Presumptuous of Umno to decide on PM succession?

I wish to refer to Malaysiakini's letter by Leo Ujang, 'Abdullah PM not by virtue of being Umno president' which provides reasons why PM should not be presumed to be the President of Umno, in the light of changes in the political scenario (excerpts):

"1. Prior to the general elections of March 8, Umno commanded enough seats in parliament to act as if it could govern the country all by itself. The elections of March 8 removed the basis of that assumption. Umno won 79 seats in a 222 seat parliament. Of these, 13 are from Umno Sabah.

Sabah issues have flared up to such an extent that no Sabah politician can ignore them. Not even Umno Sabah politicians. The ground there rejects what it sees as ‘colonisation’ by the Umno-led peninsular government. There is now even a move to revive Usno.

This leaves ‘Umno Semanjung’, the parent party, with 66 seats. Less than 30% of parliament. Leadership of Umno comes with a far more tenuous claim on the national leadership these days. This fact seems lost on the incumbents.

2. The shadow play over the leadership by some members of the Umno Supreme Council is based on the assumption that the president of Umno is automatically the prime minister. This skips over a few crucial steps.

3. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is the prime minister not by virtue of being president of Umno but of being chairperson of BN. The chairperson of BN is taken, by convention, to hold the confidence of the majority in the Dewan Rakyat. On such grounds, the Yang Di Pertuan Agong appoints him as prime minister.

4. These steps are not trivial. Umno may have forgotten them out of old habits of easy dominance. In the days when Umno could more or less make up a parliamentary majority by itself, it could talk of leadership transitions without regard for what component parties felt. In the days when BN commanded 2/3rds of the House with ease, it need not be asked if the chairperson of BN must also be the prime minister. The prime minister-ship is indeed an appointed position. Appointed, that is, not by the outgoing prime minister but by the Yang Di Pertuan Agong, on the basis of DYMM’s estimation that the appointee commands the confidence of the majority of the members of the Dewan Rakyat.

5. In the light of this, all this talk about a transition plan worked out in secret one-on-one meetings between the incumbent and his deputy is very presumptuous.

a. It presumes that Abdullah is the president of Umno when the ‘transition’ occurs, whereas he must first face party elections.

b. It presumes that Umno will gain automatic assent from the component parties to whatever it determinesc. It presumes that the Yang Di Pertuan Agong will continue to adopt the convention – and this is no more than a convention – that the chairperson of BN is to be appointed prime minister.

In making these large assumptions the schemers behind the transition plan do not just ‘tread roughshod over the rights of party members’ as Tengku Razaleigh put it, they take for granted the support of component parties for their solution, support that might not be forthcoming in a BN that has almost been destroyed at the elections, and makes the Yang Di Pertuan Agong a rubber stamp for their choice.

They have forgotten that the seat of sovereignty in this country is the Yang Di Pertuan Agong, representing the Malay Rulers. Not the Umno Supreme Council.

At a time when Umno Semenanjung only holds 1/3rd of the parliamentary seats, I don’t see why the nation should give Umno’s warlords the time of day to make these assumptions. They can no longer skip the steps in the chain of legitimisation sketched above to get to the answer they want, without respect for their own members, the rakyat, the Rulers and the federal constitution."

No wonder the other BN partners are becoming more vocal in their own party elections.