Dreams shattered for UMNO PM hopefuls

His hopes of becoming PM are dashed.

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah thought he was going to become PM someday but that day never came. He even formed his own party at one time (Semangat 46) but he eventually returned to UMNO. At one point there was buzz that he could strike a deal with Pakatan and become an interim PM should Pakatan come to power while Anwar was in jail. But in the end, he stuck with UMNO even as many veterans like Daim Zainuddin and Rafidah Aziz switched to supporting Pakatan. He bet on the wrong horse and because of that he will never become PM.

Another person who will never become PM is Hishammuddin Hussein. Son of a former prime minister, he had the pedigree, the demeanor and the gravitas to become PM someday. Despite the keris-waving faux pas a few years back, he was seen as a voice of reason and moderation. But he failed to speak up when he should have.

He could have done the right thing, like Muhyiddin and Shafie Apdal, and speak out against the 1MDB scandal. He probably would have been fired but he could have then joined Dr M and gang in forming Bersatu. But he bet on the wrong horse and now his shot at becoming PM is over.

Do you know who else will never become PM? Khairy Jamaluddin. Talk about betting on the wrong horse. This guy has done it not once but twice. He was on a smooth ride towards the PM-ship when his father-in-law Pak Lah took over as PM and won the election convincingly.

Of course there was Najib and Hishammuddin who were much more senior than he was. But prior to Pak Lah coming to power, Mahathir was PM for more than two decades. With Pak Lah being so popular (leading BN to victory with over 90% control of parliament), surely he would have three or four terms in office as well. That's 15 to 20 years, after which KJ would be in a prime position to take over.

But instead of helping his father-in-law, who relied on him and his so-called 4th Floor Boys, to steer the country in the right direction, KJ was too busy consolidating his own power base. Pak Lah's PM-ship floundered and was kicked out by his own party.

Najib took over and KJ found himself in a difficult situation. Should he support the guy who ousted his father-in-law? The guy who didn't trust him enough to even give him a ministership despite his being UMNO Youth chief (KJ only became a sports minister much later after he had proven his loyalty to Najib)?

He decided yes because the alternative would be to speak truth to power and point out the mistakes and wrongdoings of Najib. If he had done that, he probably would have gotten sacked too, in which case he would have had to join Pakatan.

But Pakatan had no chance at the polls right? It would make much more sense to ride it out and wait for his chance to become PM someday. True, Zahid and Hishammuddin were more senior but he was cleverer, more savvy, more hip and more strategic. He took part in triathlons. He appeared in YouTube videos. He was the cool minister that millennials looked up to. Given time surely he could find some way to leapfrog those two old-timers. All he had to do was be patient. And he had all the time in the world because BN would always be in power. Or so he thought. He bet on the wrong horse (again) and because of that he will never become PM.

At one time UMNO was the end-all and be-all of Malaysian politics. It was the juggernaut that could never be defeated. It was the true path to power. Today, it's just the boulevard of broken dreams.