Archive for category Najib Razak

Yang baik itu datang daripada Mahathir, yang tak baik itu datang daripada Pak Lah

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 03, 2012

3 JUN — Dr Mahathir menyalahkan Pak Lah lagi. “sendiri punya salah, dia salahkan orang lain pulak” kata beberapa orang yang berhubung dengan saya dan orang-orang yang berhubung dengan saya itu adalah dikalangan yang hadir semasa perjumpaan dengan Dr Mahathir di Johor dulu semalam. Sebagaimana yang saya dan ramai yang lain berkata, Dr Mahathir dihujung-hujung hayatnya asyik menyalahkan orang lain terutamanya Pak Lah diatas segala kelemahan BN dan Umno Baru itu.

Beliau tidak pernah membuat salah dan segala yang baik itu adalah dibuat oleh Dr Mahathir dan semua yang buruk itu adalah kesilapan dan kesalahan orang lain. ‘Yang baik itu semuanya datang dari Mahathir dan yang buruk itu adalah diatas kelemahan orang lain terutamanya Pak Lah. Mahathir seolah-olah ada benda yang hendak beliau bersihkan dari diri beliau sehinggakan Pak Lah tidak terlepas dari bibir dan ingatan beliau. Disebaliknya Pak Lah yang tahu apa yang Mahathir lakukan terhadap segala sistem kerajaan, tidak berkata apa-apa dan berdiam diri sahaja. Itulah perbezaan di antara kedua-dua bekas pemimpin negara kita itu.

Mahathir sentiasa mencari alasan untuk mengalihkan kesalahan besar beliau terhadap negara kepada orang lain tetapi satu perkara yang kita mesti ingat yang sejarah akan menghakimkan Dr Mahathir Mohamad ini dari rasuah dan salahguna kuasa. Segala kata-kata dan tindakan beliau tercatat di dalam buku nota sejarawan dan akan sampai masanya ia akan tertulis dalam sebuah buku sejarah khas untuk beliau suatu ketika nanti.

Bak kata perpatah, ‘masakan bangkai gajah boleh ditutupi dengan nyiru’. Suatu ketika nanti akan terbongkar juga. Saya tidak mempertahankan Pak Lah, tetapi kita mesti berlaku adil terhadap beliau kerana beliau yang lemah itu dilantik oleh Mahathir juga. Beliau sebagai orang yang saya kenali, tidak pernah tergila-gila hendak menjadi PM walaupun pun beliau mengharapkan untuk mendapatkan kedudukan itu. Read the rest of this entry »

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Government losing Chinese support, putting reforms at risk

Reuters/The Malaysian Insider
Jun 03, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 — Ethnic Chinese voters, upset over policies that favour majority Malays, have become increasingly alienated from Malaysia’s ruling coalition, raising the risk of racial polarisation and a slowdown in the pace of reforms.

Support for Prime Minister Najib Razak among Chinese voters plunged to 37 per cent in May from 56 per cent in February, a survey by the independent Merdeka Center showed on Friday. It found 56 per cent of Chinese were dissatisfied with the government, compared to 30 per cent of Indians and 23 per cent of Malays.

Recent state and by-elections underline the trend. The main Chinese party allied with the ruling National Front coalition in eastern Sarawak state lost 13 of 19 seats it contested in local elections last year and the opposition won a by-election in the same state in 2010 largely thanks to Chinese backing.

The Southeast Asian nation’s 6.5 million ethnic Chinese turned heavily to the opposition in 2008 polls, handing the National Front, which has ruled uninterrupted since independence from Britain in 1957, its worst election showing.

Malaysia has seen ethnic Chinese voting with their feet, leaving the country for better prospects aboard including to neighbour and rival Singapore, in a troubling brain drain of talent and capital. “Malaysia needs talent to meet its goal of becoming a high-income country,” the World Bank noted in a report last year. “But the problem is that talent is leaving.”

With elections likely later this year, the government has failed to reverse the tide with voters such as Jack Gan, who complains he had to study much harder than his ethnic Malay peers to get into one of the country’s top universities. Read the rest of this entry »

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Say what, PM?

— Lucius Goon
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 02, 2012

JUNE 2 — Does Najib Razak really listen to himself? Or does he just read a speech and love the bluster.

He was at his Umno best today at the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s birthday, threatening to crush anyone who threatened law and order (just for clarification, he was not talking about the million illegals in Sabah who pose a law and order threat or the foreigners being given documents so that they can vote in Selangor but I suspect his ire was directed at Pakatan Rakyat and Bersih).

One line in his speech caught my attention: the ends must never justify the means, said Najib.

That is a good joke coming from the prime minister who has watched/encouraged/stayed silent as:

1) Perkasa/Pekida and other thugs encouraged by Umno have started a wave of violence against political opponents and Malaysians who don’t support the current regime.

2) Mat Rempits and other groups are funded and encouraged to beat up and harass anyone identified as a threat by the BN government. Ambiga Sreenevasan, Nurul Izzah and Lim Guan Eng come to mind. Read the rest of this entry »

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The FGVH issue, again and again

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 02, 2012

JUNE 2 — This issue is not going to stand down.

I have to repeat this question. FGVH has not even been listed, the government of the day plans to give a total of RM15,000 to each FELDA household. The pop gets 5k first, then the mom and, finally, junior. Where did the government appropriate the money? Advances from the underwriting banks? From FELDA itself?

If the money is from FELDA coffers, then the FELDA folks must be suffering from a peculiar mental illness, the name of which I don’t know. But it entails a person feeling jubilant receiving his own money but given by another person.

If the money is not from the listing exercise, it must come from somewhere. So for what purpose was the money given? I have said it many times; Najib’s favourite way is to pay his way through. The FELDA settlers are no exception. Moreover there are 52 parliamentary seats to be won in FELDA areas. Sabah and Sarawak are almost certainly gone. FELDA is now the favourite political fixed deposit. Najib is pre-paying the interest amounts. Read the rest of this entry »

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Najib’s popularity dips even as polls beckon, survey shows

The Malaysian Insider
Jun 01, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s popularity has slipped in recent months, an opinion poll showed today, as he lost support among Chinese and middle-class voters ahead of a general election that he could call within months.

Najib is facing a dilemma over the timing of the election as his Barisan Nasional coalition seeks to reverse a dismal showing four years ago that deprived it of its two-thirds majority in parliament for the first time.

The 58-year-old leader has enjoyed high personal approval ratings, but analysts say it is unclear whether that will translate into increased support for his less popular Umno party and its allies.

Support for Najib slid to 65 per cent in the May poll from 69 per cent in March, according to the Merdeka Center, the country’s most respected polling firm.

The dip may add to speculation that Najib may choose to delay elections until after presenting the budget on September 28. Read the rest of this entry »

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Cabinet tomorrow should cut the Gordian Knot and end the rigmarole of two Bersih inquiries – dissolve Hanif panel and give full support to Suhakam inquiry

The Cabinet tomorrow should cut the Gordian Knot and end the rigmarole of two Bersih inquiries – by dissolving the Hanif Omar “independent advisory panel” and giving full support to the Suhakam inquiry.

Yesterday, former Inspector-General of Police Tun Hanif Omar announced the ten terms of reference of the “independent advisory board” into Bersih 3.0 violence.

Notably absent from the “independent advisory board” terms of reference is whether it is to establish Bersih 3.0 rally was an attempted coup d’etat by the Opposition to topple the government, that there were pro-communist individuals at Bersih 3.0 from demonstrations in the 1970s and whether there was use of provocateurs and children ala-“tactics of the communists” in the Bersih 3.0 rally or whether the panel is to take these three allegations as “accepted and proven truths” as Hanif himself had publicly endorsed them.

Hanif had defended his appointment, saying that his track record has proven that he acts with integrity.

It is precisely because Hanif should cherish his reputation of integrity that he should recuse himself as head of the Bersih 3.0 panel, as there is no way he could come out of it with his integrity unscathed after he had publicly made known his anti-Bersih 3.0 views. Read the rest of this entry »

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Call on Cabinet to initiate an All-Party Conference to nip in the bud the political culture of aggression, thuggery and violence which will mar the holding of free, fair and clean general election

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is at it again – making sweet-sounding highfalutin speeches at international forums but doing the very opposite in the country.

Addressing the 26th Asia Pacific roundtable last night, Najib called on Asian countries to reject the use of force and violence in resolving conflicts.

What struck Malaysians is not his call on Asian countries to reject the use of force and violence in resolving conflicts, but his conspicuous silence and his government’s failure in the past month to stand up and be counted to condemn and dissociate themselves from a new political culture of aggression, thuggery and violence disrupting Pakatan Rakyat functions and activities.

As a result, Malaysians are reminded of his other sweet-sounding highfalutin speeches at international forums calling for a Global Movement of Moderates to unite against extremists, but inside the country, his three-year premiership has seen the unprecedented manifestation of extremism not only officially sanctioned but carried out with impunity and immunity when laws of the land are violated. Read the rest of this entry »

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Black day for Internet users

— CPI
The Malaysian Insider
May 29, 2012

MAY 29 — The Evidence (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2012 will come into operation in a few days on June 1. The impact of this hastily and stealthily rushed legislation could be devastating.

De facto law minister Nazri Abdul Aziz denies that amendments to the Evidence Act were a means for the government to curb online dissent by making Internet anonymity more difficult to maintain or ignorance to be used as an excuse.

Instead Nazri claims that the law was tightened because “we don’t want [anonymous or pseudonymous] people to slander or threaten others,” according to a report in the Sunday Star.

However opposition leaders such as DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng are unconvinced. Read the rest of this entry »

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Umno needs to rediscover its soul

— C.L. Tang
The Malaysian Insider
May 28, 2012

MAY 28 — Malaysia, or Malaya at that point in time, was fortunate that the pioneer leaders of Umno were a group of exemplary visionaries. It has the fortitude and humility to be inclusive and fair, mindful of the great urgency for all Malaysians of all races to be united as they embark on building a newly independent nation.

Not unlike the founding fathers of America who laid a strong foundation for the former British colony to thrive, Malaysia might have gone the way of other failed states had these Umno visionaries not forged a strong partnership among all its constituents, regardless of race and religion.

Indeed, it is no small miracle that we have advanced so much since independence. For a small nation made up of such diverse colours and ethnicity, we were the envy of many former colonies and new nation states that failed to replicate our stable, harmonious growth.

However, this golden age of Umno, and along with Malaysia, began to ebb and deteriorate along with the quality of its leaders.

The gentlemanly conduct, open mindset and non-confrontational nature, which was the soul of early Umno, is now replaced by a hawkish, non-compromising stance of Umno Baru “leaders”. Read the rest of this entry »

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Najib’s government still in weak position, says Dr M

By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
May 28, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has warned Datuk Seri Najib Razak that the latter is still leading a weak government, repeating his call for federal polls to be held off until after the fasting month which ends in August.

The influential former prime minister told Bloomberg in an interview published today that the prime minister should delay plans for a general election that must be held within a year.

“Being weak, he has to respond to the criticisms. But when you are faced with this problem anything you do is not enough,” the long-serving former Barisan Nasional (BN) chief said, adding that Najib inherited a weakened coalition, which won Election 2008 by the narrowest margin since independence.

Najib took over from Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in April 2009, ostensibly to reduce the record loss of 82 federal seats and five state governments with some observers saying that only a return to BN’s customary two-thirds majority can guarantee Najib’s hold on power. Read the rest of this entry »

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Increasing campaign violence

– The Malaysian Insider
May 27, 2012

MAY 27 — Here’s the dichotomy. Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak is working hard to get the people’s support. From anywhere in Malaysia to the O2 arena in London. But some of his followers are pelting their political foes with eggs and stones.

The case in point is Lembah Pantai where Umno leaders have accused Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of provoking Thursday night’s violence during a PKR rally in Lembah Pantai, and said it should not be held responsible for the incident.

They have denied starting the ruckus. But Anwar only criticised them after the PKR ceramah was pelted with stones, eggs and water bottles, resulting in a “night of bloodshed” that saw at least two seriously injured. Read the rest of this entry »

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Is Mahathir telling the world that his daughter Marina is naïve to be a pawn of Bersih 3.0 and PR to topple the Najib government by violence?

Malaysians must thank former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir for furnishing the fifth evidence of the highest-level campaign to vilify and demonise Bersih 3.0 and Pakatan Rakyat and why the Hanif Omar “independent advisory panel” to investigate into Bersih 3.0 violence is totally unacceptable and should be scrapped altogether.

The four evidence were earlier provided by the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and two former Inspector-General of Police, viz:

• The wild and baseless allegation by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak that Bersih 3.0 rally was coup attempt by the Opposition to topple the government;

• The instant public support for Najib’s coup allegation by former Inspector-General of Police, Tun Hanif Omar who said he identified pro-communist individuals at Bersih 3.0 from demonstrations in the 1970s with futher allegation on the use of provocateurs and children in the Bersih 3.0 rally as tactics of the communists!

• The equally instant public support for Najib’s coup allegation by another former Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Rahim Noor who went on to allege that Bersih 3.0 had used “Marxist” tactics as well as accusing the Opposition of wanting blood shed as it was not confident of taking over Putrajaya.

• The allegation by Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein in an interview with Sunday Star on May 20 that “democracy was hijacked” on April 28.

Mahathir’s blog two days ago that the Bersih 3.0 rally was a “preparation” and “warm-up” by Pakatan Rakyat for violent demonstrations to reject the results of the 13th general election should the opposition fail to win it is the fifth evidence of the highest-level campaign of vilification and demonization of Bersih 3.0 and Pakatan Rakyat involving the current and former Prime Minister, two IGPs and the current Home Minister, although they have not furnished one iota of evidence to substantiate their serious allegations in the past month. Read the rest of this entry »

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We shall overcome

— Jacob Sinnathamby
The Malaysian Insider
May 26, 2012

MAY 26 — Can you hear it? Listen closely. Now can you hear it?

I am talking about the deafening silence from the prime minister downwards on the burgeoning violence and thuggish behaviour by Umno and its subsidiaries.

What happened at the PKR ceramah in Lembah Pantai, where blood was drawn after rocks, eggs and bottles were rained on PKR leaders by Umno Youth affiliates, was not the first show of state-encouraged violence.

It is not even the second or third time, but the umpteenth time in recent months that groups affiliated to the ruling party have shown disdain for the rule of law.

Nurul Izzah Anwar and Mat Sabu have faced stones and thugs before while speaking at Felda events, Lim Guan Eng faced thugs during the anti-Lynas demo in Penang recently, and Bersih organisers in Merlimau had their vehicles damaged. And the list goes on. Read the rest of this entry »

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A reply to Umno Youth’s challenge to debate

Hiu Woong-Sin
Malaysiakini
May 25, 2012

An open reply to Umno Youth’s challenge to a debate published in The Star over my ‘heckling’ of PM Najib Razak in London:

Dear Khairun Aseh,

There is enough evidence on YouTube to substantiate my act of chanting “Bersih” (during Najib’s event in London). I do not know what other evidence you require from me to substantiate what I did.

If you wish to understand what Bersih is all about, there’s plenty of information and evidence provided by the organisation’s steering committee online.

Rather than debate with me about Bersih wouldn’t it make more sense for you to publicly engage with its steering committee? A principled government will engage with civil society groups like Bersih instead of using the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 to suppress civil dissent.

I am aware that my actions have attracted numerous responses through media and social network.

Your challenge to me is but an act of redemption for your president and an act that avoids a loss of face for Umno.

In other words, your challenge is just another public relation stunt for that party and it will not benefit the Malaysian taxpayers who had already paid for the PM’s promotional stunt in London. Read the rest of this entry »

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Instead of raging over Mahathir’s outrageous and preposterous blog, Malaysians should commiserate with him

Yesterday, former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir blogged that the Bersih 3.0 rally was a “preparation” and “warm-up” by Pakatan Rakyat for violent demonstrations to reject the results of the 13th general election should the opposition fail to win it.

He said: “Their defeat will be followed by violent demonstrations that will go on and on so that the election results are rejected and a new government is put in place, that is approved by the opposition.

“After that, they will attempt to hold an election again that they can manipulate.”

Mahathir must hold the Malaysian record of having made the most number of outrageous and preposterous statements in his political life, before, during and after his 22-year premiership (1981-2003) but what he blogged yesterday must rank as among his most outrageous and preposterous statements.

It was a complete figment of his imagination as there is no truth or basis whatsoever – like Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s ludicrous allegation that Bersih 3.0 was an Opposition coup d’etat attempt to topple the government (an idea probably inspired by the discredited Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Rahim Noor) when all that the peaceful protestors were armed with, if at all, were salt and water bottles to protect themselves against any indiscriminate police teargas and chemically-lacked water cannon. Read the rest of this entry »

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Najib and Hishammuddin must condemn and dissociate themselves if they do not want to be regarded as encouraging a political culture of aggression, thuggery and violence by their prolonged silence on recent series of disruptions and attacks on PR functions

The question Malaysians are asking is whether the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussin are encouraging a political culture of aggression, thuggery and violence by their failure to condemn the recent series of disruptions and attacks on Pakatan Rakyat functions!

Is this the route for Malaysia to take to become the world’s best democracy as Najib had boasted after Bersih 2.0 on July 9 last year?

Is this the example Najib is setting for the world on what he meant when he called for a Global Movement of Moderates to isolate and marginalize the extremists?

Yesterday, a Pakatan Rakyat ceramah in Lembah Pantai was pelted with eggs and stones, leaving several injured and bloodied. Read the rest of this entry »

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Najib has discarded the robes of “the Great Transformer” for those of “the Great Reactionary” signaling he is no more prepared to listen to the real voices of the people for change

The Najib government’s gross mishandling of Bersih 3.0 of April 28 is proving to be even more disastrous than its initial mishandling of Bersih 2.0 of July 9, 2011.

At least, the Najib administration realized in the nick of time and reined in its excessive over-reactions to the Bersih 2.0, performing a volte face two months later by announcing on Malaysia Day on Sept. 16 a slew of repeal or reform of draconian laws like the abolition of Internal Security Act to make Malaysia “the best democracy in the world”.

Ever since, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has taken pains to emphasise that no one else but the Barisan Nasional should take credit for the slew of reform of draconian laws, like the revocation of the four Emergency Proclamations, the repeal of the Internal Security Act, amendments to the Printing Presses and Publications Act and enactment of the Peaceful Assembly Act because the Barisan Nasional government is prepared to “listen to Malaysians who want change”.

I concede that Najib and the Barisan Nasional Government had attempted to listen to Malaysians who wanted change as represented by the Bersih 2.0 rally which saw 50,000 Malaysians peacefully gathering in Kuala Lumpur for free, fair and clean elections.

But the government had not listened fully or attentively, which is why four or even five times the number of people who turned out on Bersih 2.0 – some 250,000 Malaysians – gathered peacefully in Kuala Lumpur on April 28 in response to Bersih 3.0 call for free, fair and clean elections.

The Najib government at least made an effort to the listen to the people’s demands in Bersih 2.0 although the efforts at reform proved to be half-hearted, half-baked and generally unsatisfactory like the recommendations of the Parliamentary Select Committee on electoral reforms.

But what has distinguished the Najib administration’s reaction to Bersih 3.0 as compared to Bersih 2.0 is its complete inability and refusal to “listen to the people’s demands for change”. Read the rest of this entry »

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World Bank warns there will be no high income economy for Malaysia without implementing structural reforms

By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life advisor

The World Bank in its bi-annual report on East Asia and the the Pacific said that in view of the slow down in the economy in the years ahead, due to a massive world debit problem, the GDP of Malaysia would slow down to 4.6% this year and 5.1% in 2013.

He advised that Najib should stop fiddling with the economy with his multiple reforms which have not brought encouraging progress. He advised Najib strongly to implement structural reforms to bring about a strong recovery in the economy.

Structural reforms means that the New Economic Policy must be stopped and in its place, implement free market policies like those in Singapore, Hong Kong, S. Korea and Taiwan. A free market policy propelled the growth of the economies of these four ASIAN TIGERS, each of which have a per capita income of over US $20,000.

For Malaysia to have a high economy, the GDP must grow by at least 6% a year, which would make Malaysia a high economy nation by 2020.

Two months ago, Najib gave a glowing report and boasted that Malaysia had a per capita income of US$9,500, and would attain high economy status by year 2020. These predictions of Najib have been brushed aside by the World Bank.
Read the rest of this entry »

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Legal action against Bersih sparks renewed scrutiny of new assembly law

By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
May 24, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — The use of the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) to claim damages from organisers of the April 28 Bersih rally has sparked condemnation from opposition politicians who are now claiming that the new law restricts the right to gather even more than previous legislation.

Yesterday, 10 Bersih leaders, including Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, became the first persons to be sued in a civil action under the PAA, introduced just days before the April 28 demonstration for free and fair elections.

The government is claiming RM122,000 for alleged damage to 15 government-owned vehicles.

This followed Tuesday’s charges levelled against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Azmin Ali of participating in an unlawful assembly, the first criminal charges under the same law which Datuk Seri Najib Razak had said would allow freedom of assembly “in accordance with international norms.”

Lawmakers from Pakatan Rakyat (PR) told The Malaysian Insider today the law is being used “in a demonisation campaign and shows the prime minister is no reformist but reactionary.”

“The move (to sue) is headed in the wrong direction from the reforms Najib promised,” DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said.

“What about all those who were assaulted far away from Dataran Merdeka? Should they be queuing up to sue the government?” he asked, referring to dozens of protestors claiming they were attacked by groups of policemen after violence erupted at the rally. Read the rest of this entry »

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‘BN’s clear and present danger’

Syed Jaymal Zahiid | May 23, 2012
Free Malaysia Today

Barisan Nasional leaders say they may lose out in the election if internal sabotage is not contained.

KUALA LUMPUR: A divided Barisan Nasional may spell the end of Prime Minister’s Najib Tun Razak reign in Putrajaya.

And this warning to the Barisan Nasional comes from non-other than Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia.

The paper quoting party leaders says sabotage is a very clear and present danger and could lead to the BN losing more seats than in 2008. Read the rest of this entry »

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