While the Umno supreme council is the apex body of the party, real power resides in its branches and divisions where political fortunes are made and lost. Resolutions and ideas aired at divisional meetings are often taken into consideration in the making of national policies. As Umno divisions gear for their meetings from Thursday, SHERIDAN MAHAVERA looks at the mechanics of the party elections.

GO through any village or town and you are bound to see the innocuous looking signboards saying "Umno Cawangan..." dotting the roads.

Most people do not give more than a cursory look at these signboards which signal the presence of the local Umno branch.

But it is these very branches -- numbering some 20,000 today -- that determine the fate of the party that has determined almost everything, and shaped almost every life, in this country since Merdeka.

Every Umno leader, from the prime minister down, has to become a branch member before he (or she) starts his political career, and because their rise depends upon their branch peers, every branch member has the power to determine who will hold what post.

How things go at the branch meetings, held in July, influence what happens in the middle -- and most significant tier of the Umno hierarchy -- the divisional level.

These 191 divisions will hold their annual assemblies from Oct 9 to Nov 9 and the meetings are a conglomeration of the dominant feelings and opinions of Umno branch members in a particular constituency.

Every branch leader is elected by his members and he represents them as a delegate at the division assembly. For every 50 members that a branch has, it gets an extra delegate to represent it at the division assembly.

The Puteri, Wanita and Pemuda wings also send delegates to their respective divisional elections, which in turn elect representatives to the main division's assembly.

The division meetings are the most scrutinised and contested as it is here that the wishes, the fears, the prejudices and the hopes, in short, the "voice", of over two million Umno members are broadcast.

In a party election year such as this one, the branch leaders convening at the division assembly will say whether they want their president, their deputy president and other members of the party's supreme council to continue to hold those posts.

This is done through nominations that each division makes, naming those it wants to contest for posts in the party's national elections at the annual general assembly.

The nomination process is still controversial, some 20 years since it was introduced in 1988, as it limits a party member's ability to contest for a post.

For instance, a branch member must get 20 per cent of the total number of branches under a division to back him if he wants to run as a candidate for division chief.

In the past, elections were a matter of a member going to the division assembly with a supporter and putting forward his name on the ballot for whatever post. The process was the same for the national AGM before 1988.

Since a leader must get a requisite number of nominations from the divisions in order to contest for top posts such as that of president, the division assemblies will either make or break his or her ambitions.

The division assemblies do not just determine who sits on the powerful supreme council. Aspiring prime ministers and ministers also make their debut (or meet their political demise) at the division-level elections.

An Umno leader who is a cabinet minister, state government exco, MP or a state assemblyman, owes his career to those in the divisions and branches who chose him because they believe in his abilities or share his ideals.

That cushy seat in Putrajaya, the Dewan Rakyat or the state government can as easily be taken away if the leader and the members no longer share the same ideals, of if they lose trust in him.

It is no accident that Umno's divisions are divided along the same lines as parliamentary constituencies.

So, winning a post on the division committee puts a political climber on track to becoming a state assembly or parliamentary candidate in the general election, and from there, a cabinet member or state government executive councillor.

In fact, there are many parliamentary seats in the rural Malay heartland where the member of parliament and the state assemblymen in a particular constituency are either the local division chief, deputy chief or vice chief.

In effect, a division's many branches throughout a certain area ensure that the party collectively has a psychological hold on the country's Malay Muslim masses that it purports to represent.

Since branch members are also ordinary Malaysians who have to deal with the daily problems of putting food on the table and paying the bills, they are in that special position to enact real change in the national landscape.

For example, not too long ago, a branch in Kedah passed a resolution, at its annual meeting, demanding that padi farmers be given subsidies through a coupon system.

The resolution was brought to, and adopted by, the branch's parent division. It was then taken to the Kedah liaison committee which took it to the Umno national assembly.

To make a long story short, padi farmers nowadays are receiving subsidies through a coupon system similar to that proposed by that small branch in Kedah.

This is but one simple example of the power wielded by the branches.

The Umno Election System

Branch level:

* Umno members are usually divided into wings and the main party according to age and gender. Females below the age of 35 join Puteri Umno, those older join Wanita Umno. Umno Youth members are males aged 40 and below while those who are older are in the party's main body.

* Pemuda, Puteri and Wanita wings each hold their own separate assemblies at the branch, division and national level before they join the main party's assembly at each of those levels.

* At the branch level, Umno Youth, Wanita Umno and the Puteri Umno wings have separate elections and assemblies to choose the heads of their respective wings and central committee members. Wings also nominate who they want to contest at their wing's division elections.

* Once the wing's elections are done, members convene for the branch assembly where they elect a branch chairman, deputy, vice-chief and nine branch central committee members.

* The branch assembly may adopt resolutions pertaining to party matters or national policy.

* The branch nominates who it wants to contest for posts on the division's central committee.

* A Umno branch chairman goes to the division assembly as a delegate of the branch. A branch gets an extra delegate for every 50 members it has. This person (or persons) is elected.

* Each branch wing elects a maximum of three delegates. These three, and the wing's chief, will go to the wing's divisional assembly/elections.

Division level:

* The wings have their separate assemblies where they elect a chief, vice-chief and 17 central committee members from among those who obtained enough nominations from the branches.

* They also elect 10 delegates, who, along with the chief and vice, will go to the division's main assembly.

* Each wing will also choose two delegates, who along with the wing's division chief and vice chief, will go to the wing's national assembly in Kuala Lumpur.

* The wing's delegates, along with the branch chief and the branch's delegates, convene the division assembly, debate resolutions from the branches and decide to adopt or drop them.

* Those who obtain enough nominations can contest for the post of division chief, deputy chief and vice chief, 20 central committee posts, permanent chairman, deputy permanent chairman and two auditors (who are in charge of scrutinising every branch's accounts).

* A member needs 20 per cent of the division's branches to nominate him to contest for the division chief's post. For the deputy division chief post, 15 per cent and for the vice-chief, 10 per cent.

* The division chief, his deputy, vice chief, and the heads of the division's Puteri Umno, Umno Youth and Wanita Umno all automatically become delegates to the national AGM (different from the wing's assemblies). They are commonly referred to as the "G-6".

* A division will also send seven other delegates from among its members. A member who wishes to be a "G-7" delegate to the national assembly must also contest at this level. To qualify to contest, he (she) must get at least two branches to nominate him (her).

National level:

* The wings each hold their separate assemblies and elections. Again only those who secure enough nominations get to contest. Each wing elects a chief, vice-chief, 20 executive committee members, permanent chairman, and deputy permanent chairman.

* They also choose 10 delegates who, along with the wing's chief, will go to the national assembly.

* The 11 or 13 delegates from each division at the assembly will vote for all posts on the supreme council, including that of president, deputy president and vice-president (three posts).

* A member needs nominations from at least 30 per cent of Umno's 191 divisions to contest for the party presidency. For the deputy president's post, 20 per cent, and for a vice-president post, 10 per cent. For the supreme council seat, a candidate needs nominations from at least five per cent of the divisions.

* Members chosen by each state will deliver speeches on economics, religion and social issues, education and the president's address.

* It is during these speeches that members may make demands from the leadership or propose policy changes. The latter is significant as there have been instances when these ideas were taken up by and developed into policies by the cabinet.