By Mohsin Abdullah

We know that Umno has made it clear it wants general election to be held as soon as the COVID-19 pandemic "is under control".

When will that be? Only God knows.

And what constitutes "pandemic under control"? Is it when the number of news cases go down to single digit? Or zero? Could it be when all patients have recovered? Umno is not telling the "criteria".

But the party has nonetheless gone on to appoint its election director for GE15. Apparently it's all systems go as far as Umno is concerned. Nothing surprising really as the party (and to an extent its partner in Muafakat Nasional, PAS) has always wanted an election, as it truly feels it can win to rule the country again, with PAS via Muafakat Nasional.

This I've written about many times before in previous articles.

Anyway, back to the Umno GE15 director. He is Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, a member of Umno supreme council and also MP for Pasir Salak.

Tajuddin is known to be blunt, fond of shooting off his mouth, "crude" and perceived to be "racist and sexist" because of the remarks he makes. DAP's Teresa Kok can attest to this, in fact many other people as well, politicians and non-politicians alike.

I see no reason for me to repeat the things Tajuddin has said so many times before, even to just remind readers. No reminder needed as many already know the Tajuddin styled rhetoric.

So, did Umno pick the right candidate to plan its political strategy going into GE15 campaign?

To Ilham Center's head of research Associate Professor Yusri Ibrahim, Umno is going for "loyalty" in making its appointments, especially of late. And Tajuddin, as seen by Yusri, is indeed "very loyal".

The Ilham man admits that perhaps some people, even in Umno, are questioning Tajuddin's leadership qualities, but "this is not that important for the post of election director".

"Tajuddin has always defended Umno no matter what the situation might be. For Umno, such a figure is very important and can be trusted," says Yusri.

And according to him, Tajuddin practices "realpolitik and plays to win", which suits the role of an election director.

He cited a recent example when Tajuddin said proposal to provide equal monetary allocations to opposition MPs (in return for their support for Budget 2021) must be rejected, saying, "Why should we give it to them? They will kill us."

As Yusri sees it, such talk is apt for an election director and "that thinking is strategic in the context of an election for the party although it is not in tune to democratic values".

Veteran political book author Mohd Sayuti Omar opines that Tajuddin's appointment is "spot on" for Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi "at a time when the Umno president is being pressured left and right from within".

Zahid, according to Sayuti, cannot function when the Umno supreme council is divided in supporting him.

"Therefore, by appointing Tajuddin who is a loyal ally and one who hails from his home state of Perak, Zahid is seen to have given full authority to Tajuddin to negotiate with PAS and Bersatu on seat allocation for GE15.

As said earlier, Tajuddin is blunt and very vocal. Zahid, says Sayuti, is banking on such "qualities" to defend Umno and take care of its interests during seat allocation negotiations, should Umno find itself being pressured during the talks.

To Sayuti, Umno will be protected from being played out by Bersatu during the negotiations, going on to say that perhaps Zahid has learned his lesson of what happened in Sabah (when the party did not get the chief minister's post despite being in government after winning the state election with the Perikatan Nasional coalition).

"Zahid needs a person like Tajuddin who is crude and vocal. A no-holds-barred kind of guy," says Sayuti.

In boxing parlance, Tajuddin is a street slugger who fights to win at whatever cost.

Based on his "credentials", we can sort of "see" what his or rather Umno's tactics and ploy would be come GE15. We do not need a crystal ball for that. It's not new for Umno actually.

(Mohsin Abdullah is a veteran journalist and now a freelancer who writes about this, that and everything else.)