NAJIB BETS ON TIME TO TAKE OUT 90-YR-OLD DR M: But polls delay also gives rivals more rope to hang him

Postponing Umno’s party elections would likely give its besieged president breathing room to deal with divisions in the party that have opened up after being attacked by his well-respected predecessor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

But political analyst Ibrahim Suffian argued that the decision will not really help Umno deal with the challenges it faces as an institution from a more discerning public.

The decision is more to do with securing Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s position within Umno.

The fact that Najib managed to get his supreme council members to agree to the decision reflects his strength in the party, said Ibrahim.

This is since some of those supreme council members have in the past, appeared to take a different line than Najib on issues such as the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

Postponing the party elections could also come at a cost said Penang Institute’s Dr Wong Chin Huat, as it could embolden his enemies in the party to also work harder to dethrone him.

The Umno supreme council decided to postpone the party elections, which is scheduled next year, by 18 months.

This would mean the elections would probably be held in mid-2018, at about the same time the next general election would have to be called.

Holding the party’s elections after the national polls would take off some of the pressure towards Najib from Umno dissidents and allow him to pull the party together to face what could be its make-or-break election.

In the 13th general election, Umno along with its Barisan Nasional (BN) allies only won 47% of the popular vote. Election watchdogs have said that the BN only managed to remain in power because of gerrymandering.

BN’s critics especially from the opposition are expecting a wave of protest votes against the ruling coalition in the next general election.

Najib himself said that the postponement of Umno elections was to allow the party and its BN allies to concentrate on the next general election.

At the Umno general assembly last year, his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had urged the party not to postpone the polls.

The fact that Najib managed to convince Muhyiddin was itself a feat, said Ibrahim (pic, right) of the Merdeka Center, since the latter has been critical of 1MDB, which is Najib’s brain child.

“The postponement will also throw a spanner in the works of Dr Mahathir who is hell-bent on removing Najib,” Ibrahim said, knowing the party’s polls are one of the few ways a sitting Umno president can be removed.

Mahathir’s relentless war to have Najib removed has created factions within the party, mostly among ordinary members.

But the president enjoys near majority support from the party’s division officials all over the country, who form the party’s crucial middle ranks.

However, Ibrahim argues that the postponement will have little impact on whether Umno can face the daunting challenges to its future as an institution.

The party seems to still have problems changing its outlook to fit the expectations of a multi-cultural society that has become more discerning, critical and inclusive in outlook.

A January survey by Merdeka Center showed that a majority of voters want political parties that take care of all Malaysians, rather than ones that fight for one race or religion.

Even among Malays, Umno’s traditional support base, 67.5% of them told the survey that they would like a party that takes care of all Malaysians.

This is despite the fact that Najib and Umno has been leaning towards being more Malay-centric in their outlook and rhetoric.

“BN’s race-centric parties are growing increasingly out of sync among the electorate,” said Ibrahim.

And the challenge of convincing this new electorate to vote for Umno is not something that be easily solved by changing the party president. – TMI