A party leader today likened the situation in Kelantan Umno to the crab story in which selfish crabs prevented each other from scaling the fishermans basket to freedom .

This internal quagmire, he said, was the main reason behind Barisan Nasionals repeated failure to capture the state from PAS.

The problem for BN in Kelantan is not PAS but Umno, he told malaysiakini. Before one crab can climb over, another crab will pull him down, he added.

According to the party leader, everybody there were now busy trying to pull down Kelantan Umno liaison chief Mustapha Mohamad.

The next person to ascend the throne, he added, would sooner or later suffer the same fate.

This was the main reason why Umno repeatedly failed since the 1990 general elections to recapture Kelantan, stressed the leader who declined to be named.

The Kelantan Umno leader was commenting on a news report today which said 12 out of the 14 Umno division heads in the state were seeking to replace Umno office bearers to boast the partys chances of recapturing Kelantan.

The report said the division heads felt that Mustapha had too much on his plate and was unable to handle the problems effectively, especially in dealing with PAS.

The heads also called for the return of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as Kelantan Umno liaison chief. Razaleigh was replaced after Umnos miserable performance in Kelantan during the 1999 general elections.

Mustapha, who is also Umno national information chief and National Economic Action Council executive director then took over the position in June 2000.

Confront Mustapha

Meanwhile, a division head in Kelantan said not all of his counterparts felt that way and advised those unhappy with Mustapha to confront him face to face.

No doubt there are ambitious people in Kelantan Umno, but I personally feel that they should meet face to face with Mustapha and tell him the things they are not happy about, said the division chief who declined to be named.

He said the division heads were also bureau chiefs in Kelantan and hold meetings regularly with Mustapha.

They should use the meetings as the best avenue to air their unhappiness with Mustaphas performance as the Kelantan Umno chief, he said.