Najib has never seemed as helplessly weak as now

Hell has more definitions than heaven , possibly because more of us expect to end up there than in the other place. A cynic described hell as other people. Men of religion generally promise hellfire for the wicked, an image that rather contradicts the doctrine that the body is terminal and soul eternal. A soul can’t get roasted in flames, can it?
One much prefers the blind poet Milton’s insight. Heaven is order, he wrote, and hell chaos. By Milton’s standards, the government  of Najib has already gone to hell.Chaos is the wild weed rooted in corruption. Like an untamed cancer, chaos has destabilized the coalition, corroded governance beyond repair and perverted Prime Minister has become either the target of dark outrage or the butt of black humour. The insulation that protected him while colleagues were falling on either side in the many corruption battles, has been ripped off by Mahathir allocation scam. The government has only one strategy for all the riveting scandals that have gutted its credibility: the purchase of time through delay or deception, hope that 2013 will be about corruption and governance looks misplaced. Everyone knows that corruption is a political malaise, not restricted to UMNO. People are realizing The real truth is that 2013 will instead be about alliances. It will not be about magnetic individuals; but about magnetic alliances. It’s here that Mahyidin beats Najib

The stink in the corridor power remains a billion dollar question.UMNO politicians, like politicians the world over, generally agree only to disagree. But on one thing all of them —Former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is attempting to keep the divide within Umno under wraps with his call that the top two posts in the party not be contested, said political analyst Khoo Kay Peng. whichever party they belong to and whatever ideology they profess — agree to agree: we, the people, have no right to know where, and from whom, they get the money to fight elections and run their organisations.Getting political parties entangled in such unnecessary things will damage the democratic process. We simply cannot accept it,Najib and Tan Sri Muhiyiddin Yasin will win unchallenged will depend on the feedback at Umno divisional meetings and Putrajaya’s success in handling two restive groups: Umno MPs who were not given Cabinet positions and Umno divisional chiefs not fielded as candidates in the general election.

You wouldn’t buy a loaf of bread which insisted on keeping its ingredients secret. So how come we are expected to buy — to vote for — political  leaders who keep their finances a secret? Don’t ask. You don’t have the right to that information.Mahathir is trying to keep the fight between the respective factions in support of either options within Umno’s walls

‘Is Umno a party of dynamic change and renewal, or is it a fossilised party determined to keep incumbents in power for as long as possible?’After the calls for no contest for Umno’s top two posts, it is not surprising that there are similar calls for the Umno Youth chief’s post.Election of leaders is a democratic process of every organisation. To ask members not to contest is nothing more than tyranny, they may as well tell the party grassroots that contest breeds disunity and ask them to let the leaders rule for life.

This is a good move as it protects the posts of Prime Minister Najib Razak, Deputy PM Muhyiddin Yassin and Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

But then someone out there will be very disappointed as he may have laid plans to open the way for  Rosmah’  son to move up the party hierarchy through the Youth post at least.

If their leaders are so good, why are they scared of an election? Unfortunately, Umno leaders don’t have an internal Election Commission (EC) to help them, so they have to resort to ‘no-contest’ to retain power,both Najib and his deputy were not elected to their offices. I think it will do the Umno members a big disservice if they are not allowed to make their choice.

more liberalism and democracy so that you can appeal to the ‘middle ground’. To the rightists in Umno, ‘getting its house in order’ would mean being more Malay-centric and nationalistic so that you can appeal to the rural and nationalist Malays.

Hence we are going to see a battle to decide not only the new Umno leadership but the direction Umno is to take over these next four or five years leading to the 14th General Election. Those who feel that Umno needs to appeal to the middle ground will back Najib. Those who feel that Najib has ‘sold out’ to the non-Malays will oppose him.

It does not matter whether Najib is going to be challenged or not in the party’s general assembly. Pak Lah was not challenged either. Pak Lah was not ousted during the general assembly. He was ousted after that. And that too will be when Najib is going to be ousted if he is ousted — after the general assembly.

And if Najib is ousted that is going to mean only one thing — and that is Umno is moving to the right and the liberals in Umno will no longer have a voice. And that can only bring Malaysia deeper into racial politics at the risk of exploding some time in the future to fulfill Lim Kit Siang’s prophecy of a time bomb ticking away in Malaysia.

Some 145,000 out of Umno’s 3.5 million members will vote directly for all posts in the party elections this year, under new rules enforced to ensure corruption will not skew the results.

The party’s Supreme Council had already agreed last month that there will be no contests for the top two posts but several senior leaders have said contests for all posts would make Umno more democratic,The recent overtures by the Mahathir also point to a re-allignment of political forces; and a concerted Pakatan attempt to break the back of UMNO. This is politics,  Najib style!Najib presents a moderate face – with its concomitant “weak”, “soft”, “undecisive” style notwithstanding – and becomes a natural magnet for all and sundry. The MCA and GERAKAN may have suffered the loss –  but none of them left because of any ideological political reasons it was mostly an economic affairs issue.Political situation is of concern to many of Malaysia’s top echelon of businesspeople, politicians, civil servants, and even members of the Royal Families. There is a strong feeling amongst the country’s elite that Malaysia needs good governance rather than politicking. Many are very sympathetic to the concept of a national unity government, as a solution … Read more