Continuing to defend Najib will cripple Umno, say analysts

 

Wong Chin Huat says as long as Umno continues to rally behind the Najib clan, it will never be able to win back the support of middle-ground Malays. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

Umno’s bid to return to political dominance has been hamstrung by its insistence on defending former prime minister Najib Razak and for trying to “save” him, say political analysts.

Syaza Shukri of the International Islamic University Malaysia said the party’s biggest fault is its refusal to stop sheltering Najib.

Syaza Shukri.

“They should just acknowledge that this (case) has gone through the courts. Najib has been found guilty, and they should leave it to the judiciary,” she told FMT.

“Portraying Najib as innocent and trying to ‘save’ him is the problem,” she added.

Former Umno man Shahril Hamdan has previously been reported as saying that the party’s refusal to acknowledge its failures in dealing with the 1MDB fiasco has prevented it from “moving on from Najib”, leading to a “thorny” relationship with Pakatan Harapan (PH).

Federal Territories Barisan Nasional (BN) chief Johari Ghani also recently said that to return to political dominance, the coalition, which has Umno as its lynchpin, must be cured of four “ailments”.

He told attendees at the Federal Territories BN convention on Nov 24 that BN suffers from delusions, amnesia, inertia and arrogance.

Johari said some leaders and members of BN component parties were labouring under the delusion that the coalition’s past contributions were enough to convince Malaysians to back them.

He also said the coalition had forgotten its roots and core struggles, namely, to develop Malaysia and bring progress for the rakyat.

Wong Chin Huat.

Political scientist Wong Chin Huat was more vehement than Syaza in his assessment of Umno’s failures.

He said the party cannot continue to attribute its losses in the last two general elections to being unfairly smeared by its opponents, or by claiming that the electorate had been manipulated by lies.

“To correct its delusion and amnesia, Umno must recognise the elephant in the room: Umno lost because of 1MDB,” he told FMT.

Wong said the scandal had caused Umno to lose middle-ground Malays who were unable to “swallow excessive corruption” and went to Perikatan Nasional and PH.

“As long as Umno refuses to admit this and continues to rally behind the Najib clan, it will never be able to win back the middle-ground Malay support,” he said.

Wong said Umno must cut ties with Najib or beg him to retire from politics. - FMT