UMNO ELEPHANTS FIGHT, MALAYSIA GETS TRAMPLED: IT'S NOW ZAHID VS MUHYIDDIN VS NAJIB, OPPOSITION KNOCKED OUT!

KUALA LUMPUR - Embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak's much-watched Budget 2016 speech has been delivered and duly snubbed. It looks like there's nothing the 62-year-old leader can do right in the eyes of the Malaysian people and even in his own Umno party.

Just a day after the Budget's unveiling, hailed by Najib's supporters as a lifeline to his flagging political fortunes and criticized as unabashed financial manipulation that will further erode Malaysia's fast-sinking economy, 13 branch leaders from his ruling Umno party called for his resignation.

For speaking their minds, Najib's coterie of sycophants have rushed to demand that the group of 13 be sacked from Umno - a move that is bound to intensify the open rebellion now visible across a large spectrum of party ranks.

Such outspokenness against the Umno president is rare but not unprecedented. In fact, the call brings a sense of deja-vu harking back to Najib's own move to bring down his former boss, Abdullah Badawi, who quit as Malaysia's 5th prime minister in 2009 when faced with the prospect of an embarrassing defeat at the Umno polls.

Three 'minefields' are on the horizon for Najib to navigate - each with the potential to send him out from office in disgrace and possibly straight to jail, where his arch foe and former Opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim languishes on sodomy charges purportedly trumped-up by Najib himself. Poetic justice or karma, time will tell.

The first 2 events will take place in Parliament - a vote on Budget 2016 and a no-confidence motion against Najib. If both fail, many believe Najib's critics in Umno will bring a no-confidence vote against him at the party's annual general assembly in December.

If Muhyiddin was Najib's kingmaker, Zahid may be Najib's political undertaker

Oddly, Najib's most dangerous foes are not members of the Opposition but come from within Umno. They are former premier Mahathir Mohamad; Muhyiddin Yassin - the former deputy premier whom Najib sacked when the 1MDB financial scandal threatened to unravel; and Tengku Razaleigh - the Kelantan prince with access to the powerful Malay rulers who recently censured Najib for the rise in racial tensions and corruption in the country.

But with 'trump cards' fast depleting, Najib's biggest threat may actually be none other than Zahid Hamidi, the Umno 'warlord' or power-broker whom he appointed to replace Muhyiddin in June.

Zahid is a force to be reckoned, not only because of his popularity in Umno, but also because he holds the powerful Home Ministry portfolio, which controls the police, Immigration and the media.

"Najib had no choice but to make Zahid DPM as well as let him retain the Home Ministry because he needed Zahid's support in Umno and above that, he wanted to pit Zahid against Muhyiddin," a political source told Malaysia Chronicle.

"The object is to make Muhyiddin (who is the Umno deputy president) fight off Zahid (who is one of three elected vice presidents) for the PM's chair. Both Zahid and Muhyiddin have their own support bases and a stalemate between the two will help Najib to prolong his own time as PM."

According to the political grapevine, Muhyiddin has not agreed to give up his 'stake' on the Umno presidency, and hence the PM's seat, should Najib be ousted either in Parliament or at Umno.

"Umno people are saying Zahid wants Muhyiddin to step down as the Umno deputy president first before he will support any move to bring down Najib. And the numbers Zahid can bring are crucial. This is why Zahid is sounding out threats to arrest Dr M, who has publicly said the successor should be Muhyiddin. It's to send a message - no deal unless I get to be PM," said the source.

According to the source, the dynamics of this power equation is what is keeping Najib in power. Najib's support has been corroded badly but as long as he can play off the Zahid-Muhyiddin stalemate and hang on until the next general election, he still has the chance to outsmart the other two.

"To those outside Umno, this is unbelievable because Najib and the 1MDB scandal are so harmful to the country's image and economy. But in Umno, these guys only care about their own positions. Malaysia can go to the dogs, become a failed state for all they care," said the source.

Don't be nostalgic

It is telling that Zahid has come out, guns a-blazing a day after Muhyiddin told a public forum how he had given way to Najib, who was then the deputy Umno president, to take over from Badawi even though Mahathir has asked him to be PM in 2009.

“I respect what he is saying, and his feelings (but) we need not be nostalgic over things that did not become reality,” Malaysiakini reported Zahid as saying.

Muhyiddin had recounted, "I met Dr Mahathir and he asked me to go for the presidency. But I said no, I can't, I am only party vice president, and Najib is the deputy president, so he should go for it."

Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang has warned that Umno 'battle royale' might be the tipping point for Malaysia - once regarded admired for its high growth economy and stable politics.

"The battle between Najib's 300 UMNO chieftains and the three million UMNO members will be a major factor to determine the fate of Malaysia, whether Malaysia will hurtle headlong to become a rogue and failed state because of breakdown of rule of law, rampant corruption and abuses of power, and the collapse of good governance or whether Malaysia can pick herself up, re-strategise and reunite to strike forward to fulfill our national potential when we were on verge of becoming one of the Asian tigers before the 1997 financial crisis," DAP adviser Kit Siang said in a statement.  - Malaysia Chronicle