The Umno elections are known as the most important elections in Malaysia largely because Umno forms the mainstay of the government. This week, roughly 2,500 delegates have descended upon the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur for the party general assembly.

This is the culmination of a process that began three months ago, when some 17,000 branches held elections. Although the atmosphere will be festive, the outcome carries the full force of a state affair.

Together, the Umno delegates hold the power to change the political complexion of, not merely the party, but the nation.

Although Umno is now 58 years old, the growing clout of the delegates remains a potent presence to this day. If anything, this has increased.

Over the past year, Perlis Mentri Besar Shahidan Kassim has spoken of the need to wrest voting power from delegates, especially division heads.

His suggestion was made in light of the fact that delegates and divisions heads have become very good at cutting direct deals with those at the top tiers of the Umno leadership.

Their actions have invariably allowed them to bypass the state-level party chairperson. Predictably, Kassim's suggestion was shot down by the delegates who prefer to maintain, or reinforce, their links with the top.

Although the current Umno general assembly will be taking place against the background of former deputy president Anwar Ibrahim's recent release from prison, the issue of his re-admission to Umno - which has since been denied by president-designate Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - is not likely to dominate the proceedings. The delegates simply have bigger fish to fry.

Rather, attention will be focused on the election of vice-presidents, with eight candidates competing for three available posts. Party delegates will also get a chance to elect the 25 ordinary members of the supreme council. These elections will mark the generational shift in power.

Consolidation of power

Although Abdullah will be without factional support in Umno, the election will give him added trajectory, both to defend himself against his critics, as well as to silence them.

As the president, he will have the right to appoint another 13 members to the supreme council, including the treasurer, information chief and secretary-general, all of which are powerful positions.

One-time nominee Syed Hamid Albar, for instance, withdrew from the contest in July, aware that he could be in the Supreme Council at Abdullah's behest. At the conclusion of the Umno proceedings, Abdullah will emerge stronger than before.

While the general assembly, traditionally dominated by personalities rather than policy positions, will as usual be rife with speculation as to who is up and down, certain issues will still be heavily debated.

Some of these will be floated by the respective delegates fronting for the vested interests of various corporate chieftains. Others will germinate from genuine concern over the fate of the Malays.

Among the issues that will garner attention will be the nature of Abdullah's economic reforms; more specifically the privatisation projects of the past and how he plans to tweak these.

Reform measures

In July, the powerful Economic Planning Unit announced plans to revise some contracts drawn up during the previous administration.

For two decades, privatisation was an essential element of the economic policy of then premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who used it to boost the Malay-held share of national wealth and to reward political friends and supporters.

Yet, in line with the policy of Abdullah's policy to clear out the cobwebs, a revision is now in order. The cue is hard to miss.

On Aug 1, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak alarmed sections of the business community by declaring that the government is determined to renegotiate privatisation contracts, in cases where it considers it had been short-changed. It sent shudders through the private sector.

More importantly, questions are now being raised with regard to the government's plans for administrative reforms. Khazanah, a government holding, has some RM150 billion worth of assets.

To date, there are 40 listed government-linked companies that make up around one-third of the capitalisation of the Kuala Lumpur stockmarket. They include the power company Tenaga Nasional, the dominant telephone company Telekom Malaysia, and national car maker Proton.

In this light, the second finance minister, Nor Mohamed Yakcop clarified that the reform plans would be extended to many other government-linked institutions that fulfill specific socio-economic objectives and that the government would appoint their managers.

This would include some very large organisations, such as the Employees Provident Fund, which manages a RM216 billion pension fund for 10.4 million members; Permodalan Nasional Bhd, the investment manager of RM40 billion of bumiputera assets; and Tabung Haji, the investment manager of the RM10 billion assets of the Mecca pilgrims savings fund.

Debate of these issues would confirm a secular transition in the character and composition of Umno, from a nationalist Malay party filled with the ranks of teachers and Malay professionals, to one where commercial interests have penetrated the ranks.

This is a reflection of the extent to which Malaysia's political economy has changed with the advent of globalisation.

During previous Umno assemblies, especially the 1980s, members would debate vigorously if Malay equity ownership in the economy had reached the 30 percent target set by former premier Abdul Razak Hussein in 1970.

These days every area of reform could reverberate through out the economy, which is still in the grip of a narrow yet powerful few, both within and outside of Umno. Reform, though easy to invoke, is therefore hard to implement.

In this sense, the proverbial spigot is not about to close immediately. To shore up his position, Abdullah, who is also the finance minister, announced in July that an additional RM10 billion would be spent over the next five years for small development projects. Delegates would clearly like to know how the money will be used.

Social issues

Since Terengganu is now back in the government fold, it would clearly stand to gain from this largess too, lest PAS, the sole Islamic party in Malaysia, stages a forceful comeback.

Abdullah, who remains chairperson Terengganu Umno, could at least consolidate his position here, in addition to the one in Penang.

Nevertheless, over the last five years the debate in Umno assembly has also moved from the 'hard' issues of economic ownership to the social problems faced by the Malays. If anything, the severity of the issues is forced on the delegates.

Drug addiction, unemployability of Malay graduates, lack of proficiency in the English language, and the radicalisation of Islamic beliefs in some quarters have simmered for years. These can no more be solved with a silver bullet any more that they can be ignored.

While economic and social issues have their place in the proceedings, the most significant topic involves the position of Islam - whether PAS has exploited or capitalised on the weaknesses of Umno in any way, and to what extent Umno should 'hit back' with even better programmes of Islamisation now that they have cornered Kelantan, which PAS retained only with a wafer thin majority of two seats.

To be sure, all discussions, while rich with rhetorical flourish, even spiced with Malay poetry, are vested with high stakes: these serve as the key signals with which delegates seek the power of the state to be brought to bear on their respective concerns.

This will be the first Umno meeting where the Abdullah-Najib partnership will be solidified, if nothing else, as a show of unity against Anwar, whom is still believe to be a threat especially to Najib, who is deemed a dour, stiff and colourless party leader.

To ensure that Umno is not over-reliant on Puteri Umno (women's youth wing) - which in three short years has recruited more 180,000 members and is aiming for 600,000 more professionals under the age of 35 - one can expect Umno Youth to table some programmes to replenish the ranks of Umno to restore the party`s masculine profile too.

Other political parties will have to watch Umno keenly to get a sense of how Malaysia will be moving forward.

All in all, not bad for a party that has at different times been brought to task for organisational sclerosis, money politics, and internecine rivalry.

Undoubtedly, Umno is among the most powerful political parties in the world, perhaps equal in strength and staying power to the People`s Action Party in Singapore, or the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan.