UMNO is left speechless, again. The party that has ruled Malaysia since 1957 has yet to fully absorb the impact of a successful Opposition-backed rally held on Saturday, but it is clear its leaders must take swift and bold measures before Umno ends up in the rubbish bin of history.
What happened at the HKR#KL112 rally is beyond Umno's wildest dreams. And fears. The event startled even those who have been following it from afar. Yes, the Umno warlords have to shake themselves out of their vicious infighting stupor. They know if they don't set things in motion now, it will be too late.
But ideas and planning have never been Umno's forte. Basically, the party has only 2 plans to salvage itself ahead of a general election that must be held before June this year, i.e.,
1. they ditch their president Najib Razak and force him to cede the Prime Minister's chair to his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin; or
2. stick with the status quo.
Risk-filled but the odds are still with Muhyiddin
But that's what Najib's advisers told him too. Two-time the people, be nice to non-Malays but also be strident and champion Malay supremacy. And it is this duplicity and dishonesty that has landed Najib in the situation he is now in. Eroding popularity ratings, and at 63% the lowest ever held by an incumbent as he prepares to dissolve Parliament.
No, the odds are still with Muhyiddin. Umno watchers say either way the chance of Umno-BN losing the 13th general election is there. At least with Muhyiddin in charge, the internal power equation in Umno can be changed with Najib's men forced to surrender their positions. And to the majority of the Umno warlords, this is fair because Najib and his men were given the chance in 2009 to stem falling public support for their party but they failed. It is only right that they make way now and give the others a chance to 'save' Umno.
Najib waves the white flag?
As for Najib, despite the booming rhetoric, it does look like he has given up. He has lost touch with the aspirations of the people and for this he was again soundly punished! On Saturday, the 59-year-old Najib tried to steal the thunder from the HKR#KL112 rally. He held an event in Semenyih, Selangor to celebrate the Indian community's New Year or Ponggal.
But despite the usual gifts of pocket money, free foods, bags of rice, as well as taking along hundreds of supporters on chartered buses, Najib only pulled in a crowd of 15,000, or so the Umno-controlled press claims. Meanwhile, at the Stadium Merdeka, his arch rival Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim was cheered on and even drowned out by a crowd size of hundreds of thousands.
Notwithstanding the support for Anwar and the Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition, Najib should not even dream of getting Indian votes for just a bag of rice. Malaysian Indians are not morons. Najib should be happy that he was not shown the middle finger when he asked for a mandate for another 5 years, given his slew of scandals.
If we listen to the tone of Najib's speech in Semenyih, there is no conviction his voice. Najib knows full well that the people have heard the same lethargic rhetoric from him over and over again. Yet bereft of new ideas, policies and vision, he has no choice but to beg the people to give him and his BN coalition more time to continue doing 'good things'. Sad to say, it is also not the first time Najib has asked for forgiveness. But till now neither he nor BN have repented or shown remorse.
A few more scandals in the pipeline
Like the Sword of Damocles hanging over Najib's neck, a few more scandals will be exposed before GE-13 that will further engulf him and his wife Rosmah Mansor. The 'whistle blowers' can come from the Opposition but more likely will be from amongst his own colleagues in Umno, who are getting more upset with him with each passing day.
Najib can’t even decide on when the GE-13 should be held because he has lost several golden opportunities. As DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang is fond of saying, Najib shot himself in the foot with his own "vacillating". The opportunity to have more 'conducive' environment is practically zero now.
Najib must surely regret not listening to Mahathir’s advice to hold the election in September. Now, it is too late. No one is listening to him, Mahathir or Umno anymore. Najib is on the defensive rather than offensive because he has no more bullets left to shoots back at his enemies.
Mranwhile, the other UMNO leaders have begun piping up one by one that they are not impressed by the HRK#KL112 gathering. They have no choice but to put a brave face on their worry. Obviously, they are more concerned with the going-ons in their own party than how well the opposition is doing. In Umno style, what directly relates to the money trail is alway the hotter priority.
Don't blame us, we gave you every chance!
As such, the plot to oust Najib has quickened in tempo. Saturday's rally taken together with Najib's declining popularity as revealed by the latest Merdeka centre survey are now the main topic of private discussions in the topmost echelons of Umno.
To ensure that Najib's replacement, Muhyiddin Yassin, gets enough time to settle in and for voters to get used to hm, Umno has to make sure that the GE13 is held as late as possible. Thus June is most probable.
Any remaining doubts that Umno leaders may have harbored about handing over the reins to a Mahathir-backed Muhyiddin have now evaporated. The signs are clear that if Najib chooses to ignore their hints, they must give him a final and powerful push. Don't blame us, we gave you a chance, but you fumbled and fumbled - that is how the Umno elite are now justifying their move to topple their president. And no one can blame them!
Malaysia Chronicle
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