The status quo has won. Long live the status quo.

Happy winners Shafie, Zahid and Hishammuddin. (

Incumbents kept their places within Umno’s all-important vice presidency, as well as its Youth and Wanita wings, following the party elections on Saturday.

But it was an ugly battle for a lot of candidates. Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi handily took his place at the top of the vice-presidential triangle as everybody predicted, but did so at the expense of severely hurting his credibility to anybody outside Umno — particularly among minorities and progressives. With all eyes on Zahid possibly leveraging his popularity and support to make a play in three years for the low-hanging fruit of the Umno deputy presidency, there is a lot for the average Malaysian to be worried for in the future.

Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein will have learned that, despite barely stumbling past upcoming strongman Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir by nine votes for the third and final veep slot, bloodline and high office alone might not be enough to secure him political longevity. Once seen as a future Prime Minister, he may find that his political future may require new alliances. The one he forged with Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, incidentally Mukhriz’s party archrival, helped diverted plenty of votes away from the challenger among younger delegates, may be tested soon: is it a marriage of convenience, or a way for the urbane, aristocratic Hisham to regain much-needed respect after a poor showing as Home Minister?

Meanwhile, Mukhriz needs not fear. Media outlets may reference the election results to proclaim the decline of his father Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed’s influence — but this simply isn’t true. His defeat simply signalled the powerful feudal ties in Umno, with party president Datuk Seri Najib Razak‘s invisible influence keeping the incumbents in place. Mukhriz will rise to the vice-presidency (and then the deputy presidency, and finally the highest post) whether Najib likes it or not, and his defeat only means it will happen in 2016 instead of last weekend.

Speaking of which, expect Najib’s personal fiefdom in the form of the Prime Minister’s Office to start pushing its weight around. With Najib centralizing national power into the PMO, the Cabinet has become somewhat of a system based on the PMO, with satellites in the form of Cabinet ministries stuck in the PMO’s gravity well.

Najib has also successfully kept attention away from more stories of friction between him and his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, and the victory of “Team Najib” at the party polls will certainly keep Muhyiddin biding his time further rather than risking a play when he doesn’t have the whole party behind him.

In some good news, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, a man inevitably glanced over by the public in favour of loudmouthed contemporaries despite having the talent, intelligence and charisma for greater things, won a resounding 177 votes, miles ahead of his nearest competitor Hishammuddin. It looks unlikely he will retain the VP post for a third term, unless he takes on a more high-profile Cabinet post of national significance.

Two warlord heavyweights, Tan Sri Isa Samad and Datuk Seri Ali Rustam, hoped their sheer political mass built up over careers spanning decades would be enough to edge in a vice-presidential spot, only to find themselves trailing behind the incumbents so far behind they might as well not have campaigned.

Meanwhile, Youth chief Khairy won confidently despite the six-cornered fight, but the media scrutiny on the youth chief race indicates that when given a spotlight by the media, just about any idiot can have his name known by the country — like defeated challenger Akramsyah Sanusi.

THE FUTURE

With any luck, we may see some effort by the more offending candidates (Zahid) to offer peace wreaths to communities targeted by mean-spirited statements necessitated by the Umno body politic. If Zahid intends to rise to the deputy presidency, and thus the deputy prime minister’s place, he should position himself to win something Muhyiddin doesn’t have: respect and standing among non-Malays.

Expect Hishammuddin to join in and seek a softer image, like Zahid. The Defence Minister is no longer a young man but he lacks the clout of the elder warlords in Umno: over this coming party term, the rise of Mukhriz and Zahid respectively will serve to doubly marginalize his standing, and not even having cousin Najib as PM will necessarily keep him safe. If Najib is ever dislodged from the party presidency, Hisham’s career will follow in its death.

But nobody can deny that Umno continues to veer to the far right, with not even Najib looking likely to reverse this trend.