Prescene 13 – The return of UMNO Member No. 0000001

Tun Dr Mahathir is scheduled to attend the opening ceremony of UMNO Assembly today morning. He has been invited to attend the occasion as an observer, as TDM is not a member of UMNO. He quit the party on 19 May 2008, citing his lack of confidence in the leadership of Pak Lah.

Despite being out of UMNO for almost a year, TDM always made reference to UMNO in most of his blog postings and in his speeches. His heart and soul is still with UMNO.

During the reign of Pak Lah, there have been attempts to shut TDM out of the limelight. Some of the projects initiated by the former PM were abandoned (with some re-instated later, at a higher cost). Many UMNO-linked functions in which TDM was invited were cancelled at the eleventh hour. UMNO members were being advised to stay away from TDM’s functions etc etc. Even the slogan “Malaysia Boleh”, popularised by TDM, was not to be said at functions when Pak Lah is in attendance.

But TDM rank supreme in the hearts of many UMNO members. They yearn for TDM to come back into UMNO.

I expect Tun Dr Mahathir to indicate his intention to return to UMNO at the opening ceremony today. On the other hand, he may want to defer his intention, until he has seen the full line-up of UMNO Supreme Council. TDM must be very disappointed to note that Khairy won the UMNO Youth Chief seat, despite being found guilty for breach of election guidelines by UMNO Disciplinary Committee. Any further “surprises” would turn TDM off.

I do not know whether TDM is allowed to use back his membership number 0000001 in UMNO, when he re-joins the party. It is certainly up to the Najib and his new Supreme Council members.