Does Najib fear doing badly in GE14?

PETALING JAYA: A political analyst has questioned Prime Minister Najib Razak’s confidence in facing the coming general election, saying doubts have been raised by Umno’s decision to leave the party’s top two posts uncontested in the next party polls.

Speaking to FMT, Kamarul Zaman Yusoff of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) said it appeared that Najib was fearing a bad performance by Barisan Nasional in the 14th general election, which could threaten his chances of retaining the Umno presidency in the case of a challenge at the party polls.

The Umno election is expected to be held after the national polls.

Kamarul Zaman, who heads UUM’s Malaysian Institute for Political Studies, said it was reasonable to assume there would be challenges for the top Umno posts if the party or the coalition it heads were to do badly in GE14.

And the challenges would be strong, he added.

The decision to leave the two posts uncontested was made in a resolution passed at the Umno general assembly that ended on Saturday.

In a post-assembly press conference, Najib defended the decision, saying it was in line with Umno’s constitution. He also said any decision made by the assembly was final.

Kamarul Zaman said the decision had brought into question Umno’s commitment to democratic practice.

“It is unhealthy for a party that claims to be much better than other political parties in Malaysia,” he said.

“Umno leaders, including Najib, have been stating since 2009 that Umno had implemented political reforms to make it more open to its members.”

He said many Umno members themselves would question the so-called openness now that a decision had been made to prevent a contest for the presidency and deputy presidency.

What more if the decision was deemed to have originated from the leadership and not coming from the grassroots, he said. -FMT