Kit Siang ridicules Najib's 'veto' on BN candidates, questions 'winnability'

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang ridiculed Prime Minister Najib Razak’s grand comment over the weekend that he wanted only "winnable" candidates and would "veto" those that he believed were unqualified.

“It is public knowledge that all along, the final decision on the list of candidates rests with the presidents of the respective Barisan Nasional component parties, whether MCA, Gerakan, MIC, PPP or the Sarawak/Sabah component parties,” Kit Siang said in a statement on Monday.

“When did Najib get the veto power as BN Chairman to veto parliamentary and state assembly candidates proposed by BN component parties? There is nothing in the Barisan Nasional constitution which confers on the BN Chairman the veto powers to reject the parliamentary or state assembly candidates proposed BN component parties.”

One-way traffic in the BN

However, none of the leaders in the BN component parties - regardless of whether from the peninsula such as MCA, MIC or MCA or from East Malaysia such as PBS, SUPP or PBB - are likely to dare agree even though Kit Siang may have got the facts right.

Najib’s Umno is the ‘big brother’ in the ruling BN coalition and seldom accepts dissent or criticism from any of its partners.

“If Najib can veto potential candidates proposed by Barisan Nasional component parties to ensure only winnable ones become BN candidates, can leaders of the other BN component parties veto proposed Umno candidates on similar ground of winnability in the next general election?” said Kit Siang.

“Or is this a solely one-way traffic, highlighting the further concentration of power and greater political hegemony of Umno in Barisan Nasional in the past three years – despite claims that one lesson that BN has learnt from the 308 political tsunami of the 2008 general elections is to ensure more meaningful power-sharing in the Barisan Nasional coalition between Umno on the one hand and the other component parties on the other?”

Najib had a day ago issued the warning in Sarawak, where he had gone to attend the wedding reception of Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and his new wife. He had also officiated the SUPP's annual convention.

"This is an important principle because when we field a candidate, it means the candidate is representing the BN and we need the candidate to win because we want to form the government," Najib had said.

Honesty, intergrity, incorruptibility not important to Najib

The PM's overly sanguine comments spurred Kit Siang into demanding for a clarification on what he meant by ‘winnability’.

Kit Siang also pointed to disgraced Umno leader Mohd Isa Samad, who was given the chance to contest the Bagan Pinang by-election last year even though he had just cleared the suspension period imposed on him after he was found guilty of ‘money politics’ or paying bribes to get votes in the Umno vice-presidential elections.

“The other issue raised by Najib’s announcement is whether “winnability” is now the most important criterion for selection as BN candidates in the next election - rated even higher than other factors like honesty, integrity and incorruptibility, and whether the Bagan Pinang by-election will serve as the future model for selecting “winnable” BN candidates?” said Kit Siang.

“Although Mohd Isa won the Bagan Pinang by-election, his candidature exposed the hollowness and hypocrisy of the Najib administration’s Government Transformation Programme (GTP) in declaring “fighting corruption” as one of the six NKRA priority areas for constant assessment of “key performance indicators”. - Malaysia chronicle