Malaysia’s Najib Under Fire at AGM

By admin-s On Nov 26, 2014

(Asia Sentinel) – No open rebellion, but Prime Minister faces a rebellion over Malay privilege

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak opened the United Malays National Organization annual general meeting Tuesday under siege on his own flanks, partly former from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, and partly from his own deputy prime minister and party deputy chief Muhyiddin Yassin, who is increasingly openly challenging him.

Given Malay politics, where frontal opposition is rare, the attacks are obtuse and opaque. But the messages from both are clear: that under the party’s current leadership, the ruling Barisan Nasional, will lose the next election because the party, the biggest component of the national ruling coalition, is being deserted by ethnic Malays.

The conclave is expected to run through Saturday and can be expected to feature the usual fire-breathing attacks on other races and religions — from the dais — if things go as usual. But sources close to Mahathir say this one is also expected to feature rank-and-file efforts to pass a resolution telling Najib he can’t do away with the country’s colonial era sedition laws, as the prime minister has promised.

“That is a blow to the PM, who has pledged to abolish it,” the source said. The divisions won’t take on a growing scandal over the sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bd., he said, “because it is now a national problem. We don’t expect it to be discussed because most members don’t know what is going on. It’s too complicated.”

1MDB, however, is the elephant in the room to the leadership, a disastrously managed sovereign investment fund which has accumulated debts of RM36 billion, apparently because of a calamitous investment in a Saudi Arabian oil venture in which RM7.2 billion appears to have disappeared altogether. Subsequent attempts to cover the failed investment have driven debt through the roof. Mahathir has assailed the government over the operation of 1MDB, as has Daim and several bloggers who are loyal to Mahathir.

A source close to the Mahathir wing described the 1MDB investment as the biggest scandal the country has ever faced, a tall statement given that billions have been lost through disastrous and crooked loans from the state-owned Bank Bumiputera Bhd, the attempt to modernize the Port Clang seaport, attempts to corner the tin market, a failed steel mill and many others.

The bigger issue for this round is Malay privilege. Ethnic Malays dominate almost all of the top positions in the civil service, the military and the police. Malay-owned companies are given the lion’s share of government contracts. They are given preferential treatment in the number of positions in government universities, receive 7 percent discounts for new houses, have special reserve land in housing settlements and burial plots. A minimum of 30 percent equity must be given to Malays in all listed companies. Mosques and Islamic places of worship are fully funded. They receive special share allocations for new applications.

Nonetheless, Najib and the coterie surrounding him are under fire from Mahathir and organizations such as Perkasa, a Malay superiority organization headed by Ibrahim Ali, once described by a critic as “Mahathir’s Brown Shirts,” a reference to the shock troops of the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, for giving away too much to other ethnic groupings, particularly the Chinese. Despite the perks given to ethnic Malays, the Chinese continue to dominate the economy.

Mahathir and his close associate, onetime Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin, lambasted Najib for attempting to reach out to the minorities prior to the 2013 general election, in which a three-party coalition headed by Anwar Ibrahim won a vast majority of the Chinese votes. Anwar’s coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, won a majority of all votes in the election but lost parliamentary seats through gerrymandering and the country’s first-past-the-post electoral system.

Political rumor mills are buzzing over indications that Muhyiddin would make a move for the top job, although change is unlikely during the current conclave. But for months, Muhyiddin, a Johor-based Malay nationalist, had been telling associates and friends that he would like to retire. He is 67 and has said he is tired. He recently went on the haj, or religious pilgrimage to Mecca, however and came back to say he feels rejuvenated.