AS SCANDALS MOUNT, Najib to announce dissolution of Parliament on MONDAY?

There is red-hot speculation with political circles that embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak will announce the dissolution of Parliament on Monday amid mounting scandals against him and his Umno party.

The dissolution will pave the way for Malaysia's 13th general elections, which has been much anticipated and already tagged as being a "mother of all battle". GE13 may well yield Malaysia's first regime change since obtaining independence from British rule in 1957.

The Pakatan Rakyat coalition led by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim is rated as having a better than even chance of unseating Najib's Umno-BN federal government.

"There is a strong possibility. They are preparing for dissolution from next week onwards. Umno has no more space to maneuver. To Najib's advisers, they think he is now riding on a high due to the TV and media false reporting on the Sulu intrusion and the slander towards Anwar and Tian," PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli told Malaysia Chronicle.

"Now with public sentiment starting to shift due to the extreme violence and bad behavior by the Umno groups towards Tian, not to mention Bala's death and Americk's bombshell, I am sure they will try to hold GE13 as quickly as possible. They will surely try not to lose the 'advantage' they perceive themselves to have."

Heat may backfire

Rafizi was referring to the recent intrusion of a group of some 200 armed gunmen onto Malaysian shores in Lahad Datu, Sabah. Najib has been accused of botching their eviction and trying to throw blame for the lapse in national security onto Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and MP for Batu Tian Chua.

There is already rising concern Anwar might be arrested on false charges of having 'masterminded' the intrusion while sedition charges have already been pressed against Tian for allegedly saying that Umno was to blame for the Lahad Datu crisis, which has so far claimed the lives of 10 Malaysian security forces.

NGOs linked to the Umno-BN have staged violent demonstrations at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya, injuring 5, and just a day ago, Tian's car was attacked by some 50 men.

However, the heat stirred up may end up burning Najib and Umno instead.

The Americk bombshell

Adding to the pressure, senior lawyer Americk Sidhu dropped a bomshell on Saturday, revealing that it was Najib who had instructed another prominent lawyer Cecil Abraham to draft a second statutory declaration for the purpose of overturning a first that had implicated Najib in the controversial Altantuya Shaariibuu murder.

"Najib can no longer remain silent. One way or another he has to respond. Even the people in Umno are getting restless, not all will accept a head who is tainted in a murder scandal. It is entirely possible he will dissolve on Monday. If he doesn't then it will be Friday, which is the day that his own BN media have been reporting as being the D-day," Tan Kee Kwong, a senior PKR leader told Malaysia Chronicle.

Malaysia Chronicle