Archive for category UMNO
Is UMNO through its Kota Baru division, spearheading an inter-cultural and inter-religious fusion, with Kota Baru division enacting Taoist rites of effigy-burning and setting up of an altar, complete with joss sticks and fruit offerings
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Najib Razak, UMNO on Monday, 14 September 2015
The first thought that came to me when I saw the Kota Baru UMNO Division video on Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan and me was whether UMNO, through its Kota Baru division, is spearheading an inter-cultural and inter-religious “fusion” with Kota Baru Division enacting the Toaist rites of effigy-burning and setting up of an altar, complete with joss sticks and fruit offerings.
The second thought was the actual role of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in this video episode as his former political secretary and Kota Baru UMNO division chief, Fatmi Che Salleh, was the key character in this “inter-cultural and inter-religious fusion”.
Probably I should feel flattered as the UMNO leaders and propagandists are attributing to me super-human powers, not only able to lead UMNO through Kota Baru UMNO Division leaders to spearhead an inter-religious “fusion” with Kota Baru UMNO leaders participating actively in the last day of the Month of the Hungry Ghosts, but also to “mastermind” the Bersih 4 overnight rally on August 29 and 30 although I had nothing to do with it. Read the rest of this entry »
UMNO leaders should not count chicken before they are hatched expecting UMNO/BN to replicate Singapore PAP’s rebound and resounding election victory in 14GE in Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Elections, Najib Razak, UMNO on Monday, 14 September 2015
Strangely enough, many UMNO leaders are celebrating Singapore PAP’s general election results last Friday on 11th September 2015 as if the UMNO/Barisan Nasional would be able to replicate Singapore PAP’s rebound and resounding general election victory in the 14th General Election in 26 – 32 months’ time.
In Singapore PAP’s resounding victory, the Singapore ruling party scored 69.9% of the popular vote, up from the record low of 60.1% in the previous general election, and won 83 of 89 parliamentary seats.
It came within a hair’s breadth of taking five more seats in one hotly contested district where a recount was held.
Last Friday’s mandate is Lee Hsien Loong’s strongest since 2001.
What of Malaysia?
Read the rest of this entry »
Is the “Kebangkitan Maruah Melayu” rally in KL on Sept. 16 finally a pro-Najib anti-Mahathir rally in the latest round of power tussle in UMNO?
Many must be asking whether the Red-Shirt “Kebangkitan Maruah Melayu” rally in Kuala Lumpur on Sept. 16 is finally a pro-Najib and anti-Mahathir rally in the latest round of power tussle in UMNO?
This thought must have struck many after one of the promoters of the “Kebangkitan Maruah Melayu” rally challenged the former Prime Minister to join the rally on Sept. 16 if “he is Malay enough”!
Putting aside Mahathir’s unrelenting criticisms of Najib , his call for Najib to step down as Prime Minister, even his asking Opposition MPs to support a no-confidence motion against Najib in Parliament but to keep the UMNO/BN government in power, a racially-charged and ostensible “Kebangkitan Maruah Melayu” rally but which is finally a pro-Najib anti-Mahathir gathering, is a real eye-opener.
This is really astonishing and utterly unbelievable – are the masterminds and promoters of the “Kebangkitan Maruah Melayu” rally really suggesting that Mahathir, as President of UMNO and Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years, had betrayed the Malays for over two decades to the extent that “maruah Melayu” are today facing unprecedented crisis?
If not, are they blaming Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib, the fifth and sixth Prime Ministers after Mahathir, for the “downfall” of “maruah Melayu”? Read the rest of this entry »
Congrats to UMNO for being “more united than ever” although the UMNO President had for the first time in history to sneak in and out of UMNO headquarters from the backdoor to avoid the unfriendly UMNO crowd in front
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Thursday, 10 September 2015
After yesterday’s UMNO Supreme Council meeting, UMNO leaders including the Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan who is also Minister for Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government, were at pains to convince all and sundry that UMNO is now “more united than ever”. (NST)
Congratulations is in order to UMNO for being “more united than ever” although the UMNO President and Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had, for the first time in history of any UMNO President, to sneak in and out of UMNO headquarters from the backdoor to avoid the unfriendly UMNO crowd in front.
But the UMNO Supreme Council meeting failed miserably in assuring the public and the world that the governing coalition has the blueprint and the political will to end the prolonged crisis of confidence plaguing the country.
The UMNO/BN leadership were not only unable to bring a closure to the two mega financial scandals which had undermined national and international confidence in the Malaysian government – the RM50 billion 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion “donation” in the Prime Minister’s personal accounts twin scandals – but have allowed new issues to escalate and deepen the crisis of confidence in the country like the Red Shirt “Kebangkitan Maruah Melayu” rally in Kuala Lumpur on Sept. 16. Read the rest of this entry »
If the Cabinet today cannot set the country right to address and resolve the multiple crisis of confidence plaguing the country, then it is not a Cabinet Malaysians need
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Najib Razak, UMNO on Wednesday, 9 September 2015
Today’s Cabinet meeting is a critical one for the nation as it will be the last Cabinet meeting before next Wednesday which is a public holiday for Malaysia Day.
This is not because next Wednesday commemorates the formation of Malaysia 52 years ago but because of a “racially-fuelled” Umno or pro-UMNO Sept. 16 red-shirt rally which the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (NCCIM) secretary-general Datuk Seri Syed Hussein Al-Habshee has warned would have “castastrophic” consequences.
In a statement yesterday, Syed Hussein said the rally will “trigger negativity and erosion of business sentiments, affecting foreign investors’ perceptions and tourism and add further pressure on the ringgit”.
The secretary-general of NCCIM, which represents the Malay, Chinese and Indian chambers of commerce and industry, said he feared the effects of the rally could cripple the Malaysian economy, halting its ability to recover.
He said: “It might leave us without fixes to yield a quick recovery process.” Read the rest of this entry »
Is Umno Baru the Malays’ defender?
Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
7th Sept 2015
In the past, Umno Baru used the battle cry, “Umno Baru is the only party in Malaysia which defends the Malays”, to try and win their hearts and minds. Not wanting to be excluded, PAS would claim, “PAS is the only party that protects Islam”.
Ironically, a highly divided Umno Baru and fragmented PAS can no longer claim to be defenders of the Malays, nor the protectors of Islam, but then, they never were. There will be Malays when both Umno Baru and PAS have been wiped out.
Today, both Umno Baru and PAS are in disarray. The leaders’ greed for power, selfishness, underhand tactics and their manipulation of the Malay mind, have brought about their own downfall, and that of their parties.
These leaders failed to lead. They were only interested in feathering their own nests and prolonging their power. Read the rest of this entry »
At least five Tuns think Najib should step down as Prime Minister – how many Tan Sris are of such thinking?
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Sunday, 30 August 2015
Yesterday, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said Umno needs more leaders and prospective leaders who are likeable and adaptable so that they can suit themselves to the environment and the people to ensure the party’s victory in the next general election.
As a result, I specially went through the 19 UMNO leaders in the 37-strong Najib Cabinet, and it is difficult to find more than one person who might qualify to be “likeable and adaptable” who can save UMNO from doom in the 14GE – the Minister for International Trade and Industry Datuk Mustapha Mohamad, but who is so sidelined from the centre of UMNO power politics that he cannot even save UMNO from PAS in Kelantan state general elections.
Until three months ago, second Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah might have qualified to be a “likeable and adaptable” UMNO leader to win back UMNO support, but he has proved to be so malleable as Cabinet spokeman for the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal (according to Tan Sri Muhyiddin in his last speech as Deputy Prime Minister to the UMNO Cheras Division on July 26, 2015) that he blotted his copybook and his credibility as a honest and trustworthy politician is in tatters.
It is indeed ironic that Najib is now talking about the need to have “likeable and adaptable” UMNO leaders to win back popular support for UMNO in 14GE when in his recent Cabinet reshuffle after sacking Muhyiddin as DPM and Shafie Apdal as Rural and Regional Development Minister, he promoted into the Cabinet or increased their public profile and importance in the Najib government people who are the very antithesis of his definition of “likeable and adaptable” leaders who can win back lost popular support for UMNO. Read the rest of this entry »
Information Department Director-General Ibrahim Abdul Rahman should be sacked as an example that civil servants should not play the irresponsible game of their UMNO political masters to spread lies to incite race and religious sentiments and hatred
The Information Department Director-General Datuk Ibrahim Abdul Rahman should be sacked as an example that civil servants should not play the irresponsible game of their UMNO political masters to spread lies to incite race and religious sentiments and hatred to try to perpetuate UMNO hold on power in Putrajaya.
In his FaceBook yesterday, Ibrahim shared a faked message which I was supposed to have made at a press conference at the DAP headquarters with DAP Acting Chairman Tan Kok Wai (MP for Cheras) and the DAP National Organising Secretary Anthony Loke (MP for Seremban), all donning the Bersih 4 T-shirts, declaring “Ini peluang kami untuk menumbang PEMIMPIN MELAYU DI BUMI MALAYSIA”.
This is a total lie as I never said or intended any such nonsense, as can be testified by the press corps who attended the DAP press conference on Bersih 4 rally on Wednesday, 26th August 2015.
Read the rest of this entry »
Najib is a liability to Umno, say party grassroots
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, UMNO on Sunday, 23 August 2015
By MD IZWAN
The Malaysian Insider
23 August 2015
Some Umno grassroots members, who now feel uneasy facing the public, are saying that scandal-tainted Datuk Seri Najib Razak is a liability to the party.
Trust among the rank and file towards the party president has been affected by ongoing controversies, from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to the RM2.6 billion put in his personal accounts, allegedly as a donation, with members finding it hard to swallow the explanations given.
“The people want Najib to step down. Even if we talk nicely they do not want to hear, so what more to say?
“Umno members still love Umno, but Umno members no longer love Najib,” said former Tenggara Umno youth committee member Asrul Esreen Mohd Salleh to The Malaysian Insider. Read the rest of this entry »
I believe three million UMNO members want UMNO to “Save Malaysia” to become United Malaysians National Organisation instead of degenerating to become Abdul Aziz Kaprawi’s United Morons National Organisation
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, UMNO, Zahid on Sunday, 23 August 2015
I do not know whether to laugh or to cry when I read that the Sri Gading UMNO chief and deputy transport minister, Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi told his division’s meeting in Parit Raja, Johore yesterday that the Arabs donated RM2.6 billion to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to fight off “Jewish backed” DAP because DAP was a threat to Islam in the country.
Does Abdul Aziz think that UMNO has degenerated to become United Morons National Organisation and no more United Malays National Organisation as to believe in such trash by a power-hungry UMNO neophyte who has no political principles or scruples to concoct bald-faced lies and falsehoods?
It is shocking that Abdul Aziz’s moronic speech was made in the presence of the new Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, as if Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi has become the new chieftain of the United Morons National Organisation in Malaysia!
What a contrast between Parit Sulong and Parit Raja UMNO Divisional meetings although they are just adjacent UMNO divisions.
So near and yet so far! Read the rest of this entry »
Call for Commission of Inquiry by Malaysian Elders on whether there was an attempted “coup” to topple Najib as Prime Minister, the sacking of Gani Patail as AG and Muhyiddin as DPM, the arrest and harassment of top government officials and whether they are related to the twin scandals of 1MDB and RM2.6 billion in Najib’s personal accounts
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Media, Najib Razak, UMNO on Wednesday, 19 August 2015
The best response to Barisan Nasional’s (BN) strategic communications director Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan’s denial that he had confirmed in his Star Online interview that there was a draft of a corruption charge sheet against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is Abdul Rahman’s own words: “Excuse me. I was not born yesterday.”
Abdul Rahman has asked me to re-read his Star Online interview, and I have done so, and I reiterate that anyone reading it will come away with the ineluctable conclusion that there was an attempted coup against the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak by criminalising him and toppling him from office; and “given that scenario”, a “flurry of action” was taken by the Prime Minister, including drastic action to “take these people out first, so that things will get back to normalcy and see what happened next”.
Those who were “not born yesterday” would realise that Abdul Rahman was giving a very graphic account of the atmosphere of great distrust, suspicion and division in the corridors of power and the “cloak-and-dagger” power play in Putrajaya in the last days of July 2015, where he was undoubtedly one of the main backroom players.
Read the rest of this entry »
Is Zahid referring to Muhyiddin as the UMNO leader plotting to topple the Najib government?
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, UMNO, Zahid on Saturday, 15 August 2015
I am intrigued by the latest news reports online quoting the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi as saying that an Umno leader is leading an attempt to topple the Najib government “using the backdoor”.
Citing “trusted sources”, Zahid said there is an attempt to obtain statutory declarations (SD) of opposition and Barisan Nasional MPs to claim that they have the voice of the majority.
Is Zahid referring to former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who though sacked at DPM is still the UMNO Deputy President or some other UMNO leader?
Be that as it may, “toppling” Najib as Prime Minister is no crime and cannot fall under the ambit of Section 124B of the Penal Code on “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy” as this is part and parcel of parliamentary democracy, unless the proposed “toppling” of the Prime Minister and the government is by “violent and unconstitutional” means. Read the rest of this entry »
Anwar Ibrahim should be released to take part in “Save Malaysia” National Summit which should focus on change of policies and not change of Prime Minister to prevent Malaysia becoming a rogue and failed state
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, UMNO on Friday, 14 August 2015
Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should be released to take part in a
“Save Malaysia” National Summit involving all political parties, NGOs and national elders as the real challenge confronting Malaysia today is to prevent the nation from becoming a rogue and failed state and not about the change of the Prime Minister. It is about the change of national policies.
Malaysia has clearly lost our way since the nation’s Merdeka 58 year ago and the formation of Malaysia 52 years ago, and a “Save Malaysia” National Summit involving all political parties, NGOs and national elders like former Prime Ministers like Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah, former Deputy Prime Ministers like Tun Musa Hitam, Anwar Ibrahim and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, political and NGO veterans like Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, Tan Sri Simon Sipaun, Datuk Seri Daniel Tajem, Datuk Ambiga Sreenivasan, Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, Rev Paul Tan and others is the best way to return to our bearings and what is the best medicine for the country to take at present.
Compare the achievements of Malaysia and Singapore after 50 years of separation, and Malaysian leaders cannot continue to belabor under the denial syndrome that everything in Malaysia is fine, when the country is sliding down the slippery slope of collapse of good governance, worsening corruption, losing out in the international competitiveness race for a robust economy and educated citizenry, accompanied by the most worrying national division caused the worst racial and religious polarization in the past few years.
A “Save Malaysia” National Summit pooling the talents, expertise, resources and experience of patriotic Malaysians should be able to come out with a blueprint to halt Malaysia from hurtling towards a rogue and failed state, and set the national direction to become a showcase to the world of an economically successful and political vibrant plural society, where democracy, rule of law and human rights are examples for the rest of region if not the world. Read the rest of this entry »
Call for release of Anwar Ibrahim to fully participate in a National “Save Malaysia” Summit to prevent Malaysia from becoming a rogue and failed state
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Mahathir, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, UMNO on Thursday, 13 August 2015
The plethora of political and economic crisis plaguing the country is symbolized by the ringgit falling to over 4 to a US dollar and 2.84 to a Singapore dollar today when 50 years ago the Malaysian ringgit was at par with the Singapore dollar.
There is gloom on the economic front, as apart from the worst devaluation of the ringgit in 17 years since August 1998, the stock market has continued to plunge across-the-board, foreign-exchange reserves have dropped below US$100 billion for the first time since 2010 and foreign capital is exiting the country at an unprecedented rate.
But economic woes are not Malaysia’s only problems.
Malaysia is also suffering from the worst crisis of confidence and the government with a minority Prime Minister has never been so fractured today as at any period in the nation’s 58-year history – evident from the ugly stand-off between the Police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (which I had described as the “nine days of madness in Putrajaya), the sacking of the Attorney-General and the Deputy Prime Minister, the reshuffle to produce a 1MDB Cabinet and a new wave of attack on the independence and professionalism on the key national institutions.
There is not only a fractured government, but also a fractured UMNO, for nobody believes that Datuk Seri Najib Razak has the support of three million UMNO members, although he has the support of the UMNO party machinery! Read the rest of this entry »
Can Cabinet answer whether 1MDB debts are now RM42 billion or over RM50 billion as stated by Muhyiddin before he was sacked as DPM?
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, UMNO on Wednesday, 12 August 2015
The 1MDB Cabinet reshuffled by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on July 28 should come clean on the 1MDB scandal, starting by explaining to Malaysians whether 1MDB debts are not just RM42 million, which is an outdated figure, but have mushroomed to be more than RM50 billion as stated by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in his speech at the UMNO Cheras AGM on July 26, two days before he was summarily sacked as Deputy Prime Minister by Najib for “disloyalty” to him.
Is Najib and the Cabinet going to wait for several months before admitting to the truth, as in the case of the RM2.6 billion deposited into Najib’s personal accounts in AmBank in March 2013 before the 13th General Elections, where for some five weeks, Najib refused to give a simple “Yes” or “No” to the question whether RM2.6 billion had been deposited into his personal accounts.
Now UMNO Ministers and leaders are competing with each other as to who could produce the most outrageous justifications to justify the RM2.6 billion deposit into Najib’s personal accounts!
If what Muhyiddin said before he was sacked as DPM that the 1MBD debts have mushroomed to over RM50 billion is untrue, then there should be a simple and prompt correction from the Ministerial team of “spin doctors” to defend Najib’s integrity and reputation! Just come out and say “No”!
If what Muhyiddin said is true, why can’t the 1MDB Cabinet confirm it? Read the rest of this entry »
Why is the newly-minted Director of Strategic Communications breathing panic and fear – is he afraid that the Najib government where he had swiftly ascended in power and influence may suddenly collapse like a house of cards?
Posted by Kit in Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, UMNO, Zahid on Tuesday, 11 August 2015
The Housing and Local Government Minister, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, said today that Sabah and Sarawak, as the backbone of Barisan Nasional, must be consulted before the Prime Minister is changed.
Nothing exceptional in such a statement, although it had not earlier occurred to the newly-minted Barisan Nasional Director of Strategic Communications who hails from Sabah, or he would have demanded that before Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was sacked as Deputy Prime Minister and removed as the next-in-line to be Prime Minister if Datuk Seri Najib Razak has to step down or before Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi appointed as new Deputy Prime Minister, Sabah and Sarawak should be consulted first.
But Abdul Rahman would have been the first to dismiss any such suggestion at the time to consult Sabah or Sarawak before the Cabinet reshuffle on July 28 whether for the sacking of Muhyiddin as DPM or the appointment of Zahid as the new DPM, considering his “strategic” role in Najib’s “1MDB war cabinet”.
Why now, then, for the surfacing of the question of consulting Sabah and Sarawak on the appointment of Prime Minister of Malaysia? Read the rest of this entry »
When a new political party emerges from Gerakan Harapan Baru in a few weeks time, a new Pakatan Rakyat – whether PR Baru, PR 2.0 or whatever name – will be ready to carry the torch for a Malaysia Baru
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, Political Islam, UMNO on Friday, 7 August 2015
DAP Johor State Assemblyman for Pekan Nenas Yeo Tung Siong told me just now that Ayer Baloi tonight breaks record with the biggest crowd ever in history, signifying the powerful public support for Gerakan Harapan Baru and hopes for political change after nearly six decades of UMNO/Alliance/Barisan Nasional rule.
However, we want to create history not only in Ayer Baloi but in Johore and the whole of Malaysia in the forthcoming 14th General Election – when we are not only setting our sights on the Federal government in Putrajaya but also the state government in Nusajaya.
For over half a century, Johore had been regarded as an impregnable fortress for UMNO/MCA/MIC coalition and an invincible UMNO/Barisan Nasional “fixed deposit state”.
UMNO/BN leaders were so arrogant that they even talked about Johore being a “zero-opposition” state until such cockiness were buried by the historic Pakatan Rakyat breakthrough in the 13th General Election in 2013, winning 18 State Assembly seats – one seat short of denying UMNO/BN two-thirds majority in the Johore State Assembly.
But now Pakatan Rakyat is no more and the country needs a new Islamic political party which is all-embracing and inclusive which can unite not only Muslims and Malays but also non-Muslims and non-Malays, in other words, with all Malaysians to achieve the Malaysian Dream of ensuring that all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, are entitled to basic human rights and dignity as citizens of a modern society. Read the rest of this entry »
Akmal Saufi Khaled’s hard questions about the RM2.6 billion in Najib’s personal bank accounts give hope to Malaysians facing a new dark age that the future is not totally lost
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 4 August 2015
The hard questions about the RM2.6 billion in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal bank accounts by Akmal Saufi Khaled, son of Johore Mentri Besar Khaled Nordin, give hope to Malaysians facing a new dark age that the future is not totally lost.
It shows that the extraordinary statement by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) yesterday that the RM2.6 billion deposited into Najib’s personal accounts in AmBank in March 2013 just before dissolution of Parliament for the 13th General Elections came from donation and not from 1MDB funds is not only questioned by the older generation of Malaysians, but also by the thinking young generation as well.
Among the questions posed by Akmal, who is the Youth Parliament’s security, law and integrity committee chairperson, in his Facebook are:
Save Najib, Save UMNO or Save Malaysia?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, UMNO on Sunday, 2 August 2015
It has been a roller-coaster month which Malaysians had not have the misfortune to experience before.
It began with the explosive Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report alleging that government investigators had discovered US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) deposited into Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal bank accounts in AmBank in March 2013 just before the 13th General Election, which Najib had not denied but repeatedly declared he had never taken funds for personal gain, to a major and ongoing purge and crackdown of key institutions started with the sacking of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Attorney-General and followed by the overawing and intimidation of the Cabinet, Parliament, the Press and the multi-agency Special Task Force investigating 1MDB comprising Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Royal Malaysian Police and the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC).
In one month, the country went from the “high” of the Prime Minister assuring the nation that no stone would be left unturned to get to the bottom not only of the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal but the WSJ report of RM2.6 billion deposited into the Prime Minister’s personal bank accounts, (and Najib was so confident that he publicly declared that all investigations will clear him), to the “low” of the “hunters being hunted”, allegations that the sacked Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail was in the final stage of drafting corruption charges against Najib himself, and the Special Task Force investigating 1MDB virtually accused of being involved in an international conspiracy to topple the elected Prime Minister of Malaysia.
How does one separate fact from fiction, truth from lies. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib’s desperate shuffle for survival
Posted by Kit in Bridget Welsh, Najib Razak, UMNO on Sunday, 2 August 2015
By Bridget Welsh
Malaysiakini
Jul 31, 2015
COMMENT Najib Razak’s cabinet reshuffle was an expected step in the repertoire of many measures that the prime minister has used to stay in office.
In this manoeuvre, he has removed the immediate leadership threats among the Umno hierarchy, closed down the two avenues of negotiation involving the 1MDB scandal, and purportedly strengthened the ‘strongman’ dimensions of his leadership.
Many argue this Mahathirian move has secured Najib’s position by neutralising challengers. I disagree. In fact, Najib’s measures of late reveal weakness – not strength – and are likely to deepen his leadership crisis.
With the reshuffle, Najib has forged new alliances among the various factions in Umno. In the Umno party elections of 2013, Najib made a strategic alliance with Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s appointees and the former premier’s son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin to secure dominance over internal party opposition seen from the Mahathir Mohamad camp.
Najib managed to position considerable loyalists as division chiefs in the party contests, but did not fully secure control over the Supreme Council or have a majority of division chief loyalists on his own, relying heavily on allies to shore up his position. Read the rest of this entry »
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