Just like the Bersih stadium offer, Najib retracts promise to drop quotas

In the latest flip-flop and significantly after the umno supreme council meeting, Prime Minister Najib denied he would abolish Buniputera quotas, although it was widely played up in all the media including the government-controlled press.

Pundits who have been foretelling his fall from favour from the party's top decision-making body, said he had probably received an earful from the supreme council for making pronouncements that the hardliners in the nationalist Malay party interpreted as being disloyal to their community.

"I did not say we want to abolish quotas, but I said we cannot be too reliant on them. Bumiputra entrepreneurs must be independent, willing to work hard to compete with others so we are better respected. I absolutely did not say that quotas will be abolished," he told reporters on Friday.

Same with the Bersih stadium offer

His reply was an eerie reminder of the July 9 Bersih stadium offer, which he retracted and insisted that he had not extended such an offer at all although it was again well documented in all the major press which packed his media conference.

On Tuesday, Najib told a forum that the government is set to "do away with quotas" eventually but would continue to support "bright" bumiputra entrepreneurs to develop their capabilities to survive in the long run.

He even said the 30 per cent bumi equity quota only hampered capable entrepreneurs from developing their abilities. "We want to do away with quotas, but we will support bumiputera entrepreneurs to grow. If we give quotas, they will rest on their laurels and not gain expertise to manage their businesses," said Najib.

Even then, pundits doubted he would carry through with his words, given that his position has been weakened tremendously by a sharp drop in his popularity to 59% in August from 65% in May.

His scandals, including the Scorpene kickbacks and Altantuya -murder case, have also taken a toll on his credibility while the lavish spending sprees of his wife Rosmah Mansor have shocked the conservatives in Umno.

"The reassurance (of eventually dropping quotas) is encouraging but when will the plan be carried out and for how long more will there be preferential treatment as this affects national unity as well as socio-economic progress. So the question is, for how long more must Malaysians wait?" Ramon Navaratnam, chairman of the Centre for Public Policy Studies had told Malaysia Chronicle in an immediate response on Tuesday.

Succession plan

Najib also said the Internal Security Act (ISA) will be repealed in March after two replacement laws are drafted.

“Next week I will begin the process but ISA will be done in March as we need to draft two new laws,” said Najib, who is also the Umno president.

The latest development bodes ill for Najib, further boosting expectations that he will be challenged for the Umno presidency by his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin. Umno will hold its annual meeting in December and internal polls next year.

Speculation has been swirling that he may asked to furnish a succession plan and definitive timeline on when to pass the baton to Muhyiddin