‘Najib’s support sees divide between warlords and members’

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak may have received the backing of 154 out of 191 Umno division chiefs to act against his vocal opponents but the Umno president is unlikely to get similar support from the three million party members.

DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang alluded to this in reference to an internal Umno poll which found the majority of Umno division leaders backing plans to act against seven “errant” Umno leaders.

While the party has refused to reveal the names of the seven leaders, Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin, Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former Umno secretary-general Sanusi Junid are believed to be among the leaders on the chopping board.

“The result may be different if a poll is conducted among the three million Umno members as it is becoming quite clear that for the first time since Merdeka, Umno has never been so fragmented and fractured between the 300 Umno chieftains versus the three million Umno members,” said Lim in a statement today.

Lim pointed that while the Umno chieftains are in “Najib’s pocket”, the same cannot be same about the three million Umno members if a recent Merdeka Centre poll was any indication.

He highlighted the Merdeka Centre survey conducted in August and reported by Singapore’s The Straits Times which found that Najib’s government had for the first time under his tenure lost the majority support of Malays.

The poll, conducted among voters in peninsula Malaysia, found that the government’s approval rating was at an all-time low of 23 percent with 31 percent of Malays and five percent of Chinese supporting the government.

“The plunge of overall Malaysian support to 23 percent and Malay voter support to 31 percent in August - and most likely lower now for both indicators some two months later in October with the aggravation of multitude of political, economic, good governance and nation-building scandals - are new political phenomena which cannot be ignored by the three million Umno members, even if the 300 Umno chieftains continue to belabour under a denial syndrome.

“In these circumstances, although Najib seems quite safe and secure in his support among the Umno 300 chieftains even though his prime minister's popularity rating among Malaysians have fallen below 30 percent and he has also lost the majority of support of the Malay voters, the three million Umno members must decide whether Umno’s survival in the next general elections will lie in having a new Umno head and prime minister,” he said. -Mkini