ada apa dengan Musa Hitam (part 1)?

Tun Musa Hitam was described as "the great imponderable" by the former MP for Kok Lanas, Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad, simply because of the seeming inability of political observers to categorise the former Deputy Prime Minister.

Often the talk of Musa would inevitably leads to politics.

"I am resigned to the fact that such talks may never end." Musa told Malaysian Business in April 1992.

Although Musa has resigned from the government in 1986 and has declared himself "retired" from politics in 1987 - following his defeat to the late Tun Ghafar Baba at the UMNO election that year, without fail, at the approach to every UMNO elections the question of Musa candidature would crop up as if there are certain sections in the party who wanted him back among the country’s leaders.

There are some sceptics who felt that Musa will not simply fade away from politics. And, Dr Mahathir is one of them.

To Dr Mahathir, Musa’s retirement from politics was simply impossible because "politics is in Musa’s blood."

This statement was true to some extent.

Musa has been involved in politics in almost every phase of his life - first as President of the Democratic Society at University of Singapore, as UMNO's Executive Secretary and political secretary during the Tunku Abdul Rahman era and later as parliamentary secretary, assistant minister and Minister during Tun Razak's era. This self confessed "Razak Boy" was later appointed as Education Minister during Tun Hussein Onn's premiership before being appointed as Deputy Prime Minister by Dr Mahathir in 1981.

His stint as DPM lasted only 6 years. Citing that the PM has lost confidence in his loyaty, Musa tendered his resignation, flew to Mecca, went for "exile" in London, was persuaded to return to the party before teaming up with his arch rival Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to challenge Dr Mahathir in the epic 1987 battle.

After his defeat in 1987, Musa remained in the party, and as a reward, was sent by Dr Mahathir to the United Nations as Malaysia's Special Envoy.

This long "exile" from home did not dampen the hopes of his loyal supporters of Musa's comeback to politics.

In 1993, there were moves by Musa’s supporters, namely Datuk Shahrir Samad to bring Musa back as a possible candidate for the Vice Presidency of UMNO in the party election that year.

It was rumoured that Musa had even met Ghafar Baba to explore the possibility of him contesting in the election.

This move angered Mahathir, and he subsequently gave an ultimatum to the UMNO Supreme Council that "if anyone collabrates with Musa in the party leadership election in 1993, then I shall no longer remain neutral."

Mahathir's threat put a dampener in the plan, and Musa did not offer himself as a candidate in the party elections that year- which saw the defeat of incumbent Deputy President Ghafar Baba at the hands of Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the rise of the Wawasan team.

Today, Musa is in the news again.

He was recently appointed as the chairman of Sime Darby, the largest public listed company in Malaysia and one of the largest plantations company in the world, which were formed as a result of the merger of Sime Darby, Golden Hope and Kumpulan Guthrie.

Musa was also given the trust by Abdullah Badawi to hold several high profile positions, namely as chairman of Iskandar Development Region (IDR) Advisory Council - a pet project of Abdullah Badawi and as chairman of ASEAN's Eminent Person Group (EPG). The EPG, comprised of 10 highly recognised individuals from each Asean member state, has been mandated to examine and provide practical recommendations on the direction and nature of the Asean Charter.

According to political observers, Musa’s appointments is a testimony of Musa’s growing influence in the current administration. To many, Musa is seen as not only as a close friend to the Prime Minister, is seen as also one of the premier’s top advisor.

This is not a surprise because Musa was (and perhaps still is) Abdullah Badawi’s political mentor.

The closeness between Musa and Abdullah is evidenced by the fact that Musa had once proposed Abdullah Badawi as a candidate for the post of Finance Minister - to replace Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who was defeated by Musa, in the 1984 party elections.

This was revelead by Tun Daim Zainuddin in the book Daim: The Man Behind the Enigma.