Najib has boasted of possessing a 56 inch chest which knows no disease- on the day the results were declared, he developed a ‘tooth ache’ which took him right back to on a TV show to comment on this sudden toothache, I said “Mr. Najibi had earlier campaigned, the voters gave him a knock-out punch wherein he lost half his teeth. middle-class Malays have now punched out his remaining teeth. He has left UMNO shamed by being rendered completely toothless.” The najib had been badly mauled in virtually every place that Najibhad deigned to campaign.
All five political aides to Datuk Seri Najib Razak will be dropped from office for purportedly putting their interests above the prime minister’s in what is seen as a move to axe the deadwood weighing down his office ahead of Umno elections this year, Barisan Nasional (BN) sources have told The Malaysian Insider.
Handpicked to run in the May 5 polls, Datuk Latt Shariman Abdullah, Datuk Shahlan Ismail, Datuk Mohd Shafei Abdullah, Datuk Mohamad Fatmi Che Salleh and Datuk Mohamed Suffian Awang have come under attack from Umno bloggers and pro-establishment critics following their embarrassing defeat in the 13th general election.
The five had been seen by Najib’s “war room” strategists as having the best chances to give a fillip to the ruling BN in its bid to regain the coalition’s two-thirds supermajority in Parliament lost since Election 2008.
Highly-placed sources said 146,500 delegates from 161 divisions nationwide to the suggestion to remove Najib is said to be particularly sore with Rosmah, who has frequently opposed rollback of decisions in the face of the patriarch’s sustained protests.
If the truce appears to have dentedNajibi’s authority, his eagerness to have peace at not-so-respectable terms has amplified the message about Muhyiddin being the clear favourite of the Malays for the PM’s post. The unyielding stance of the 146,500 delegates drove home the point that they would stick with Muhyiddin even at the cost of a revolt by some divisions in favour of Najib
In 2009,headed by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin a special Umno general assembly approved constitutional amendments giving 146,500 delegates the right to vote for the leadership, abolishing the quota system, simultaneous delegates meeting, and allow more women appointees, as UMNO member , feel vulnerable and it is therefore my moral responsibility Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today refused to exclude a potential contest for the top Umno posts later this year, saying only that he will reveal his position “when the right time comes”.“As we know Umno is a democratic party. It’s not the individual’s right but the rights of members and party that matters. I will not comment, wait until when the right time come,” Muhyiddin was quoted as quoted as saying by state news agency Bernama at a Barisan Nasional (BN) thanksgiving function in Kundang Ulu, Johor today.“But the problem is that some UMNO members cannot differentiate between the government decisions and their implementation by the bureaucracy. Hence, if the schemes that have been announced are not fulfilled, it will be the ruling party which will face the music,” he adds. He says there is still time for the party to rectify the situation members electing the right UMNO president.Why almost all Malay leaders are silent
But in truth, Nazir only added to the problems faced by Datuk Seri Najib and Umno,” the former minister said in a blog posting that was published in Utusan Malaysia today.
Utusan’s “brave” backing of Umno in fighting off the anti-Umno elements that have eroded public confidence in the government had also opened the newspaper to financial risks, Zam said.
But this resulted in a stronger Umno representation in Parliament, its twin success in recapturing Kedah and Perak, and a larger number of state seats in the Kelantan legislative assembly, he noted.
But Umno bloggers have blasted Najib for allowing his aides to contest in the polls, arguing variously that the five men had little grassroots support in their constituencies.
BN ultimately won 133 seats in the 222-member Dewan Rakyat and Umno, the coalition lynchpin, took 88 federal seats in Election 2013 ― up nine from 2008.
But several party veterans have blamed the party and BN’s lacklustre performance on Najib’s “war room” strategists, and hinted that the prime minister might be shown the door if he does not remove his strategists for their bad advice.
Najib’s two special officers, Shahlan and Latt Shariman, were beaten by PAS candidates in Kedah although BN succeeded in snatching back the rice-farming state from the PR pact.
Shahlan lost by 3,935 votes to PAS vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar in the Pokok Sena federal seat while Latt Shariman was defeated by PAS’s Mohd Nasir Mustafa by a 1,044-vote majority in the Kubang Rotan state seat.
Mohd Shafei, who is Najib’s political secretary in the Finance Ministry, lost to PKR’s Datuk Dr Tan Tee Kwong by a 5,511-vote margin in the fight for a seat in the Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory, which was significantly bigger than the 2008 results.
Two other special officers, Mohamad Fatmi Mohamed Suffian, were also trounced in the contest for Kota Baru and Kuantan respectively.
The culling of the losers is the first sign of Najib’s seriousness in ridding himself of his advisors, many of whom have been blamed for misreading the ground ahead of the closely-fought election.
The BN “war room” had been tasked with selecting the candidates and advising various strategies to win the polls.
It counted Rompin MP Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis, Putra World Trade Centre chairman Datuk Seri Dr Alies Anor Abdul, Petronas director Omar Mustapha Ong, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor, party information chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan and former Terengganu mentri besar Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh as among its members.
The war room had stuck to its prediction of BN winning between 145 and 150 federal seats and also getting back Selangor in Election 2013 although some senior BN leaders were privately doubtful of the figures.
And by noon on Polling Day, the war room had issued its “white list” of 118 federal seats it was sure to win, but some like Pasir Mas, Shah Alam and Lembah Pantai were lost, which some Umno divisional leaders said reflected the disconnect between the leadership and the ground.
The country’s sixth prime minister is also under pressure from Umno to distance himself from his “war room” planners, namely Alies Anor, Omar and Jamaluddin, a party insider had told The Malaysian Insider.
Several disgruntled east Malaysian MPs met with veteran Umno lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah last night to discuss their positions after not getting anything for their wins in the closely-fought Election 2013, pointing to a lengthening line-up to rattle Najib after he won his first personal mandate with fewer seats than his predecessor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Analysts and other political observers have said that Najib’s leadership of Umno may be challenged in the party polls due year end, which could also unravel his hold over the 13-party BN coalition and undermine his default position as prime minister.
Datuk Seri Nazir Razak was today faulted for plunging brother Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Umno deeper into a post-polls “crisis of confidence” following his defence of AirAsia X CEO Azman Osman Rani’s against criticism from Utusan Malaysia.
Former Umno minister Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin, or “Zam” as he is popularly called, accused Nazir of failing to understand that the ruling party may not have maintained its Malay support in Election 2013 without the Umno-owned newspaper.
He said Nazir, the CEO of CIMB Group and the younger brother to Prime Minister Najib, had likely thought that Barisan Nasional (BN) would recapture some of lost support from the Chinese had Utusan Malaysia not targeted the community.
Nazir defended Azman for his forthright attitude in daring to criticise Utusan Malaysia, saying that this is the “mark of a leader”.
Zam asked if labelling Azman forthright and frank meant Nazir was joining the ranks of those who have accused Utusan Malaysia of being racist.
“To me, the assumption that Utusan is racist is subjective. It depends on the school of thought or the leaning of a person, as well as his or her educational background… and this is every individual’s respective right,” he said.
“But what I feel was unsuitable was Azran’s intolerant behaviour. Just because he disagreed with the paper’s stand, he threatened to withdraw AirAsia advertisements.
“Sentiments and prejudice influenced his actions,” Zam wrote.
“Is this the behaviour of an educated person who believes in freedom and democracy, openness and globalisation? Is this not considered an abuse of power or irrational action?” he asked.
Zam suggested insolence on Azman’s part, accusing the AirAsia X chief of assuming that because Utusan Malaysia should follow his political leanings because it carried advertisements from the airlines.
“Utusan knows a lot of negative issues about AirAsia and has kept it under wraps, like the other papers, for the sake of advertisements or money from it, but it looks like this alone is not good enough for AirAsia CEO Azran,” he said.
“Surely his spirits will soar even higher with the support of Nazir, brother to Najib, the prime minister of Malaysia, who does not understand the crisis of confidence that Najib and Umno now faces,” Zam added.
In the just-concluded May 5 polls, BN retained power but with a reduced seat margin, scoring 133 seats to Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) 89 seats in Parliament.
Amid the reduced victory, Umno emerged the most victorious among all BN component parties, sweeping up 88 seats ― 11 seats more than the 79 it won in Election 2008.
A divided Malaysia emerged after the election and in his first speech to declare BN’s victory, Najib said the results showed that a “Chinese tsunami” had occurred and declared the need for national reconciliation.
This set the tone for the post-polls discourse as many Umno and BN leaders, taking a leaf from the prime minister, set out to paint the general election as a Chinese versus Malay contest.
Malay-language Utusan Malaysia appeared to go on an anti-Chinese rampage, publishing daily articles on its front page and its editorials to criticise the community for bailing on BN in the polls.
One article, headlined “Apa lagi Cina mahu?” (What more do the Chinese want?), sparked massive outrage among the Chinese community and opposition politicians, and even went viral across the Internet as netizens slammed the Malay paper for being too overt in racist stance.
It was then that Azman, captain of the long-haul budget airline AirAsia X, took to his Twitter account to criticise Utusan Malaysia for what he reportedly saw as a racial instigation in the aftermath of the May 5 polls.
He was also reported to have criticised Malay group Perkasa for its hardline stance as an irrelevant organisation that had caused Malays to be myopic.
In response, the paper published daily views from Perkasa leaders, the Muslim Consumers Society of Malaysia and pro-Umno activists who slammed Azran, branding him “arrogant” and a Malay who had forgotten his roots.
On May 19, Utusan columnist Awang Selamat — the nom-de-plume for the paper’s collective editorial voice — told the Umno-owned paper to stop taking the airline’s ads until its sister company’s chief executive apologises for criticising the broadsheet’s racist piece.
Awang also called for a nationwide boycott on the airline.
“Awang would like to suggest that the Utusan Group not accept any AirAsia ad as long as there is no apology. Let the company’s advertisement go to another paper, but not Utusan.
“Without AirAsia, Awang Selamat will not have any problem. Furthermore, the value of the advertisement given is very small, lower than advertisements for herbal and hair treatments,” it said.
Politicians are entitled to reinvent themselves. And because we live in an era of instant coffee, they believe, perhaps, that masks can be worn and shed at will and images changed with the wave of Najib’s hand But can he abandon the muscular brand of politics that has served him so well during the last UMNO election made him a runaway success with thedivision leaders rank and file, for the conciliatory approach that made him UMNO leader? Can he shrink his 56-inch chest and soften his machismo to deal with the likes of Mahathir and Muhyuddin?Drumbeaters about the dangers of dumping the tradition of collective leadership for the ephe-meral benefits of personality-driven politics and the havoc this would wreak upon the party’s DNA.Najib anyway can be forced resign as Prime Minister he is playing with fire.
Members of Parliament from Sabah and Sarawak who met Tengku Razaleigh are not expected to reveal their intentions until Parliament starts on June 24. were dissappointed with Najib decisions to appointment of new cabinet . ”now concerned with new ministers on own their personal agendas.They are seeing Ku Li to see what they can do to express their disappointment
Umno won 88 federal seats in Election 2013, up nine from 2008 but several party veterans have blamed the party and BN’s lacklustre performance on Najib’s “war room” strategists, and hinting that the prime minister might be shown the door if he doesn’t remove his strategists for their bad advice.BN took 47 of the 56 federal seats in Sabah and Sarawak, contributing one-third of the 133 federal seats it won in the elections despite both states only having a quarter of the 222 seats in Parliament,east Malaysian MPs are the latest to rattle Najib after he won his first personal mandate with fewer seats than his predecessor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.Najib is already under pressure from within Umno and now this, just after a poor result in the pollsPrime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak doled out 20 ministerial and deputy ministerial posts to east Malaysian MPs, leaving parties like Sarawak’s SPDP without any representatives despite winning four federal seats. Read more
