Now or never for Najib to show Umno who's boss

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

A recent series of clumsy moves by Prime Minister Najib Razak has earned him a clubbing from political foes and as well as his countrymen. The only saving grace is that his ambitious deputy Muhyiddin Yassin is faring just as badly.

Just 15 months into the country’s most powerful job, the 57-year old Najib has now to plan for the next general elections, just about 32 months away at the most – not really that far off. And before the last date, he also has to face his own party’s internal elections, where many expect Muhyiddin to put up a challenge.

So far, what has Najib done to show Malaysians and Umno members he deserves another term? Unfortunately - very little. What can he do before time finally runs out? Actually, there is quite a lot that needs to be done and can be done, but his biggest problem remains getting support from his Umno party.

Perhaps the first obstacle he needs to overcome is his own fear of cracking the whip and finding ways to make sure the wily warlords in Umno support his policies rather than let them dictate the tune.

Another big headache is former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and how to neutralize this feisty 85-year old, who has been unabashedly resorting to whipping up feelings of racial insecurity amongst the Malays just to strengthen his own grip in the party.

Until these obstacles are out of the way, many pundits believe Najib will delay national polls for as long as he can. They expect it only in the second half of 2012 as Najib may find it more advantageous to himself to push for a fresh mandate to lead Umno and the BN before taking the nation to the ballot boxes.

Drastic and bold action needed

But will delaying tactics work for Najib? At the end of the day, only drastic and extremely bold action can save him and Malaysia from a tailspin into economic disaster and social unrest – not unlike what is happening in neighboring Thailand.

Frankly, few believe he has the gumption to do it even though he holds in his hand enormous power. Much more than enough to keep Mahathir quiet or to zip up Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali’s famous mouth. The office of the Malaysian Prime Minister is one of the most empowered in the world and Najib can practically do anything or order anything to be done – within the law that is.

His predecessor Abdullah Badawi couldn’t bring himself to be rude to Mahathir. So far, neither can Najib, and this may be his greatest downfall rather than Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, the Altantuya murder, the submarines graft probe, the aborted sports betting license or even the recent slew of price hikes.

As many pundits have pointed out, it is now or never to flex his muscles. And at the right targets. So far, he has been walloping the wrong shadows, literally painting a bulls-eye on his backside for the opposition to kick at nearly each day.

From his unpopular toppling of the Pakatan Rakyat Perak state government on day one, to banning opposition newspapers like Suara Keadilan and Rocket to suing PKR for RM200 million for suggesting he bankrupted land agency Felda, Najib has only attracted public disrespect and scorn.

His advisers should be telling him to use his almost-unbridled power to control Umno. Rather than use it to incur public hatred for himself over indefensible acts like the Perak coup d’etat. Or for giving Selangor warlords such as Khir Toyo and Noh Omar so much leeway that in the attempts to knockout Pakatan's Khalid Ibrahim, the tragic death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock may have been unwittingly triggered.

Now or never, or be ousted

So far, Najib has only been creating obstacles for himself. In this aspect, he should take a leaf from Mahathir and also take note of the unflattering comparison Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh drew of him versus the former premier. There is no love lost between Razaleigh and Mahathir, yet it is clear Razaleigh respects him more than Najib because he has shown more guts in the way he governed, even though he was also responsible for most of the structural problems that are now besetting the nation.

The time has come to separate the men from the boys and Najib must rise to occasion or fade into political oblivion. It does not matter that Muhyiddin is not and probably will never be ready for the No. 1 job - other figures waiting in the wings may push him out if he does not get going.

For Najib to win over the Malays, the non-Malays and his own Umno party actually requires only the same set of tactics. No need for hypocrisy or different strokes for different folk because this is the age of civil society, of consensus, of globalization.

What Najib needs to show is that he stands for fairness and not just talk about it. He also needs to show he can really walk the talk as far as good governance, transparency and social equality are concerned. Then he must be ready to bash down the uprising in Umno that is bound to be stirred up by the likes of the Mahathirs and the Khir Toyos, as their interests will be threatened by the opening up of the playing field.

How will Najib do it? He just has to find his ways and given the enormous power of his position, it should not be difficult at all. Why not use the might of his office to create a new and clean Malaysia, rather than hammer her down into the ranks of Zimbabwe and Myanmar.

Can he? Yes. But will he? Ah … that’s the million ringgit question.