Let Umno’s grassroots decide Najib’s presidency, says ex-NSTP boss
Clara Chooi, TMI
Umno’s grassroots should get to decide the fate of Datuk Seri Najib Razak as party president when internal polls are held at the year’s end, former New Straits Times (NST) group editor-in-chief Datuk A. Kadir Jasin said today.
The political commentator appeared to disagree with suggestions from state-level leaderships that the party’s top two posts not be contested, saying their views must take into account that it was likely Umno’s grassroots leaders and members who helped save Barisan Nasional (BN) from losing Election 2013.
Without their support, he said in a blog posting today, Umno may not have scored the 88 federal seats it won during the divisive polls ― a significant nine seats more than the 79 it won in Election 2008.
“It would only be reasonable to give them the right to decide if they want Najib’s presidency challenged because Umno would not have won those precious 88 seats if its members or supporters had not resolved to vote for BN on May 5.
“They should also be given the space and opportunity to decide among themselves if they want Najib, whose achievements were lower, to be retained as president (and subsequently as prime minister) when they showed Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi the exit after a greater victory in 2008,” Kadir wrote.
BN survived Election 2013 with a weaker majority, scoring only 133 seats to Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) 89 ― a notable seven-seat margin smaller than the previously worst performance in Election 2008.
The polls saw the emergence of a divided Malaysia, a trend that was fuelled further when top leaders in Umno characterised the election results as a Chinese-versus-Malay contest.
Najib, in his victory speech on May 6, described the vote trend as a “Chinese tsunami”, noting that an even greater percentage of the country’s second-largest ethnic group had fled to the opposition’s fold, leaving BN’s non-Malay parties with a greatly reduced parliamentary representation.
Only Umno showed improvement when it took 88 parliamentary seats at a time when their coalition partners were nearly wiped out from the august House.
Today, Kadir highlighted that Najib had led a presidential-style campaign all through the polls, attempting to use his popularity as a reformist to woo support for BN.
The clear “essence” of the BN campaign, he said, was Najib’s 1 Malaysia platform and the prime minister’s portrayal of himself and his team as all-inclusive, particularly when rallying the Chinese and Indian voters.
But when the poll results saw these communities flee BN’s side and Umno’s popularity soar, Kadir said questions arose over why the vote had gone the direction it did.
“The question is, did Umno perform better because its top leaders placed priority on the party and the Malays, or were the Malays themselves afraid their powers would weaken if the Chinese parties in BN chalked bigger victories?” he asked.
