Najib burns himself with 'magic wand' aimed to control Umno's UNCONTROLLABLE WARLORDS!

Few in UMNO were surprised when Prime Minister Najib Razak recently announced the formation of a special committee to take charge of 'sabotage issues' within the intrigue-filled party. The message from Najib, who is the UMNO president, was clear - any member caught sabotaging his or her colleagues especially those contesting seats in the coming general election would be SACKED!

Now, is such a message anything new in UMNO? Not at all. Face it, the infighting in UMNO is common knowledge and widespread from the lowest level to the topmost hierarchies. Even the top UMNO leaders admit that sabotage in their party is real and frightening. Envy, rivalry and disgruntlement are often cited by many including former party president Mahathir Mohamad as being among the main reasons why UMNO and its BN coalition lost so many seats in the 12th general election.

Political 'livelihood' at stake

So why the big brouhaha? What is Najib trying to achieve with such a threat, who is he trying to scare and who are these mysterious saboteurs he wants to warn off?

Actually, most of those in UMNO who have the ability and means to wreak internal havoc are the established leaders with their own grass root supporters. They know the 'ins and outs' of UMNO politics and hence, pose a real threat to Najib. If they feel their own political livelihood is being threatened, they will definitely sabotage him and their own party because they have so much to lose.

But are they not afraid of being sacked? The answer is - not in the least bit! Some are even publicly albeit indirectly telling Najib - 'Sack if you dare!' If they cannot get what they want, then they won’t let Najib have what he wants too! That's rule no.1 in UMNO.

However, for the time being the tussle between Najib and his critics from within UMNO appears to have hit a stalemate. None of those that he had hoped to cow have been intimidated into obedience. Instead, mutiny is in the air and it is only a matter of time before Najib finds himself kicked off from the party's topmost post.

Indeed, if the issue - which actually is all about who gets to contest in G13 - remains unresolved or is not accepted by those who matter in UMNO, it will definitely turn sour and backfire badly on Najib.

Muhyiddin quick to jump in

His deputy Muhyiddin Yassin, whom many believe will challenge Najib for the presidency, has been quick to jump into the fray, saying that it was necessary to define what constituted sabotage as well as make known the type of punishment that would be meted out to guilty parties.

Muhyiddin also stressed that sacking should only be done upon finding concrete proof. Now, this really raised eyebrows. To many UMNO watchers, Muhyiddin was once again publicly challenging Najib - 'prove it... if you can'.

According to UMNO pundits, an uneasy compromise has since been reached to the effect that apart from defining what would be regarded as sabotage as well as furnishing proof, any sacking should be carried out only after the 13th general election.

Foolish to imagine he could control the warlords

To be fair, Najib brought this problem onto himself. Infighting and sabotage have always existed in UMNO but now with the stakes so high, it has become even worse.

It did not help that Najib had maneuvered to secure a mandate from party delegates to be the final decision-maker as to who should be on the final list of UMNO candidates in GE13. This move alone alarmed rivals and ratcheted up party infighting by several folds.

But Najib was foolish enough to believe that such a 'green light' would enable him to ride roughshod over fractious warlords and replace them with his own men.

His naivete has indeed cost him the opportunity to call for a quick GE13 as well as exposed him to members' wrath at the coming UMNO assembly. UMNO warlords have not only staged a fierce fightback but are now publicly thumbing their nose at him and his cousin Hishammuddin Hussein, the UMNO vice president and Home Minister.

Lip service

To head off further animosity against himself and his camp, Najib has assured that, since the UMNO party polls will be held after GE13, most of those chosen to contest for seats in the Parliament and state assemblies would come from the present set up.

But this is only lip service to pacify those who fear that they will not be selected them because of their affiliations with other top UMNO leaders who may not be 'that close' with the Najib camp. To be precise, those who fear they may be sidelined are those who support Mahathir, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, former premier Abdullah Badawi or Kelantan prince Tengku Razaleigh. These factions are all watching Najib closely.

It is an undeniable fact that as far as possible Najib will want to field all of his people. Najib also knows it is good strategy to make sure that those who are their own men like Tengku Razaleigh are retained in the UMNO-BN lineup - partly to prevent them from cooperating with the Opposition and partly to ensure he retains their goodwill, even if he cannot win their 100% loyalty.

Many incumbents especially in Sabah including unpopular Chief Minister Musa Aman will also be retained to stop them from helping the Opposition. Of course, this may have the counter-productive effect of chasing away those BN leaders completely disgusted and disillusioned by Musa's autocratic and allegedly corrupt ways. But that is another story.

The question remains - is Najib agile enough to keep everyone in a good mood and the BN a 'happy family'. Given that the majority of UMNO-BN leaders have become so  pampered and accustomed to bountiful largesse through the decades, it is highly unlikely. A mandate to decide who gets to contest in GE13 is no magic wand indeed. It is more like possessing a piece of paper to contain a FIRE!

Malaysia Chronicle