Umno warlords tells Najib to go slow on snap polls

Umno warlords and key aides are telling Datuk Seri Najib Razak to delay any idea of snap polls to secure his personal mandate, saying he should not assume his personal popularity means that the party is more acceptable to the people.

The Umno president met the Johor Umno liaison committee members on Friday where some leaders shared their concerns over the party’s popularity.

“Datuk Seri Najib (picture) is popular, no doubt about it. But the party isn’t that popular in some states like it is in Johor,” an Umno official told The Malaysian Insider on condition of anonymity.

The prime minister’s approval ratings rose to 72 per cent in May, according to the last Merdeka Center survey, which said it was bolstered by a sense that the nation was headed in the right

direction. The country’s economy grew 9.5 per cent in the first half of the year and the Najib administration believe that Malaysia can exceed its 6 per cent growth target for 2010.

The stronger economy has fuelled speculation that he might call for snap polls by the first half of 2011 although an Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report last week dismissed such talk, saying

the results of recent by-elections suggest that the electorate has become much more volatile especially with non-Malay voters.

Non-Malay voters have been turned off by calls from Malay rights groups such as Perkasa for Najib to keep affirmative action measures from the New Economic Policy (NEP) in his New Economic Model (NEM) which envisions an open high-income economy. Najib received the NEM

final report last week and is due to release it next month.

The Malaysian Insider understands that Najib told the Umno leaders to cut the race rhetoric as Barisan Nasional (BN) has to be fair to all races in order to win the elections.

“He said the target is simple. BN has to be fair to win the elections,” the Umno leader added.

It is understood that the prime minister told the Umno leaders to “work the ground” and ensure that the BN lynchpin can get the votes to carry the ruling coalition through the 13th general elections which must be called by 2013.

“He knows the problems and told us to work the ground and added that Johor is fortunate to have many strong leaders,” said the leader from the Umno birthplace.

“He even said that other states are complaining why Johor has many leaders in the Cabinet,” he added. Johor has five representatives in the federal cabinet, four from Umno and one from MIC.

Three others are in the 29-member Cabinet are senators. There are also a total of 11 deputy ministers who are senators.

The BN lost four states and its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority in Election 2008, four years after Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi secured a 91 per cent mandate. Abdullah resigned as prime minister in April 2009 to make way for Najib.

In June, the Merdeka Center reported that it had polled 1,028 randomly selected voters in Peninsular Malaysia by telephone between May 6 and 16, just ahead of the Sibu by-election which BN lost.

Merdeka Center chief Ibrahim Suffian said that there is a sense that the public appreciates his efforts but they are also waiting to see if his initiatives, such as the government transformation programme, will be implemented successfully.

“The public is still of two minds but they do acknowledge that he’s trying,” Ibrahim told The Malaysian Insider then.

Najin started as prime minister in April 2009 with a dismal 44 per cent rating but had jumped to 69 per cent one year later.

He enjoyed the highest approval among Indians, of whom 80 per cent expressed satisfaction, followed by Malays at 77 per cent and Chinese at 58 per cent. Confidence levels in the Najib administration’s initiatives, however, were limited, with only 50 per cent confident that the Government Transformation Programme, 1 Malaysia and the NEM will be able to achieve their goals.

The Merdeka Center said that indications are that the public is becoming increasingly cynical, with 58 per cent agreeing with the view that “the federal government was good in planning but weak in implementation”.

A majority of respondents were also dissatisfied with efforts to combat corruption (61 per cent) and combating crime (57 per cent).

More than half (53 per cent) said that fighting corruption was the most important issue the government should address. Slightly more than 50 per cent felt the country was headed in the right direction compared with 34 per cent who said it was heading the wrong way and 14 per cent who were uncertain.

The number of respondents satisfied with their personal income, meanwhile, dropped from 52 to 46 per cent while 47 per cent felt that economic conditions were favourable compared with 52 per cent in April.

courtesy of Malaysian Insider