Dice loaded in Najib’s favour until 2018 GE

YOURSAY | ‘It’s almost impossible to remove an Umno president, and hence the PM.’

How long will Najib last?

6th Generation Immigrant: Umno members are the key to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s future, and the future of his cohorts.

So Najib may be around for a while longer, no thanks to former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's 22 years of rearranging conventions, rules, procedures and constitutions.

So much so that it is almost impossible to remove an Umno president, and hence today, also the premier of Malaysia, no matter how good or bad that person may be.

Mahathir's tinkering all these years plus his conceited views and implementation of the New Economic Policy, have killed the true sense of real democracy.

We hope he sees that with regret in his sunset days. If the survey is accurate, one can "assume" that only 1.5 million Umno members support Najib.

However once infiltrated, the rest of the gutless BN coalition will jump ship like rats. This is the only tunnel with some faint lighting creeping through for Malaysia to return to the pre-1981 norm.

Next time around, even if Malay hegemony is necessary, meritocracy must be held supreme.

Doc: I think Najib will be around as prime minister for a long time. Although it's agreed that Najib is Malaysia's worst premier this nation has ever had, that he is fixated in staying in power, and is driving this nation's economy into the ground.

I don't think Umno can cut a deal with Najib to leave the prime ministership with the promise of no legal action. This is because all Malaysians want Najib punished.

Umno letting Najib loose will send a clear message to all Malaysians that Umno does not want to change from its corrupt ways and BN will suffer badly in the next election.

As for Najib, he will have to leave the country. But where will he go to? Once the Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI), Swiss and British authorities conclude their investigation on the 1MDB debacle, an international warrant will be out for him and he will not have the prime ministership to protect him.

This is why Najib will want to stay on as premier and morph into a dictator and cancel elections just to stay out of jail.

Sarawakian: However, my grapevine in Sarawak tells me that Najib has been planning his exit for quite some time.

Standard operating procedure for corrupt strongmen; step down on your own terms after you have consolidated your power.

I predict Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah is in contention for the premier’s post which is why he signed the Kelantan Declaration. A pact with the devil? Good political move actually.

Razaleigh is on good terms with PAS, Umno, some opposition people, bad blood with Mahathir, and has made some noises on reform. So who else is there for a stop-gap measure?

Negarawan: The more pertinent question is how long will Malaysia last under Umno? Malaysia is rapidly being erased from the list of respected and progressive nations.

Anonymous_1421806811: The next prime minister must have a tenure in office not exceeding two parliamentary terms. This will ensure a premier does not become "king" through corrupt practices, abuse of power and conspiracy of the highest order.

And if the attorney-general is found to have misused his position, then he too should be judged by a court of law.

For Malaysia's sake - never again a 1MDB, never again a leader like Najib and never again an AG like Mohamed Apandi Ali.

SusahKes: At the rate disclosures and exposes are continually being made by foreign media, the latest being Australia's 60 minutes and ABC's Four Corners, it behoves to think that Umno still doesn't deem Najib to be more of a liability than an asset.

Many however do believe that it would be a matter of time; there's only so much that cash-is-king can convert into permanent loyalty.

Fair Play: Politically, Najib is a dead man walking. Whether Umno will be annihilated or not in GE14 depends on how swift and drastic the action its second-line leaders dare take, in cutting off the cancerous part as soon as possible.

Headhunter: Najib is using every means at his disposal to stay in his current position. But his options will be exhausted eventually.

Umno warlords are now weighing their own options too. Their options are limited to only two; one, take the money that Najib has been dishing out, pretend to support him and see the eventual demise of Umno or two, forsake him and try to save Umno.

My bet is that they will continue to beg for handouts and let Umno rot.

Fogbom: P Gunasegaram has got his math wrong. For example, when Guna says "Najib won’t take Umno into the next polls, putting his remaining time at the top at two to three years from now."

As of today, the next elections must be held by May 5, 2018. That's only two years one month and eight days away.

Next he says: "Najib would have to give his successor at least a year to take the party into the polls, which means that under this scenario he may not be PM for much more than two years.”

Wrong again. If the successor is in office at least a year before May 5, 2018, that means he takes over from Najib, latest by May 5, 2017 i.e. one year, one month and eight days from today.

Otherwise this is a good analysis. However, Hitler ruled by directive after being appointed Chancellor in January 1933. He abolished elections.

As chairman of the new National Security Council, this power is theoretically in the premier’s hands - on the grounds of "national security."

That is, if Najib considers his personal insecurity to be a matter of national security.

HaveAGreatDay: There is not much optimism here that we will see the back of Najib anytime soon.

But there's the take that Najib will not be there to lead the Umnoputeras come GE14. Well, that is still something to celebrate.

Wira: I believe it's not up to Najib to decide on whether he should stay on. Remember, in a chess game, the queen is the most powerful piece. -Mkini