an ultra nationalist due to his hard line stance in the negotiations for PETRONAS' oil rights with the Americans. The uncompromising negotiating position adopted by Razaleigh eventually led the Americans to lobby Hussein for his dismissal from his posts in PETRONAS. However, Hussein had a great relationship with Razaleigh, who not only had great grassroots influence but who also did not take a salary when he was heading PETRONAS, and so the Americans' lobbying efforts proved unsuccessful. Eventually, Razaleigh did relinquish his positions in PETRONAS as he was juggling between many different jobs which prohibited him from focusing on his main role as Finance Minister. Razaleigh's planning is reputed to have been the main reason the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, of which UMNO is a major component, almost totally defeats the opposition Islamic party of Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) in the 1978 general election and the Kelantan state elections of the same year. In an election where few observers were willing to predict the outcome, a decisive victory for UMNO in Kelantan both at the Federal and State level meant that Razaleigh had solidified his position as one of the foremost political personalities on the national stage. This was reflected in the UMNO elections that year when he garnered the most votes for the Vice President post and was reelected to another three-year term. Razaleigh's strong position led to him being widely tipped to eventually become Prime Minister of Malaysia. In 1981, Hussein resigned as Prime Minister due to ongoing health concerns and Dr. Mahathir succeeded him. Instead of sticking to the original agreement he had made with Razaleigh, Dr. Mahathir declared an election for the Deputy Premiership - to be decided through the results of the UMNO Deputy Presidency. The new Prime Minister announced that he would not endorse any candidate and would be taking a neutral stance. Razaleigh sensed that Dr. Mahathir was averse to having him as his Deputy per their earlier understanding, but welcomed this decision nonetheless. His main quibble being about how this was not in accordance with tradition (Deputy Prime Ministers are usually hand-picked by the Prime Minister). Razaleigh joined the contest, and his main opposition was Musa Hitam. Eventually, Musa won the election with 722 votes to Razaleigh's 517, becoming the new Deputy President of UMNO and leading to his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister. Razaleigh blamed himself for taking "a rather passive