Umno needs to think about life after Najib, says analyst

Umno must think long and hard on whether it wants to continue beating itself up defending its scandal-ridden president Najib Abdul Razak, or look towards a future away from the prime minister's stigma, says a political analyst.

"Umno warlords should ask, how can we live after Najib? It is completely naive to think Najib can survive long after the 14th general election (GE14) even if Umno manages to scrap through the election," Penang Institute fellow Wong Chin Huat told Malaysiakini.

However, any move to divorce Umno from Najib will be fraught with dangers for those initiating it for not only will it be difficult to dislodge the now well-entrenched party chief, it may also shake the Malay party to its very foundation, said Wong.

"They indeed have a collective action problem: how to overthrow Najib without dismantling the party so tied to Najib?"

Wong said the problem is taking down the president may indeed result in Umno itself losing cohesiveness.

But political realities may demand that Umno must soon decide if it wants to focus on its own future or work to defend its president.

"I think they (Umno) should really ask this question: which should be Umno's realistic goal – to never lose? Or to be able to come back after losing?" said Wong.

“Umno can consider the second path by distancing and ultimately disowning Najib," he said.

He added that Umno, however, may insist on the first goal (to never lose) but it must ask itself a hard question: Is it realistic to think the party can rule forever?

He pointed out that from 2008 to 2013, Umno's support base has been constantly shrinking and the current leadership crisis and the baggage of a scandal-ridden president may push the party beyond the line of no return.

"Even though it still survives thanks to gerrymandering of constituencies and the whipping up of ethno-religious insecurities, how long can they play that card?”

Wong said that in the final analysis, Umno may want to think about defending its own future survival, instead of defending the one man who is mainly responsible for putting the party on rocky shores. -Mkini