PN opponents in Umno score victory by signalling open season against Muhyiddin

 

Umno, as a member of the ruling Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, has for months toed the line despite brewing discontent over what it perceives as Bersatu sidelining the party.

Several Umno MPs who were speculated to be defecting to the opposition, threatening Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's fragile majority in the Dewan Rakyat, have also repeatedly denied such plans. 

However, the release of a statement by the Umno political bureau on Oct 13 declaring that the party is mulling to quit the PN government and wants a new deal has opened a can of worms.

It was a signal to disgruntled Umno leaders that it was now an open season and several of them have since come out to publicly criticised Muhyiddin's leadership.

Not all Umno leaders were on board with the current confrontational direction but proponents of a more combative style managed to get an upper hand by slipping the political bureau statement to the public.

The statement was controversial as it had yet to be approved by the party's supreme council, suggesting that not all Umno leaders favour going on a collision course against Muhyiddin.

For proponents of the PN government, the race is now on to salvage it. Among those proponents has been BN secretary-general Annuar Musa, who was in March replaced as the Umno secretary-general.

Annuar was replaced by Ahmad Maslan, who was responsible for making public the political bureau's statement before it went to the supreme council.

Annuar was yesterday spotted at Muhyiddin's residence in Kuala Lumpur, but downplayed the significance.

While the horse-trading takes place behind the scenes, several Umno leaders have now come out to air their grouses against PN.

They include criticisms from Umno's Pasir Salak Umno Tajuddin Abdul Rahman and Padang Rengas MP Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.

Umno unhappy with Eco World 'bailout'

The latest to join the chorus is Umno supreme council member Mohd Razlan Rafii who said his party had grown increasingly uneasy with Muhyiddin's leadership.

"There were many government decisions which he made without consulting us (Umno)," said Mohd Razlan Rafii, who shared his views on the fiasco in his personal capacity.

"And many mistakes made in government decisions have led the rakyat to be angry at the governing parties, Umno included.

"These major decisions should have been discussed together. But now, what we saw, many of them were made by Muhyiddin unilaterally, or with only two or three others.

"This should not be the way, because we are going to be blamed too if a decision is a bad one," he told Malaysiakini.

Razlan (photo), sharing his personal views as an Umno supreme council member, 

The Seputeh Umno division vice-chief gave several examples of Putrajaya decisions which he claimed were made without discussing with Umno.

Among them was the decision not to extend further the loan moratorium, and the alleged bailout of Eco World Development Group by UEM Sunrise, which is a property group indirectly owned by Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional.

"We want the moratorium to be extended because we know that the people are suffering (from financial woes). But when he doesn't want to do this, we are taking the flak.

"And then the bailout by UEM Sunrise. Why do we want to bail out this company? We need the money to help the people, not for Sunrise (to bailout Eco World)," he said.

Razlan was referring to a recent merger plan between UEM Sunrise Bhd and Eco World Development Group Bhd, which is a private developer. 

The plan had come under criticism, allegedly because it is said to be in favour of Eco World and would lead to UEM Sunrise suffering losses.

UEM Sunrise had since said that they would review the plan.

'Adib case still unsolved'

Razlan said that there were also things that the Muhyiddin administration has failed to address despite being in power.

Among them is the case of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim who died after sustaining injuries during a riot at Sri Mahamariamman Temple in Seafield, Subang Jaya in 2018; and several high profile corruption investigations including against Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

"We want to fight for Adib. But why could this not be done? Before this, Umno and PAS wanted to fight for the case.

"If (Inspector-General of Police) Abdul Hamid Bador or the attorney-general cannot do it, then he should ask Hamid or the attorney-general why they can't make a decision?

"Are we supposed to just let this case go just like that?"

Another issue Razlan cited concerning appointments made by PN leadership.

He claimed that Muhyiddin had appointed people into positions without consultation.

Citing the practice of previous administrations, the politician said that BN and Pakatan Harapan had made their decisions through meetings.

"During BN time before, many decisions made by the cabinet were also discussed in the Umno Supreme Council and BN leadership meetings.

"Even during Harapan time, they had many discussions through their presidential council. But now, it seems that he (Muhyiddin) doesn't care about all these," said Razlan.

Razlan said his concern as a member of the party leadership was the popularity deficit that Umno is suffering due to PN's decisions.

He said that the Harapan administration had been very popular with the rakyat during its first six months in power, but the support allegedly started declining afterwards.

"The rakyat's support can just swing in six months. When Harapan came into power, the people really liked Harapan.

"But when Harapan could not solve issues concerning the people and made them angry, the people turned around in just six months.

"This is a problem that Umno does not want to get into," he said. - Mkini