when he dismissed Anwar from all positions in government and the party in 1998.

In that sense, Monday's announcement was but a continuation of the endorsement process, only this time for the sake of his new successor, Abdullah Badawi.

But Dr Mahathir's reference to the transition was probably the first time that he had stated publicly -- with a clear intent to tell the whole world -- that he is embarking on a process that would logically lead to his own exit.

By doing so, the Malaysian leader is suggesting that the clock has started ticking for him. Still, if Monday's announcement was like a picture, it is an as-yet-incomplete one. Significant as it was, it leaves some crucial questions to be answered.

There was no mention what the next few steps in the transition would be. Nor was there a hint as to when the process would conclude and how the endgame would be played out.

In short, it is still unclear as to how and when Dr Mahathir would leave the political stage. If there is one thing that is clear, it is this: The Malaysian leader will go on his time, and in his own way.

But it is significant that Dr Mahathir indicated he would now concentrate more on the party than the government.

Umno, the party he leads, has suffered a setback with the Malay electorate. The task ahead for Umno is to re-invent itself. Critics say the best way out is for the party to have a new leader. But Dr Mahathir does not seem to agree. It appears that to him, the fundamental changes that Umno needs now can best be handled by a man of his experience and stature.

Dr Mahathir has for some time been talking about a possible separation of powers between Umno the party and Umno the backbone of government.

In other words, not every Umno leader needs to be in government, and not every Malay government leader needs to rise from the Umno rank-and-file.

He has acted on this by not giving Umno veteran leaders government positions, making them neither ministers nor chief ministers.

Muhammad Muhammad Taib, who won a key party position, did not get back his chief ministership, even after Abu Hassan Omar was forced to step down because of negative publicity.

The surprise choice of a young man as chief minister -- Mohd Khir Toyo -- who emerged from out of the blue, proved again the Mahathir-driven reinvention of Umno at work.

Against this backdrop, Dr Mahathir's statement on Monday about him retreating into the party fits the pattern. The question is: Where will it then lead to?

It could be that after all the work of shaking up the party is done, Dr Mahathir will call it a day and spend the rest of his life indulging in his favourite pastimes and doting on his grandchildren.

But given the situation Umno is in, the trouble-shooting role will take quite some time. Will Dr Mahathir then remain as party president even after stepping down as prime minister?

This scenario is without precedence in Malaysia because no premier who stepped down in the past had continued as Umno president.

But around the region, such separation of powers is not unusual to accommodate leaders whose countries are still in need of their services.

In China, Deng Xiaoping did not have to be prime minister to exercise power. He controlled the party and the military but left the running of the government to his chosen prime minister.

In Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew stepped down in 1990 but held the post of PAP secretary-general for two more years during the transition of leadership to Goh Chok Tong. But Mr Lee gave up the secretary-generalship completely once the leadership change was settled, continuing his contribution to government as senior minister.