Shahbudin: After Pagoh, Najib will move against Muhyiddin

If Muhyiddin is sacked, it will be good for him since even more branch leaders and the grassroots will rise up in protest to reject Najib whose leadership has been found wanting.

KUALA LUMPUR: A political analyst has ventured in his latest blog posting that Umno President and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak would have no choice eventually but to move against his deputy in the party, Muhyiddin Yassin, who he reckons has become a burden and continues to create difficulties for him by raising the twin mega scandals, the 1MDB scandal and the RM2.6 billion political donation “controversy” in his (Najib’s) personal banking accounts. “A day before the Umno General Assembly, this time on December 10, the Supreme Council is supposed to meet.”

“It’s believed that Muhyiddin will either be suspended during this meeting to prevent him speaking as the Deputy President during the closing of the meeting or he may even be sacked from the party.”

Already, pointed out Shahbudin the analyst, Muhyiddin has been questioning why he has been prevented from officiating at the Wanita, Youth and Puteri meetings on December 8. “If Muhyiddin is sacked, it will be good for him since even more branch leaders and the grassroots will rise up in protest to reject Najib. The people will be sympathetic towards Muhyiddin.”

“The rise of many in protest will render Najib’s position in the party and government increasingly vulnerable and change in the party and government, much needed, will become a reality.”

Shahbudin reckons that whether through Umno or the power of the people, Najib will eventually be purged by the system, from the citadels of power which he now occupies. “This will raise Muhyiddin’s name once more in the politics of the nation. He’s right to say that he cannot bear the sin of keeping quiet and will continue to speak up even at the risk of being sacked from the party.”

The analyst was commenting on Muhyiddin turning up on Sunday in Pagoh, his parliamentary seat, to inquire whether the people there would still continue to support him if he becomes an independent MP, a possibility if he’s sacked from the party. “What’s clear is that Muhyiddin has not changed from the time that he first raised the twin mega scandals which led to his removal from the Cabinet in late July. The people are reassured and he should feel inspired that they will continue to support him even as an independent MP. Najib is not going to take Pagoh lying down.”

“Muhyiddin’s speech in his parliamentary seat has made the people happy. They see him as being consistent in his approach, in the search for truth, after having been silent of late for quite some time.”

The analyst added that the Umno number two being consistent coincides with the rising revolt among the branch leaders in the party against the Najib leadership which is seen as being unable to provide the kind of government that the country needs and has lost the people’s vote of confidence.

Muhyiddin on his part, said the analyst, has no choice but to continue to oppose Najib as he was elected by the delegates to hold the number two position in the party. “If he just keeps quiet, after all that has happened in July, he will be forgotten by the party.”

“Keeping quiet is not an option. That will raise the question of why he didn’t keep quiet from the beginning and instead spoke up to the extent that he was sacked from the Cabinet. If he wants to keep quiet, he should have just kept quiet from the beginning and avoided getting sacked.”

In short, it’s too late for Muhyiddin to keep quiet at this juncture. He has no choice but continue to speak up on the twin mega scandals and related issues that continue to bog down the party and government with no closure in sight. “The twin mega scandals are not going to go away. Najib has been unable to address them with sincerity and honesty. It’s pointless for the Prime Minister to go here and there and pretend that the twin mega scandals do not exist or has been answered and settled.”

No one is listening to Najib anymore on anything, continued the analyst. “When they see him, they are reminded of the twin mega scandals which he has failed to address. The longer he fails to address these scandals, the more his credibility takes a nosedive. The people have no confidence in him.”