The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is fighting for his political life, with the former longest-serving Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir leading the charge in the campaign for Najib to step down as Prime Minister to save UMNO and Barisan Nasional (BN) from defeat in the next general elections.
Lines are being drawn in Najib’s titanic life-and-death battle as the sixth Prime Minister and UMNO President, but there is no reason for Pakatan Rakyat to take sides whether to throw Najib a life-line or to support Mahathir’s campaign to save UMNO/BN as Pakatan Rakyat’s objective must surely, firmly and unswervingly remain on the larger objective to save Malaysia and Malaysians and not to save any one political party or even one person!
This is UMNO/BN’s weakest moment in the federal government coalition’s history. In fact, the UMNO/BN had already lost majority support of the Malaysian voters in the recent 13th general elections as it is Pakatan Rakyat and not Barisan Nasional which had secured the majority support of the electorate in the national polls two years ago and the Malaysian Prime Minister of the day should have been Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and not Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Unfortunately, Pakatan Rakyat is itself at its weakest in its 7-year history, and it is unable to take advantage, let alone full advantage, of the turmoils in UMNO/BN.
We have even allowed Najib’s plotters and strategists to make considerable headway in their long-term conspiracies to sow division and conflict among the Pakatan Rakyat parties, to the extent that the survival of Pakatan Rakyat has become as immediate and pressing as the question of the survival of Najib as Prime Minister and UMNO President.
The two issues Najib’s plottters and strategists have used to “dangle, divide and destroy” Pakatan Rakyat are the issues of UG (Unity Government) – not Malaysian unity but Malay unity government of UMNO and PAS – and the implementation of PAS Kelantan hudud enactment.
But Najib’s choice is clear when he had to choose between holding support of BN’s 48 MPs in Sarawak and Sabah or wooing PAS’ 21 MPs.
Is Najib prepared to lose the support of BN’s 48 MPs in Sarawak and Sabah (nine Sarawak and Sabah MPs are from Pakatan Rakyat), and lose majority support in Parliament as well as the Prime Ministership so as to support the private member’s bill motion of the PAS President on the implementation of the Kelantan PAS hudud criminal enactment to woo PAS’ 21 MPs?
Under the circumstances, it is no surprise that PAS President’s private member’s bill motion has not even appeared on the parliamentary order paper for the current parliamentary meeting!
(Speech at the Gawai Gathering at DAP Singai Community Centre, Mas Gading on Friday, 29th May 2015 at 8.30 pm)