Umno Youth pressuring KJ to support Najib?

Pro-Najib factions within Umno Youth are pressuring their chief Khairy Jamaluddin to make a stand on whether or not he supports the Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

According to a source within the Youth wing, four Umno Youth exco members demanded that Khairy make a stand at the wing's meeting yesterday.

“They demanded that Khairy state what is his stand, whether he is for Najib or against.

“This upset Khairy, who said he couldn’t make such a statement. So he made a compromise, which he announced at yesterday’s press conference,” the source told Malaysiakini on condition of anonymity.

However, Federal Territories Umno Youth chief Razlan Rafii denied there was any move to press Khairy to make a stand.

“No, that didn’t happen,” he told Malaysiakini when asked about the source’s allegations.

Malaysiakini has contacted Khairy, and is awaiting a response.

On Tuesday, the Umno Youth chief told reporters that the Youth wing would meet with Najib and present him their motions, including one by the Gelang Patah division asking the party president to step down.

Semporna Umno Youth also passed three motions critical of Najib, including demands that the 18-month postponement of the Umno polls be rescinded and elections be held as scheduled next year; urging Najib to go on leave and the third, for the 1MDB issue to be dealt with in a transparent manner.

This comes amid growing tensions within the ruling party over Najib’s involvement in the 1MDB scandal, as well as the RM2.6 billion donation he had allegedly received from Middle-Eastern funders.

Umno Youth jittery at fence-sitting

Anti-Najib sentiments within Umno have become especially prominent after the prime minister axed Muhyiddin Yassin as his deputy.

In the Youth wing, the source said many leaders are squarely behind their chief.

“But they are jittery. They want to follow his lead, but Khairy hasn’t made clear where he stands.

“He needs to make a decision. If he chooses to support Najib, people will understand why. But he needs to do something,” he said.

Razlan said the Federal Territories Umno Youth was firmly behind the party president.

“All the divisions in the FT Umno Youth support the party and the president.

“Alhamdulillah, even though there were some who spoke out while raising motions, we were able to address them,” he said. -Mkini