Najib wants Selangor, badly

Gomen Man, Malaysian Insider

There is a reason why Najib Razak is going to Selangor nearly every week: Getting back the country’s richest state is the minimum passing mark he has set himself in the coming elections.

Umno insiders say that Najib and his strategists do not believe Barisan Nasional (BN) can regain its two-thirds control of Parliament, but think that winning back Selangor will assuage Umno members and prevent a coup attempt against him.

And that is why Najib is using money like water in Selangor and spending nearly every weekend in some district there. And that is also why Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has reason to be worried about the sudden increase in the number of voters in constituencies in the state.

As it stands, Najib is confident that he will still be the prime minister and that he will do slightly better than Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. But not everyone in Umno believes that Najib’s advisors are giving him the right information, with some betting that anything between six and 10 parliamentary seats will fall in Sarawak, and that a good number of seats in Johor will also be lost.

On the flip side, Umno is confident that Kelantan will be retaken and Perak will stay with BN. Najib is due to visit Perak tomorrow and meet folks in Beruas and Ipoh, among other places, to convince them that his coalition is the best for the state.

But it is Selangor where Najib knows his fortunes lie. If the state remains with PR, Najib will have to look over his shoulders. A few days ago, he told the Selangor poor that they have to vote BN for poverty-eradication programmes to continue. Funny, where were these programmes in all the years that BN kept Selangor?

This is why you’ll see many reports of illegal sand excavations in Selangor. The newspapers are involved in making PR look as bad as possible. There will be cases of water problems, uncollected garbage and even social issues that will be blamed on Khalid Ibrahim and his cohorts.

All this for Najib and BN to look like saviours. Because Najib needs to win the country’s richest state and ensure PR will not use the wealth to expand their influence.

So Najib needs to sell himself and be seen with the people. As it is, there is a huge debate over who will be BN’s choice for a mentri besar if it retakes the state. Najib knows the history of most Selangor mentris besar. Even the most inexperienced unknown made sure he extracted more than sand from the state’s highest political and executive office.

Najib will keep visiting Selangor until its Election Day. And election day is when he is sure he can win back Selangor. It could be soon unless PR bucks up in their first term and do what they have promised.

This prime minister wants to win Selangor so badly and he might get it back unless the people remain vigilant.