I was stunned by the mischievous personal opinion of Mat Zom about the sixty-four thousand dollar question in Malaysia: Who will be the next Prime Minister after the gracious retirement of our beloved Dr Mahathir Mohamad?

I am just wondering whether Mat Zom is pro-government, anti-government, belongs to a non-governmental organisation, or is a well-connected rakyat who is putting up Dr Rais Yatim

as a possible contender in Umnos top political succession at the expense of our beloved and widely respected deputy president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

In the first instance, Mat Zom appears to be ignorant of the rules and constitution of Umno and is instead more attracted to the academic qualifications and norms of a politician.

Umno is not a revolutionary party and its political succession is stipulated in the Umno constitution, which is a living entity subject to changes through a consensus achieved by the delegates during the annual Umno general assembly meeting. History has shown that the transparency process in the election of the top three posts of Umno in a win-win situation has always been practised and implemented according to the party constitution. Only the president, deputy president or any one of the vice-presidents can be elevated to the presidents chair, which will automatically assume the post of the prime minister as stated in the Barisan Nasional constitution.

So how can Rais be the next prime minister, as opined by Mat Zom? Unless news of his elevation to vice-president has somehow escaped me, an Umno member.

I am privileged to have walked down the corridors of powers since the early 1970s during the era of the late prime ministers Tun Abdul Razak Hussein and Tun Hussein Onn and current premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and insya-Allah Pak Lah when it is his turn to hold the post at the right time and tide. We had always remained more than friends, with no political ambitions, obligations and leverage on my side.

My only personal satisfaction is to have been a loyalist to all my political masters and friends, including Tok Mat and Rais, whom I knew were men of great principle and intuition when the former was the information minister as well as the Umno secretary-general and the latter our foreign minister. My humble and personal respects for my political masters including Mahathir and Pak Lah and many others will never change, whether they are in power or voted out of power.

I am sure that Rais knows what I am talking about as he once told me before the Umno assembly that I have never been seen as power-crazy but am just someone who only wanted to do my job as a senior politician who has been invited to join the cabinet at the pleasure of Mahathir, based on the mutual respect of and blessings from Pak Lah.

Mat Zoms suggestion that Rais should succeed Mahathir as our next PM was indeed very mischievously expressed with a hidden political motive and with the view to solicit a highly sensitive issue within the Umno political leadership in the next decade.

As a friend to all the leaders mentioned by Mat Zom, I am optimistic that both Pak Lah and Rais are amused, if not deeply offended by Mat Zoms opinion. However, as all politicians know that the political game is a gamble for power, though in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies (you scratch my back, Ill scratch yours to make things work together in harmony, for the sake of our children and the coming generations in this beautiful country of Malaysia which is not to be regarded as another banana republic).

Though as a responsible citizen I am as equally concerned as Mat Zom about who the next premier will be, only Mahathir himself has the ultimate answer, and unfortunately, he has had his fingers burnt over and over again while grooming his eventual successor.