FLIP-FLOP NAJIB RETREATS ON GE14 DATE: NOW, POLLS MAY BE HELD NEXT YEAR AS UMNO PLUNGES INTO TURMOIL AFTER HISHAM’S APPOINTMENT OVER ZAHID
KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional is ready for the 14th general election (GE14) even if it is called earlier, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.
Najib, also Barisan chairman and Umno president, said intensive preparations had been and were being carried out by Umno and Barisan component parties.
He said he was confident their strong election machineries would ensure victory for the coalition.
“GE14 can be held this year or next year. Whether this year or next year, we will still win. We have sharpened the sword,” he said when launching Jentera Jalinan Rakyat Plus (JR Plus) at the Putra World Trade Centre here Friday.
Instead, focus should be on their duties in winning over voters, he said.
He also advised the election machineries not to be too confident after Barisan won the Sarawak State Election with a bigger majority, apart from the by-elections in Kuala Kangsar, Sungai Besar and Tanjong Datu.
“I mention this as I want to remind that we can win. We have won the battle but haven’t won the war,” he said.
Najib, also Barisan chairman and Umno president, said intensive preparations had been and were being carried out by Umno and Barisan component parties.
He said he was confident their strong election machineries would ensure victory for the coalition.
“GE14 can be held this year or next year. Whether this year or next year, we will still win. We have sharpened the sword,” he said when launching Jentera Jalinan Rakyat Plus (JR Plus) at the Putra World Trade Centre here Friday.
Present were the Prime Minister’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the top Umno leadership and its wings and leaders of Barisan component parties.
However, Najib reminded Barisan leaders and the machinery not to think too much as to when GE14 would be called, or who would be chosen as candidates.Instead, focus should be on their duties in winning over voters, he said.
He also advised the election machineries not to be too confident after Barisan won the Sarawak State Election with a bigger majority, apart from the by-elections in Kuala Kangsar, Sungai Besar and Tanjong Datu.
“I mention this as I want to remind that we can win. We have won the battle but haven’t won the war,” he said.
COUP D’ETAT IN UMNO: ZAHID DEPRIVED OF UMNO PRESIDENCY AS NAJIB PROMOTES COUSIN HISHAM TO PRE-EMPT DEMANDS FROM PARTY ELDERS FOR HIM TO QUIT
KUALA LUMPUR – The appointment of Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein as the Minister with Special Functions at the Prime Minister’s Department is a sign that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will step down soon, said Salahuddin Ayub.
In a statement, the Amanah deputy president also predicted that Hishammuddin will take over UMNO leadership until the coming general election.
Najib today announced the appointment in a statement, adding Hishammuddin would however remain as Defence Minister.
Meanwhile, PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli said the appointment is a not a good sign for the political aspirations of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
“This shows, either Hishammuddin wants to challenge (Ahmad) Zahid for the deputy UMNO president post or Hishammuddin himself is having trouble in keeping his vice-president post,” he said.
Another opposition leader, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang said, with the appointment, Hishammuddin is now the second most powerful figure in the country.
“Hishammuddin may not be the deputy prime minister but he obviously is the second most powerful man in UMNO/BN,” he said in a statement.
Earlier, Ahmad Zahid in his statement has expressed support for Hishammuddin over his appointment.
“I support the new portfolio assigned to assist the Prime Minister in missions and special tasks to strengthen bilateral relations (with other countries) and also specific tasks that will lead to the smooth administration of the government,” he said.
Hishammuddin in a press conference at the Defence Ministry said no one should politicise or create a fuss about his appointment as announced by the prime minister today.
In a statement, the Amanah deputy president also predicted that Hishammuddin will take over UMNO leadership until the coming general election.
Najib today announced the appointment in a statement, adding Hishammuddin would however remain as Defence Minister.
Meanwhile, PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli said the appointment is a not a good sign for the political aspirations of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
“This shows, either Hishammuddin wants to challenge (Ahmad) Zahid for the deputy UMNO president post or Hishammuddin himself is having trouble in keeping his vice-president post,” he said.
Another opposition leader, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang said, with the appointment, Hishammuddin is now the second most powerful figure in the country.
“Hishammuddin may not be the deputy prime minister but he obviously is the second most powerful man in UMNO/BN,” he said in a statement.
Earlier, Ahmad Zahid in his statement has expressed support for Hishammuddin over his appointment.
“I support the new portfolio assigned to assist the Prime Minister in missions and special tasks to strengthen bilateral relations (with other countries) and also specific tasks that will lead to the smooth administration of the government,” he said.
Hishammuddin in a press conference at the Defence Ministry said no one should politicise or create a fuss about his appointment as announced by the prime minister today.
TERROR SPREADS THROUGH ZAHID’S ‘TEAM B’ AS MAJORITY TO BE DROPPED BY NEW SUPREMO HISHAM FROM GE14 CONTESTS
Almost everyone I know was caught off guard by DS Hishammuddin Hussein’s appointment as Special Functions Minister yesterday.
All they could do was to speculate about it.
No one I know could say for sure what’s really happening.
Maybe today there will be some proper explaination, but I don’t think that would be enough to quell the rumours.
People nowadays simply refuse to believe in political announcements.
They always want to know what they believe was the real story behind such announcements.
Honestly, I’m also not sure what’s happening.
And as the others, all I can do is to speculate.
I don’t really like doing that but it’s all I could offer a friend who asked my opinion about it yesterday evening.
These are what I told my friend,
– PM DS Najib Razak is promoting Hishammuddin ahead of his deputy DS Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
– Hishammuddin will play a more important role in his new capacity than Zahid in preparations for the next general election.
– General election is very near. Maybe between September and December.
– Hishammuddin will be Najib’s successor…maybe later, if not now.
– Najib must had felt that Hishammuddin is a better bet for him than Zahid.
– Definitely not a very good news for Zahid’s camp.
– Zahid will not protest this move. He can’t, even if he wants to because he simply doesn’t have the capacity. He’s outgunned.
Then again, I’m merely speculating.
Told my friend, who is a hardcore Umno member that it’s just coffee shop talk.
Just gossips.
I really got no special interest in it.
I don’t mind both guys. Doesn’t matter to me who between Zahid and Hishammuddin will be on top,
It’s not going to change my life, anyway.
Well, that’s about it.
Getting up for work.
Have a good day.
All they could do was to speculate about it.
No one I know could say for sure what’s really happening.
Maybe today there will be some proper explaination, but I don’t think that would be enough to quell the rumours.
People nowadays simply refuse to believe in political announcements.
They always want to know what they believe was the real story behind such announcements.
Honestly, I’m also not sure what’s happening.
And as the others, all I can do is to speculate.
I don’t really like doing that but it’s all I could offer a friend who asked my opinion about it yesterday evening.
These are what I told my friend,
– PM DS Najib Razak is promoting Hishammuddin ahead of his deputy DS Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
– Hishammuddin will play a more important role in his new capacity than Zahid in preparations for the next general election.
– General election is very near. Maybe between September and December.
– Hishammuddin will be Najib’s successor…maybe later, if not now.
– Najib must had felt that Hishammuddin is a better bet for him than Zahid.
– Definitely not a very good news for Zahid’s camp.
– Zahid will not protest this move. He can’t, even if he wants to because he simply doesn’t have the capacity. He’s outgunned.
Then again, I’m merely speculating.
Told my friend, who is a hardcore Umno member that it’s just coffee shop talk.
Just gossips.
I really got no special interest in it.
I don’t mind both guys. Doesn’t matter to me who between Zahid and Hishammuddin will be on top,
It’s not going to change my life, anyway.
Well, that’s about it.
Getting up for work.
Have a good day.
BOMBSHELL – UNPOPULAR NAJIB MAY BE FORCED BY UMNO WARLORDS TO STEP DOWN AHEAD OF GE14
A “coup d’etat” has taken place in the UMNO/BN government – not to topple but to protect the Prime Minister.
There can be no administrative or ministerial justification for the additional appointment of Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein as Minister with Special Functions in the Prime Minister’s Department while retaining his portfolio as Defence Minister, except for the political and “strategic” one of protecting Datuk Seri Najib Razak from being ousted as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia – whether externally as a result of defeat in the forthcoming 14th general election or from being toppled internally as Prime Minister before the polls.
Najib has already set record as the Prime Minister with the most number of Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department, and Hishammuddin will be the tenth Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
But Hishammuddin will be completely different from the other nine Ministers, as he will be the most powerful Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
Hishammuddin will not be like MCA Deputy President Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong – a Minister without responsibilities or power, and reduced to telling lies (like accusing me of being absent from Parliament in the afternoon on the last sitting of Dewan Rakyat, when I did not see Ka Siong in the Dewan Rakyat when I entered the chamber after lunch) – but will in fact be the most powerful Minister in the Cabinet, the de facto Deputy Prime Minister.
I expect Hishammuddin to take charge of the UMNO/BN campaign in the run-up to the 14th General Election to ensure that UMNO/BN is returned to Putrajaya and Najib remain as Prime Minister of Malaysia.
It is a vote of no confidence on the propaganda offensive which had been launched by the UMNO/BN “strategic communications” director, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan, marshalling UMNO/BN owned and controlled mainstream media and the social media but using low-class and counter-productive demonization campaigns against Pakatan Harapan leaders, for instance to demonise me as a devil, monster, anti-Malay, anti-Islam, a communist, a PAP stooge, what-have-you, which has seen UMNO/BN losing even more credibility – to the extent that Najib has continued to sink in popularity, not just among Malaysians, but also among Malays!
This is no way for Najib to retain his PM’s ship or for UMNO/BN to win the 14GE, despite all the electoral gerrymandering and 1MDB skullduggery in cahoots with the Election Commission.
But this is not Najib’s sole worry.
Tun Mahathir’s comment in his interview with Bloomberg that the six-decade UMNO rule may be finally nearing its end, that the sentiment on the ground is so strong that Najib will fall in the next general election as “everybody you talk to today, anybody at all, none have good words for the government, especially Najib”, have struck a special resonance with Najib, and must have forced his hand to make the Hishammuddin appointment.
As Najib’s unpopularity among the Malay voters become more and more evident, there will be a strengthening school of thought inside UMNO that one ideal solution to ensure that UMNO can be returned to power in the next general election is to change the UMNO leader leading the charge in the 14th General Election – which is more palatable for UMNO diehards than teaming up with PAS, which is even thinking of a PAS-UMNO Federal Government, with Hadi Awang as Prime Minister based on a PAS-UMNO government with 80 PAS MPs, 40 UMNO MPs and 45 MPs from Sabah and Sarawak.
Who would lead the UMNO/BN charge in the 14GE if Najib withdraws or is forced to withdraw from the political scene?
The answer is quite obvious, hence the “coup d’etat” yesterday!
There can be no administrative or ministerial justification for the additional appointment of Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein as Minister with Special Functions in the Prime Minister’s Department while retaining his portfolio as Defence Minister, except for the political and “strategic” one of protecting Datuk Seri Najib Razak from being ousted as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia – whether externally as a result of defeat in the forthcoming 14th general election or from being toppled internally as Prime Minister before the polls.
Najib has already set record as the Prime Minister with the most number of Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department, and Hishammuddin will be the tenth Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
But Hishammuddin will be completely different from the other nine Ministers, as he will be the most powerful Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
Hishammuddin will not be like MCA Deputy President Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong – a Minister without responsibilities or power, and reduced to telling lies (like accusing me of being absent from Parliament in the afternoon on the last sitting of Dewan Rakyat, when I did not see Ka Siong in the Dewan Rakyat when I entered the chamber after lunch) – but will in fact be the most powerful Minister in the Cabinet, the de facto Deputy Prime Minister.
I expect Hishammuddin to take charge of the UMNO/BN campaign in the run-up to the 14th General Election to ensure that UMNO/BN is returned to Putrajaya and Najib remain as Prime Minister of Malaysia.
It is a vote of no confidence on the propaganda offensive which had been launched by the UMNO/BN “strategic communications” director, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan, marshalling UMNO/BN owned and controlled mainstream media and the social media but using low-class and counter-productive demonization campaigns against Pakatan Harapan leaders, for instance to demonise me as a devil, monster, anti-Malay, anti-Islam, a communist, a PAP stooge, what-have-you, which has seen UMNO/BN losing even more credibility – to the extent that Najib has continued to sink in popularity, not just among Malaysians, but also among Malays!
This is no way for Najib to retain his PM’s ship or for UMNO/BN to win the 14GE, despite all the electoral gerrymandering and 1MDB skullduggery in cahoots with the Election Commission.
But this is not Najib’s sole worry.
Tun Mahathir’s comment in his interview with Bloomberg that the six-decade UMNO rule may be finally nearing its end, that the sentiment on the ground is so strong that Najib will fall in the next general election as “everybody you talk to today, anybody at all, none have good words for the government, especially Najib”, have struck a special resonance with Najib, and must have forced his hand to make the Hishammuddin appointment.
As Najib’s unpopularity among the Malay voters become more and more evident, there will be a strengthening school of thought inside UMNO that one ideal solution to ensure that UMNO can be returned to power in the next general election is to change the UMNO leader leading the charge in the 14th General Election – which is more palatable for UMNO diehards than teaming up with PAS, which is even thinking of a PAS-UMNO Federal Government, with Hadi Awang as Prime Minister based on a PAS-UMNO government with 80 PAS MPs, 40 UMNO MPs and 45 MPs from Sabah and Sarawak.
Who would lead the UMNO/BN charge in the 14GE if Najib withdraws or is forced to withdraw from the political scene?
The answer is quite obvious, hence the “coup d’etat” yesterday!
THE IMPENDING FALL OF MALAYSIA’S MOST POWERFUL PM – NAJIB RAZAK
Prime Minister Najib Razak happened only after former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad forced a leadership change in Malaysia in 2009.
He did not come to power by his own charm, capacity or by the will of the members of the ruling party, Umno
Without Mahathir pressing hard for the then Prime Minister of Malaysia Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to go, Najib would probably be Prime Minister after the 2013 general elections.
Or he could have been doomed by then with the allegations of the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu not going away after the court case.
But Abdullah eventually resigned after mounting pressure from Mahathir to see him out of office.
Mahathir cited the poor showing by the ruling UMNO coalition in the elections of 8 March 2008, and the way Abdullah was running the country as the reasons for his early demise as PM.
The 2008 results were appalling for the Umno, with the ruling party losing control of five of thirteen Malaysian state governments.
But many people forget that it was Abdullah who then identified Najib as his intended successor and when he left office, Abdullah imposed a sort of challenge on Najib.
He said the onus was on Najib to win party elections set for March 2009 before he could take over.
And that is where Najib started to shift the lines, moving the goal posts within Umno to go and grab the party leadership without contest.
If one reads the above story with a deep thinking mind, it will be clear that first of all, Najib was given a free wheel at the reigns of the Umno and the country’s leadership since 2009.
The Malaysian PM practically made himself into what he is today, that is the ultimate Malay political figure, while Mahathir had simply put his faith in the son of his situ, the father of Najib, Tun Abdul Razak.
And today, Najib is the most powerful PM Malaysia has ever had.
AND THIS IS HOW MALAY POLITICS GOES DOWN IN TRICKLE INTO THE MALAY-BUMIPUTRA HOUSEHOLDS IN MALAYSIA.
He controls the party apparatus with such power that even Mahathir did not dream of, and he has absolute power in the corridors of power, to the extent that it is practically impossible to budge him on any subject.
With this in his hands, and with Najib shuffling the cards like an old fox, he attracts the Malay-Bumiputra support perhaps like no other PM before.
If PM Najib was made by his own forays within the party and the government after he was anointed as the future leader of the country, then it is not for Mahathir or any opposition leader to come and claim that he is illegitimate.
They can’t even come and claim that they ‘made’ him, because with the amount of scandals running amok in Malaysia’s political landscape – 1MDB for sure – no leader will dare come forward to claim Najib owes them reverence.
And that is what made Mahathir’s push to remove Najib Razak from power a weaker enterprise than when he strived to push Abdullah Badawi out.
Abdullah was anointed as PM by Mahathir, who handed him the Prime Ministership on a platter.
Mahathir had the legitimacy, in the eyes of the Malay-Muslims, to ask for the removal of the person he had chosen to replace him and it was accommodated by the party which at that time still owed the former stalwart the respect he deserved.
With Abdullah remaining silent on the 1MDB scandal and totally resigned to his fate as a retired PM, there is no legitimacy (in the eyes of the Party and its supporters but also in the eyes of the Malay public in general) for the party to remove Najib from its leadership.
But that does not mean Mahathir cannot defeat Najib.
– http://www.theindependent.sg
He did not come to power by his own charm, capacity or by the will of the members of the ruling party, Umno
Without Mahathir pressing hard for the then Prime Minister of Malaysia Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to go, Najib would probably be Prime Minister after the 2013 general elections.
Or he could have been doomed by then with the allegations of the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu not going away after the court case.
But Abdullah eventually resigned after mounting pressure from Mahathir to see him out of office.
Mahathir cited the poor showing by the ruling UMNO coalition in the elections of 8 March 2008, and the way Abdullah was running the country as the reasons for his early demise as PM.
The 2008 results were appalling for the Umno, with the ruling party losing control of five of thirteen Malaysian state governments.
But many people forget that it was Abdullah who then identified Najib as his intended successor and when he left office, Abdullah imposed a sort of challenge on Najib.
He said the onus was on Najib to win party elections set for March 2009 before he could take over.
And that is where Najib started to shift the lines, moving the goal posts within Umno to go and grab the party leadership without contest.
If one reads the above story with a deep thinking mind, it will be clear that first of all, Najib was given a free wheel at the reigns of the Umno and the country’s leadership since 2009.
The Malaysian PM practically made himself into what he is today, that is the ultimate Malay political figure, while Mahathir had simply put his faith in the son of his situ, the father of Najib, Tun Abdul Razak.
And today, Najib is the most powerful PM Malaysia has ever had.
AND THIS IS HOW MALAY POLITICS GOES DOWN IN TRICKLE INTO THE MALAY-BUMIPUTRA HOUSEHOLDS IN MALAYSIA.
He controls the party apparatus with such power that even Mahathir did not dream of, and he has absolute power in the corridors of power, to the extent that it is practically impossible to budge him on any subject.
With this in his hands, and with Najib shuffling the cards like an old fox, he attracts the Malay-Bumiputra support perhaps like no other PM before.
If PM Najib was made by his own forays within the party and the government after he was anointed as the future leader of the country, then it is not for Mahathir or any opposition leader to come and claim that he is illegitimate.
They can’t even come and claim that they ‘made’ him, because with the amount of scandals running amok in Malaysia’s political landscape – 1MDB for sure – no leader will dare come forward to claim Najib owes them reverence.
And that is what made Mahathir’s push to remove Najib Razak from power a weaker enterprise than when he strived to push Abdullah Badawi out.
Abdullah was anointed as PM by Mahathir, who handed him the Prime Ministership on a platter.
Mahathir had the legitimacy, in the eyes of the Malay-Muslims, to ask for the removal of the person he had chosen to replace him and it was accommodated by the party which at that time still owed the former stalwart the respect he deserved.
With Abdullah remaining silent on the 1MDB scandal and totally resigned to his fate as a retired PM, there is no legitimacy (in the eyes of the Party and its supporters but also in the eyes of the Malay public in general) for the party to remove Najib from its leadership.
But that does not mean Mahathir cannot defeat Najib.
– http://www.theindependent.sg
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