'Only Najib's expulsion may save Umno from extinction'

DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang said former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's expulsion from Umno may be the only way to salvage the once mighty party.

He said this in response to Najib claiming that the party leadership was not entirely to be blamed for the exodus of MPs from Umno and that it was a "natural cleansing".

"Najib is shedding crocodile’s tears as he has single-handedly destroyed Umno by his kleptocratic rule and the monstrous 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal as well as the other 1MDB-like scandals in Tabung Haji, Felda, Felcra, Mara - making Malaysia suffer the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being condemned by the whole world as a global kleptocracy.

"The expulsion of Najib from Umno may be the only step to save Umno from total extinction although even this step may be too late," the Iskandar Puteri MP said in a press statement this morning.

Umno lost another 10 MPs since Thursday, leaving the party with only 38 elected representatives in the Dewan Rakyat.

The party, which remained the largest after the 14th general election with 54 MPs despite losing power, has now been relegated to the third biggest party in the Dewan Rakyat, after PKR and DAP.

Larut MP Hamzah Zainuddin, a former minister who was among those who quit Umno, claimed that 36 BN MPs, including 33 from Umno, had last month signed a letter of support for Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Lim said this suggested that as many as another 20 Umno MPs may quit the party, which could put it at the same level as PAS that has 18 seats in the Dewan Rakyat.

He added that it may also mean that former deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi may have the shortest tenure as president in Umno's history.

"The Anti-International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd) rally of PAS and Umno in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 8 had acted as a catalyst for the implosion in Umno, losing 10 MPs after the rally," he said.

Lim said Jeli MP Mustapa Mohamed's words were worth remembering when he announced his exit from Umno on Sept 18.

Mustapa had said he advocated moderation and inclusivity in a multi-racial Malaysia but Umno's current trajectory was not in line with those principles. - Mkini