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PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHKL #1779/01 2650911
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 220911Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7579
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUALA LUMPUR 001779 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/21/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL MY
SUBJECT: MAHATHIR DEFEATED AS PARTY DELEGATE, STILL INVITED 
TO UMNO GENERAL ASSEMBLY 
 
REF: KUALA LUMPUR 1639 
 
Classified By: Political Section Chief Mark D. Clark for 
reasons 1.4 (b, d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: UMNO party machinery working for Prime 
Minister Abdullah defeated former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir 
Mohamad's efforts to become a delegate to the United Malays 
National Organization (UMNO) General Assembly to be held in 
Kuala Lumpur November 14-17.  Mahathir's son, Mukhriz, came 
in fifth place in voting in the Kubang Paso district of Kedah 
state and ensured himself a delegate's seat at the 
convention.  Division leaders persuaded voters to reject 
Mahathir in the interest of party unity after having 
distributed a "preferred list" of candidates.  Mahathir 
accused the party of money politics and vote buying to 
prevent his election.  UMNO Secretary General confirmed that 
Mahathir would still be invited to attend the General 
Assembly, as all past party presidents and Prime Ministers 
have traditionally been invited as special guests. End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad met a 
coordinated opposition in UMNO's Kubang Paso division 
elections and failed to achieve his goal of becoming one of 
seven delegates to the UMNO General Assembly.  UMNO's Kubang 
Paso division in Mahathir's home state of Kedah met on 
September 9 to choose their delegates for the November 
general assembly.  The results were announced on September 9 
and Mahathir had only managed to garner 227 votes from the 
493 divisional voters, placing him ninth among the 17 
contestants.  However, Mahathir's son, Mukhriz, won 289 votes 
and placed fifth in the election, guaranteeing him a seat as 
a delegate at the general meeting. 
 
¶3. (U) Local delegates reported that Mahathir was considered 
a favorite and was expected to receive an overwhelming 
majority of the votes until party leaders hosted a meeting 
for 300 division delegates the night before the election. 
Kubang Paso Division Chief and Deputy Minister for Internal 
Security Mohd Johari Bahrum, along with former Kedah Chief 
Minister Osman Aroff and former Mahathir political secretary 
Saad Man invited 300 division delegates to a meeting at a 
golf club in Jitra, Kedah on September 8.  During the 
meeting, Osman reportedly recalled Mahathir's penchant for 
creating divisions in the party and called on the delegates 
to show loyalty to UMNO by rejecting Mahathir's candidacy: 
"Do we want UMNO to be divided again? If you don't want that 
to happen, then I call upon all of you not to vote for 
Mahathir." The division secretary, Samsuddin Ahmad, later 
admitted that the division leadership held the meeting and 
handed out slips of paper with a list of preferred candidates 
which excluded Mahathir and his son Mukhriz.  Of the seven 
candidates on the "preferred list" only one was not 
elected-and that position went to Mukhriz.  Samsuddin later 
commented to the press, "The preferred candidates list was 
distributed to delegates on Friday night.  We didn't see it 
as something wrong as it is a normal practice in all UMNO 
contests, including supreme council election." 
 
¶4. (U)  In an interview with the press following his loss, 
Mahathir held up one of the "preferred lists" and claimed it 
was found in an envelope with RM 200 and that Prime Minister 
Abdullah Badawi's cronies had it used as a bribe to convince 
delegates not to support his candidacy.  Abdullah publicly 
lamented such accusations and stated that Mahathir's 
allegations should be taken seriously and that Mahathir 
should file a police report if he had sufficient evidence 
that vote buying had taken place.  Division chief Johari 
denied all allegations of "money politics" and claimed that 
it was an insult to divisional delegates to imply that their 
votes could be bought for a mere RM 200.  The division 
secretary, Samsuddin, promised: "We'll investigate it . . . 
 
SIPDIS 
but what usually happens is that the losers will create all 
sorts of stories." 
 
¶5. (C) The UMNO Secretary General Radzi Sheikh Ahmad 
confirmed a few days later that Mahathir would still be 
invited to attend the General Assembly, as all past party 
presidents and Prime Ministers have traditionally been 
invited as special guests; however, the formal invitation, 
which Radzi promised to write personally, would not be sent 
until after Hari Raya (Eid al Fitr, October 24-25).  As a 
special guest, Mahathir will not be permitted to address the 
assembly and rumors that Mahathir would try to move for a 
vote of no confidence in Abdullah are not credible as the 
UMNO supreme council controls all items on the agenda and 
ultimately control all issues raised during the assembly. 
Nevertheless, one political insider in the Ministry of 
Internal Security told us that there is speculation that 
Mahathir purposefully may arrive late to the general 
 
KUALA LUMP 00001779  002 OF 002 
 
 
assembly.  Mahathir is thought to be planning his entrance 
during Abdullah's speech in hopes of drawing a standing 
ovation for his attendance, such as he received during the 
2004 UMNO convention, purportedly to embarrass Abdullah and 
"to remind the UMNO supreme council that he still has support 
among the UMNO delegates." 
 
¶6. (C) Comment: There is no question that UMNO leadership 
circled the wagons in Kubang Paso.  Senior party officials 
from around the country visited Kedah in the days leading up 
to the Kubang Paso election and all eyes were on this 
divisional race.  Mahathir himself pointed out that the party 
treated this more like a presidential election than a 
divisional election of delegates.  And in the end, it was a 
presidential election of sorts.  It was Abdullah's most 
direct challenge to date within UMNO, not for the position of 
party president or prime minister, but in the political arena 
of popular support and party politics.  Abdullah proved his 
strength and influence over the party machinery and 
reinforced the power of incumbency.  Mahathir himself 
emplaced controls over UMNO assemblies that leaves the 
Supreme Council as the ultimate powerbroker in determining 
what issues are raised before the body of delegates. 
Regardless of Mahathir's attendance in November, his 
challenges would not reach the convention floor. Mahathir has 
found himself the victim of the system that he created. 
LAFLEUR