TO SACK Lajim or NOT? Najib afraid to offend Musa Aman, has no say over Sabah Umno

The rush by Umno leaders, especially in Peninsular Malaysia, to demand that their Sabah colleague Lajim Ukim "resign gracefully" without involving Prime Minister Najib Razak has raised eyebrows.

Indeed, a guessing game has begun over whether Najib, who is also Umno president, will sack Lajim or let him remain as an ordinary member of the party.

Lajim had quit from Umno's powerful Supreme Council and as well from the Beaufort BN division. But he remains an ordinary Umno member, saying he would leave that as well as his deputy minister's post in the Federal Cabinet for Najib to decide on.

Afraid of Musa

Political observers suspect that Najib's minders were trying to shield him from making a decision by batting back at Lajim.

But whichever way Najib decided, Umno's image would suffer while infighting in the fractious party would grow even more intense, the pundits added.

"Najib is now in a very weak position. There is open rebellion in Umno - much worse than during Abdullah Badawi's time," a veteran Umno watcher toldMalaysia Chronicle, referring to Najib's predecessor.

"If Najib sacks Lajim, it will be read by many in Sabah Umno that he is afraid of Musa Aman. Musa has more enemies than friends in Sabah Umno now. He has been too autocratic and no one can stand him anymore. Even Najib the Umno president has to watch Musa's 'face' and follow his wishes as far as Sabah goes."

"But if Najib doesn't sack Lajim, he will antagonize not only Musa but also other Umno leaders in West Malaysia. They will compare him with Badawi and say that at least Badawi had the guts to sack Zaid Ibrahim. Mind you, Zaid was protesting the ISA and was nowhere near Lajim who is openly supporting the Opposition."

Sabah reform front

Lajim, who is also the Beaufort MP, has publicly expressed his support for the Pakatan Rakyat led by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

It is clear Lajim is an Umno member in name only. He had announced his decision to switch allegiance over the weekend, declaring that it was for the people's sake. Lajim also slammed BN and questioned how after 15 years, there was still no road built in his constituency.

His decision together with Wilfrid Bumburing, the Tuaran MP's, to become Pakatan-friendly has sent a shiver across the Umno-led BN coalition which has ruled Malaysia for the past 5 decades.

Umno's own influence over the Malay electorate is waning and the BN-led government stands in danger of being toppled at the next general election, due to be held latest by April 2013.

Wilfrid had quit as the deputy chief of Upko party as well as from the BN's Tuaran division to form the Sabah Reform Front - a platform for Sabah leaders to unite on to fight for change.

Najib may decide not to decide on anything

Najib is due to announce his decision on Lajim on Monday.

Given the manner in which the BN-controlled press has been taunting Lajim and suggesting that no one should have to decide for him, it looks like the indecisive Najib may dither further and try to put the blame on someone else.

"No one would be surprised if Najib decided not to decide on anything. But this would only make things worse for him and demoralize Umno more. How can the country's biggest party with 3 million members chicken out on taking action against someone they criticize as disloyal. Does it make sense?" the Umno watcher said.

Sabah Umno deputy chief Salleh Said and national Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin have continued to pound at Lajim.

"Lajim cannot have it both ways. If he openly disagrees with the party stand or the government stand and he tacitly wants to work with the opposition instead, then he should just quit Umno as a gentleman would. [But] he wants to act like a hero and he can [then] go around and tell the people that he was sacked while fighting for the rights of the people," Salleh told Bernama.

Malaysia Chronicle