Futile attempts to breach fortress Najib

Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin said the opposition may not even contest against the prime minister in the end.

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin today laughed off the opposition’s intention to breach fortress Najib – the Pekan parliamentary seat

Muhyiddin, when asked about PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang contesting the seat, said, “I am sure the prime minister [Najib Tun Razak] will welcome the challenge.

” For the prime minister, the more the merrier, ” Muhyiddin said at the launch of the World Innovation Forum here.

Hadi, a political veteran with more than three decades of experience, recently announced that he may contest in Pekan with influential PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Nik Mat’s endorsement.

Pekan incumbent Najib was the Pahang menteri besar between 1982 and 1986.

The Kuala Lipis-born Najib first entered politics at the age of 22 in 1976, barely five weeks after his father, Tun Abd Razak’s passing in January that year, when he had been elected to fill the Pekan vacancy, making him the youngest MP in Malaysia’s history at 29.

Former Umno minister Zaid Ibrahim was also reported to have expressed the same intention although the ex-PKR leader said he would only pursue the idea if Hadi backs down.

Not bothered

Umno leaders feel that contesting against the prime minister will be the end of Hadi’s political career, while some label it as likely to be the former Terengganu menteri besar’s most embarrassing spell in politics.

“And who knows they may not even contest in the end… I don’t think we should be bothered by this,” said Muhyiddin.

Meanwhile, the deputy prime minister continued to harp on the PAS-DAP split, mocking Hadi’s call to the Malays to back the latter whom Muhyiddin accused of Chinese chauvinism for its alleged failure to safeguard Malay interests.

“If all the Malays back the DAP, then who else will back PAS?” asked Muhyiddin.

Calling them racists, he said the ties between DAP and PAS is superficial given their ideological differences.

PAS is an Islamist party while the DAP a staunch secularist and the two have yet to resolve several longstanding issues, including the latter’s plan to make Malaysia an Islamic state.