Dr M agrees with poll on Najib's approval plunge, signaling it's Muhyiddin's turn

It never rains but it pours and it is pouring buckets now for Prime Minister Najib Razak. In comments that clearly showed he was distancing himself from his protege, ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad agreed with the findings of a recent survey showing Najib's approval rating had plunged 6 percentage points to 59% from 65% three months ago in June.

Mahathir's reaction is significant and ominous, given that many other UMNO and BN leaders have either disputed or dismissed the Merdeka Centre poll. Although 85 now, Mahathir is still 'the' power broker to watch in UMNO, the country largest political party that has imposed its brand of authoritarian rule in Malaysia for the past 5 decades.

But the wily Mahathir was not ready yet to show a full hand. He was careful to blame Najib's decline in popularity to the way the 58-year-old PM had mishandled the July 9 Bersih rally, in which Najib had sanctioned a Home Ministry ban on the movement for free and fair elections, even allowing the police to arrest anyone who wore yellow - the Bersih colour.

“This has been blamed on Datuk Seri Najib but I do not know what Datuk Seri Najib did by ordering that people could not wear yellow shirts. I do not think he would tell the police not to allow yellow shirts. But the fact is that those who wore yellow shirts were seen as enemies. This is a move by the Malaysian government and that gave a bad image to the government,” Malaysian Insider reported Mahathir as saying on Friday.

Blaming Bersih for a reason

But while acknowledging the bid to suppress Bersih triggered Najib's downfall, Mahathir continued to blame the movement for trying to discredit the UMNO-led BN federal government.

This was the same disastrous tack taken by Najib, and it was this decision to adopt ham-fisted action unseen in decades that prompted nationwide as well as global disgust for his administration and leadership.

At the height of the Bersih persecutions, some observers had said Najib might have felt egged on to show he could play hard ball as well as Mahathir could. The older man had ruled Malaysia with a fist of iron for 22 years and during that time, he did not hestitate to install temporary emergency rule or to launch excessive crackdowns to jail political rivals.

“I feel that Bersih succeeded in achieving its mission to discredit the government’s image. They knew that if they did a demonstration, the government would place teams to prevent it. Because of this, the government’s image is affected because of its actions such as banning people from wearing yellow shirts and so on,” said Mahathir.

Machiavellian Mahathir

While acknowledging his influence in UMNO, Pakatan Rakyat leaders said Mahathir was an icon of the past and his views carried little weight with the Malaysian public in general. They disagreed with his criticism of Bersih and believed he would have taken the same hardline stance as Najib had if he were in power because that was his style.

"Mahathir can say whatever he wants now. Bersih is already over, and Najib has to take the blame and he deserves to. What we saw were seasoned players like Muhyiddin Yassin and Mahathir saying that Bersih was up to no good. They kept encouraging Najib and Hisham to be stern and the two cousins went overboard in their response. Did anyone in the UMNO elite even once advised Najib to stop, and don't overreact?" PKR vice president Tian Chua toldMalaysia Chronicle.

"Now the Machiavellian Mahathir is saying, yes the slump in approval is Najib's own fault but Bersih is still dirty and deserves to remain outlawed. In other words, there is no need for electoral reform. To me, that is conflicting and it is a signal to UMNO that he agrees that Najib should make way for Muhyiddin, but no way are we going to be allowed to clean up the voter system."

Change of guard in UMNO inevitable

The 64-year Muhyiddin, who is Deputy Prime Minister and Education minister, is now in London for a 4-day official visit. A career politician from Johor, his low-profile style has not exactly taken Malaysians by storm. Neither has he captured their imagination. But Najib did not either.

Given the huge scandals dogging Najib and wife Rosmah Mansor, few Malaysians or UMNO members would be sorry to see the back of the extravagant couple, although they don't expect much leadership or reforms from Muhyiddin either.

"Muhyiddin won't be a breath of fresh air. But within UMNO, he is seen as the steadier option rather than Najib who has put his own interests first. There is also the question of Rosmah adding to his unpopularity," Eddie Lee, a PKR veteran, told Malaysia Chronicle.

"For Malaysians, if UMNO wins GE-13, they already know there won't be any changes coming from any UMNO in any case. So it doesn't matter it is Muhyiddin. At least, there is less damage to the country's international image and all the wild spending will be reduced. Most people also guess that Muhyiddin will be PM for one term only if UMNO win the GE, that is."

- Malaysia Chronicle