Prime Minister Najib Razak has delayed making firm decisions on almost every
issue. Whether or not the delay is intentional, as he has been accused of being
manipulative, he has chosen to let the RM250 mil NFC financial debacle involving
minister Shahrizat Jalil simmer even though it could trigger a backlash in
public sentiment for his Umno party.
He has also cut adrift the MCA, Gerakan and MIC, causing these parties to further weaken in the eyes of their respective communities. Such behavior was unlike former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who sent his deputy Ghafar Baba to troubleshoot and help repair their common Barisan Nasional boat. But perhaps, the BN can no longer be saved anymore.
Only once since inheriting the premiership from Abdullah Badawi in April 2009 has Najib tried to steer a direction for the BN. It was during the Sarawak state elections in April 2011, and Najib failed - miserably. He had set out to 'tame' Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud but ended being embarrassed by the wily older man.
Taib managed to make Najib look foolish without even raising his voice. All he had to do was to ignore Najib's desperate and rather rude call for him to step down. It was after the Sarawak election was over that Malaysians, especially from the peninsula, realized that Najib is not omnipotent as his Umno party likes to make him out to be.
So 'soft' was Najib that he could not even control his wife Rosmah Mansor or stop her from grabbing the First Lady of Malaysia title, which is actually meant for the Queen. Needless to say, he also had zero luck in getting her to stop her shockingly expensive shopping sprees.
Suddenly on the offensive
Suddenly, beginning 15th February, Najib started to move with more visible energy. He started to hurl verbal missiles at arch rival Anwar Ibrahim, calling the latter "two-faced" over the Israel-Palestin issue stirred up by Umno newspaper Utusan.
His Umno elder Mahathir Mohamad also called Anwar a spy out to help US and Israel set up a puppet government in Malaysia to overthrow BN. This is a perennial hot topic for Umno in the olden days whenever it wanted to galvanize the Muslims into a voting bloc for the BN.
Even Anwar believes GE-13 is close at hand, and has forecast a May-June 2012 balloting day. But this may be too soon. November 2012 might be the more likely, given the money-raising schemes Najib has in mind for Umno, BN and of course, himself.
Cleaning up his image and tarnishing Anwar at the same time
In one of his swifter moves, Najib has managed to convince Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria that he and Rosmah were not bad Muslims for attending Thaipusam in Batu Caves, Selangor. Harussani had shocked the nation when he chastised the couple for an 'un-lislamic' action in attending an "idolatrous" even. Within 2 days, national TV1 showed Najib meeting the Mufti and clarifying the Batu Caves trip, and sure enough, Harussani admitted his mistake and declared a clean bill of Islamic health for both PM and wife.
UMNO attacks PR and prepares to win Selangor
On the same night, TV3 held a talk show with Umno's Satim Diman, the Selangor Opposition Leader and Soohaimi Shahadan, the Umno Youth Exco member. Both men rushed to highlight all the things that Pakatan failed to deliver based on their election manifesto. The week before, Najib confirmed the appointment of Ong Tee Keat as the Selangor BN Chief. Last night amid criticism that his grand plan for Selangor was flounder amd he could not even name a Mentri Besar of chief minister-designate, he appointed Mohd Zin, the Sepang Umno Member of Parliament to be the election campaign coordinator for Selangor.
Speculation has swirled that Tee Keat may even be made the Selangor Menteri Besar if he gives up his Pandan parliamentary seat for a state assembly one. If true, this would indeed be a controversial move as it would be the first time ever Selangor had a non-Malay MB. However, all this would depend on the grace of the Sultan.
Umno has also begun efforts to win back Kedah
Umno's hand was sighted stirring unrest in the Pakatan Rakyat-led state government with some MCA-linked association heads lodging complaints that assistants to the Pakatan reps had demanded 'rebate' of between 25 to 30% of the funds due to them. This was followed by BN declaring Kedah a 'winnable' state.
Indelible ink
The Election Commission has just announced that the indelible ink will be used in the GE-13, and that stock ordered must be used within three months of its shelf-life. So, the moment Customs announce the arrival of the first batch of ink, Malaysians will know GE-13 will be within three months from then!
Strengthening BN
Najib has also announced three new affiliate members to BN, namely Gabungan Wawasan Generasi Felda, Persatuan Bekas Anggota Kemas Malaysia and Persatuan Kontraktor Melayu Malaysia. The trio have members all over Peninsular Malaysia, who will be mobilised to help BN win GE-13, focusing on the rural areas and servicing the constituents there.
Mahathir supporting the BN campaign
Mahathir has upped the ante is trying to frighten the Malays in particular, by accusing Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim of being used by the US and Israel to topple BN and set up a puppet government. The underlying message of course is that the fate of the Malays will be very uncertain under Pakatan Rakyat. At the same time Mahathir is trying to instil fear in the minds of the non-Malays that such a regime change will be resisted by the Malays. Violence could even break out, sending Malaysia to the dogs.
Najib not taking any action against Taib
After his April 16, 2011 lesson, Najib has given up on Taib. He is going to continue closing an eye to Taib plundering the wealth of the Sarawak people, so long as Taib delivers the parliamentary seats in GE-13.
Effects from the handouts and economic growth
Najib is also confident that the feel-good factor from the various Budget 2012 cash handouts to students and lower-income families will work in BN's favor. He is hoping the announcement by Bank Negara that Malaysia’s economic growth was 5.2 per cent, exceeding the previous 4.2 per cent forecast, will bolster confidence in his management of the economy.
But are UMNO and Najib really ready?
The answer is NO. Najib is still not happy with the present situation even though Rosmah has been conferred an honorary doctorate by Curtin University to help her clear some of her negative image.
There is talk that Najib has in the works a popularity survey that shows him far ahead of Anwar in the people's esteem. This survey is being held back until he is confident enough to dissolve Parliament.
Najib not only wants to create a feel-good factor. He wants the people to regain confidence BN and help him achieve a two-thirds margin in Parliament. But it may well be fat hopes!
Najib needs more time and money
Then Najib also needs more money. It is significant that the Felda Global Ventures listing will hit the market in May-June. The IPO can be expected to jump on listing day and deliriously-happy Felda settlers can be expected to vote good-old Umno once again when called to the ballot box shortly after.
The grapevine in the Ministry of Finance is buzzing with talk that Umno will siphon out every single piece of unutilised funding from all the other government bodies on the pretext of implementing projects across the nation. Actually, the money will be used in a gigantic vote-buying spree, much like Rosmah's jaw-dropping shopping trips.
1Care will be bulldozed through and Umno-BN will have about RM11 billion to siphon out at the end of the day, perhaps by January next year. Umno will of course continue to milk the Employees Provident Fund.
The Felda listing, expected to hit RM21bil upon debut, will be controlled by Koperasi Permodalan Felda (KPF), which will be the single largest shareholder of the listed Felda Global Ventures entity with a 37 per cent stake. No wonder, Najib was insistent on making Isa Samad the KPF chairman. This will allow Umno and its proxies in Felda to cash out and siphon away huge sums raised from the share sale.
PERKESO or Socso will also have its funds be diverted as well as Tabung Haji, the Umno-supported cooperatives, other statutory bodies and all the Government-Linked-Companies. All these will have to contribute portions of their funds to help Umno stay in power.
Pot of gold at the end of the rainbow
A question worth asking is, does Umno-BN really need so much money to hold GE-13? Obviously, the answer is NO. Najib and his cronies are also jumping on the bandwagon for their LAST GRAB, and Malaysians can be sure that the amounts they 'take' will be many folds that spent on financing GE-13 and to buy all the votes.
But for his plan to be successful, Najib will need time and he is willing to wait even until nearing the end of his term in 2013. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is too much to ignore. Not even Mahathir can frighten him into holding GE-13 earlier.
So given the current status of 1Care, the Felda listing which are both still facing opposition, GE-13 looks more like to be in November 2012 rather May-June. It could even be 2013.
Malaysia Chronicle
He has also cut adrift the MCA, Gerakan and MIC, causing these parties to further weaken in the eyes of their respective communities. Such behavior was unlike former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who sent his deputy Ghafar Baba to troubleshoot and help repair their common Barisan Nasional boat. But perhaps, the BN can no longer be saved anymore.
Only once since inheriting the premiership from Abdullah Badawi in April 2009 has Najib tried to steer a direction for the BN. It was during the Sarawak state elections in April 2011, and Najib failed - miserably. He had set out to 'tame' Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud but ended being embarrassed by the wily older man.
Taib managed to make Najib look foolish without even raising his voice. All he had to do was to ignore Najib's desperate and rather rude call for him to step down. It was after the Sarawak election was over that Malaysians, especially from the peninsula, realized that Najib is not omnipotent as his Umno party likes to make him out to be.
So 'soft' was Najib that he could not even control his wife Rosmah Mansor or stop her from grabbing the First Lady of Malaysia title, which is actually meant for the Queen. Needless to say, he also had zero luck in getting her to stop her shockingly expensive shopping sprees.
Suddenly on the offensive
Suddenly, beginning 15th February, Najib started to move with more visible energy. He started to hurl verbal missiles at arch rival Anwar Ibrahim, calling the latter "two-faced" over the Israel-Palestin issue stirred up by Umno newspaper Utusan.
His Umno elder Mahathir Mohamad also called Anwar a spy out to help US and Israel set up a puppet government in Malaysia to overthrow BN. This is a perennial hot topic for Umno in the olden days whenever it wanted to galvanize the Muslims into a voting bloc for the BN.
Even Anwar believes GE-13 is close at hand, and has forecast a May-June 2012 balloting day. But this may be too soon. November 2012 might be the more likely, given the money-raising schemes Najib has in mind for Umno, BN and of course, himself.
Cleaning up his image and tarnishing Anwar at the same time
In one of his swifter moves, Najib has managed to convince Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria that he and Rosmah were not bad Muslims for attending Thaipusam in Batu Caves, Selangor. Harussani had shocked the nation when he chastised the couple for an 'un-lislamic' action in attending an "idolatrous" even. Within 2 days, national TV1 showed Najib meeting the Mufti and clarifying the Batu Caves trip, and sure enough, Harussani admitted his mistake and declared a clean bill of Islamic health for both PM and wife.
UMNO attacks PR and prepares to win Selangor
On the same night, TV3 held a talk show with Umno's Satim Diman, the Selangor Opposition Leader and Soohaimi Shahadan, the Umno Youth Exco member. Both men rushed to highlight all the things that Pakatan failed to deliver based on their election manifesto. The week before, Najib confirmed the appointment of Ong Tee Keat as the Selangor BN Chief. Last night amid criticism that his grand plan for Selangor was flounder amd he could not even name a Mentri Besar of chief minister-designate, he appointed Mohd Zin, the Sepang Umno Member of Parliament to be the election campaign coordinator for Selangor.
Speculation has swirled that Tee Keat may even be made the Selangor Menteri Besar if he gives up his Pandan parliamentary seat for a state assembly one. If true, this would indeed be a controversial move as it would be the first time ever Selangor had a non-Malay MB. However, all this would depend on the grace of the Sultan.
Umno has also begun efforts to win back Kedah
Umno's hand was sighted stirring unrest in the Pakatan Rakyat-led state government with some MCA-linked association heads lodging complaints that assistants to the Pakatan reps had demanded 'rebate' of between 25 to 30% of the funds due to them. This was followed by BN declaring Kedah a 'winnable' state.
Indelible ink
The Election Commission has just announced that the indelible ink will be used in the GE-13, and that stock ordered must be used within three months of its shelf-life. So, the moment Customs announce the arrival of the first batch of ink, Malaysians will know GE-13 will be within three months from then!
Strengthening BN
Najib has also announced three new affiliate members to BN, namely Gabungan Wawasan Generasi Felda, Persatuan Bekas Anggota Kemas Malaysia and Persatuan Kontraktor Melayu Malaysia. The trio have members all over Peninsular Malaysia, who will be mobilised to help BN win GE-13, focusing on the rural areas and servicing the constituents there.
Mahathir supporting the BN campaign
Mahathir has upped the ante is trying to frighten the Malays in particular, by accusing Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim of being used by the US and Israel to topple BN and set up a puppet government. The underlying message of course is that the fate of the Malays will be very uncertain under Pakatan Rakyat. At the same time Mahathir is trying to instil fear in the minds of the non-Malays that such a regime change will be resisted by the Malays. Violence could even break out, sending Malaysia to the dogs.
Najib not taking any action against Taib
After his April 16, 2011 lesson, Najib has given up on Taib. He is going to continue closing an eye to Taib plundering the wealth of the Sarawak people, so long as Taib delivers the parliamentary seats in GE-13.
Effects from the handouts and economic growth
Najib is also confident that the feel-good factor from the various Budget 2012 cash handouts to students and lower-income families will work in BN's favor. He is hoping the announcement by Bank Negara that Malaysia’s economic growth was 5.2 per cent, exceeding the previous 4.2 per cent forecast, will bolster confidence in his management of the economy.
But are UMNO and Najib really ready?
The answer is NO. Najib is still not happy with the present situation even though Rosmah has been conferred an honorary doctorate by Curtin University to help her clear some of her negative image.
There is talk that Najib has in the works a popularity survey that shows him far ahead of Anwar in the people's esteem. This survey is being held back until he is confident enough to dissolve Parliament.
Najib not only wants to create a feel-good factor. He wants the people to regain confidence BN and help him achieve a two-thirds margin in Parliament. But it may well be fat hopes!
Najib needs more time and money
Then Najib also needs more money. It is significant that the Felda Global Ventures listing will hit the market in May-June. The IPO can be expected to jump on listing day and deliriously-happy Felda settlers can be expected to vote good-old Umno once again when called to the ballot box shortly after.
The grapevine in the Ministry of Finance is buzzing with talk that Umno will siphon out every single piece of unutilised funding from all the other government bodies on the pretext of implementing projects across the nation. Actually, the money will be used in a gigantic vote-buying spree, much like Rosmah's jaw-dropping shopping trips.
1Care will be bulldozed through and Umno-BN will have about RM11 billion to siphon out at the end of the day, perhaps by January next year. Umno will of course continue to milk the Employees Provident Fund.
The Felda listing, expected to hit RM21bil upon debut, will be controlled by Koperasi Permodalan Felda (KPF), which will be the single largest shareholder of the listed Felda Global Ventures entity with a 37 per cent stake. No wonder, Najib was insistent on making Isa Samad the KPF chairman. This will allow Umno and its proxies in Felda to cash out and siphon away huge sums raised from the share sale.
PERKESO or Socso will also have its funds be diverted as well as Tabung Haji, the Umno-supported cooperatives, other statutory bodies and all the Government-Linked-Companies. All these will have to contribute portions of their funds to help Umno stay in power.
Pot of gold at the end of the rainbow
A question worth asking is, does Umno-BN really need so much money to hold GE-13? Obviously, the answer is NO. Najib and his cronies are also jumping on the bandwagon for their LAST GRAB, and Malaysians can be sure that the amounts they 'take' will be many folds that spent on financing GE-13 and to buy all the votes.
But for his plan to be successful, Najib will need time and he is willing to wait even until nearing the end of his term in 2013. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is too much to ignore. Not even Mahathir can frighten him into holding GE-13 earlier.
So given the current status of 1Care, the Felda listing which are both still facing opposition, GE-13 looks more like to be in November 2012 rather May-June. It could even be 2013.
Malaysia Chronicle
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