A storm is brewing as the Umno elite bargain for territory ahead of the GE

Something is brewing Umno, right at the top, and a brawl that has broken amongst its troop of bloggers has given the game away. It looks Prime Minister Najib Razak and his sometimes-mentor, sometimes-foe Mahathir Mohamad are at odds again.

At the crux of the issue is as always - the spoils of the game. Who gets what, when and how much?

With Najib keen to call for general elections as early as possible, talk is that former premier Mahathir Mohamad has to speed up negotiations to secure 'rightful' positions and territory for his son Mukhriz and their supporters.

So when Najib gave a hint last Thursday that general elections were "just around the corner" and that 11 was his favorite number, it sparked speculation that polls could be held as early as June 11 or more possibly July 11.

Mahathir panicked

Suddenly on Saturday, Utusan with the help of pro-Umno bloggers Big Dog aka Zakhir Mohamad and his colleague Marahku stirred up a hornet's nest.

They accused the DAP of colluding with a group of Christian pastors to topple the King, change the country's religion from Islam to Christianity and then install a Christian prime minister.

At first, many pundits believed it had to do with the Umno 65th anniversary celebration this week. But then on Saturday afternoon itself, Mahathir raised eyebrows eyebrows when he reeled off a string of criticism against Najib.

The former Umno president bluntly said general elections should not be held earlier than 2012, and also accused Najib's government of being weak and that's why there were so many religious and racial spats since Najib took over as prime minister.

Najib, who was overseas in Jakarta for the Asean Summit, quickly called for calm.

"It looks Dr M wants to 'jatuhkan' (topple) Najib before the GE. Umno is full of intrigue. It is a party with a long history but there has been talk going on about a tussle for a while now. It looks like it has broken out again," an Umno watcher told Malaysia Chronicle.

"Mahathir is trying secure a succession for Mukhriz. Whereas Najib wants to stay around for longer and his cousin Hishammuddin is also waiting in line, not to mention Rosmah is not very happy to give in to Dr M's demands. But they won't expose each, that's not their style. They have their own game and they use other people as pawns."

Hishammuddin Hussein is Najib's cousin and the son of Malaysia's third prime minister. Najib's father was the second while Mahathir, the 4th, had ruled Malaysia from 1981 to 2003. Rosmah is Najib's wife and those who work in Putrajaya have said in private conversations that all commercial deals go through her.

Meanwhile, looking on but at a slight distance are Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Kelantan prince Tengku Razaleigh.

Razaleigh - despite his talent - age and the fact that he did not care to build enough network with the Umno warlords means he is unlikely to be a major player in the Umno power game. Neither is Muhyiddin.

However, either of them - Muhyiddin or Ku Li - can be picked to co-star with Najib or later on Hishammuddin and Mukhriz.

Out in the cold is Najib's direct predecessor, Abdullah Badawi, the 5th prime minister. His son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin is still in deep freeze for snubbing Mahathir when Badawi was in power.

A sign of implosion

In blogosphere, despite raining blows at each other, Umno bloggers were careful not to mention Mahathir's name despite the obvious link. The 85-year former premier is known for his far-reaching influence, wealth and vengefulness.

Big Dog - who is also known as the RM13 million man - which is what he and a few key partners were rumored to have been paid by Mahathir years ago to install a network of pro-Umno bloggers and cybertroopers was accused of being 'disloyal' to Najib.

Another well-known Umno blogger, Pak Gomo called for Big Dog to be arrested under the Internal Security Act, while anti-Pakatan Rakyat blog Gelombang Wangsa Maju tried to twist in DAP parliamentarian Jeff Ooi into the plot.

Before he stood for election and won in 2008, former journalist Jeff was also a blogger and close friend of Big Dog's.

"It looks like party factionalising has moved over to cyberspace. But as far as the rumours about the Christian pastors are concerned, when something wrong has been done, the authorites must act, be it in the Internet or in the mass media. Once they fail to do, there will be loss in public confidence and suspicion against the government will grow," Ramon Navaratnam, chariman of Centre for Public Policy Studies, told Malaysia Chronicle.

- Malaysia Chronicle