Najib burying himself deeper into a hole: think-tank

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak seem to be burrowing himself deeper and deeper into the political perception quagmire, as all his efforts to lift himself out seems only to worsen the situation.

Indeed, a political analyst posited that such is the stigma attached to the PM that he has become the proverbial millstone around Umno's neck.

"In terms of public perception the issue has become a burden to the party," said Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) CEO Wan Saiful Wan Jan.

"Unfortunately in politics the actual legality does not really matter. It is public perception that matters most. If he is innocent, it is really unfortunate for him, but the reality is public perception is not on his side," he added.

The failure here, Wan Saiful described, is due to Najib's botched handling of the crisis of confidence in him.

"It is a shame that he is handling the issue the way he is handling it now. The cabinet reshuffle and the sacking of attorney-general, while it secured his position, damaged his public perception severely. One cannot recover from that," said the political analyst.

Asked if Najib's situation as a liability to Umno can be compared to what happened to former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, when his personal issues made him a liability to the opposition, the think-tank chief said that they are "worlds apart".

"Anwar managed to galvanise support around him even though he was a liability at one stage, but ultimately he was the uniting leader," argued Wan Saiful.

This differs from Najib whose every action seems likely to bury himself further into depths of the political perception quagmire, and his very presence is a threat not only to Umno unity but its political survival as well.

Wan Saiful (photo) posited that Umno may not be able to go on further defending their leader as it may come at the cost of their own political survival.

"I am very sure that as we get closer to the next general election other leaders in the party will start to consider if they should go ahead with Najib's leadership or not," he related.

Though asked if he saw any concerted movement being mounted against Najib form within Umno power structure, he said that this is yet to be seen though the cracks are already apparent.

"I think that the fact that they keep saying that they should band together to support the present leadership proves they know that the leadership has become a bit shaky. Of course Najib has full power to shape the team around him but I think already people in Umno are raising this concern.

"Despite the public commitment among the leaders that there is no problem, I find that a bit difficult to believe. They must be discussing this internally," said Wan Saiful.

But within Umno at the moment there is no such movement, the analyst said, which is why he thinks that for now Najib is secure.

Wan Saiful opined that the main stumbling block in any internal plot to replace Najib is the lack of successors should the party president be taken down.

"This is the problem that Umno is facing and ironically that problem is source of strength for Najib, as they don't have a potential successor. It is a problem for Umno, but it is good news for Najib," he explained.

The lack of successors is an issue that Umno must really look into, said Wan Saiful, adding that "they are lucky the opposition have no potential successor either, if the opposition become stronger and better organised, the opposition can mount a potent challenge".

Beginning from his alleged entanglements in the murder of Mongolian national Altantuyaa Shaariibuu, Najib was dogged by scandal since his days as defence minister, though his recent 1MDB link and 'donation' matter, has been the most damaging to his political career. -Mkini