Stop hassling the Prime Minister
Salleh Said Keruak
You do not have to be a political genius to see that both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat are going through a crisis. The crises are both inter-party as well as intra-party. The party that comes out of this unscathed will be the party where its leader or leaders have superb crisis management skills.
Most West Malaysian parties from either Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat are not free of an internal crisis. While we can be grateful that in Sabah we are being spared this dilemma, we cannot deny that any crisis in West Malaysia will invariably spill over and affect us.
Hence Umno President and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak would have to consider all aspects of this crisis and the repercussions all round in making his decision. Sometimes satisfying one group can end up alienating the other.
Nevertheless, in any crisis, to be able to ride it out will all depend on the support of his team, in this case his number two and the Umno Vice Presidents and Supreme Council. Any division at the top understandably would alter the landscape and influence the outcome of that crisis. This is very crucial in times of crisis.
The Hudud crisis is not Umno’s doing. But it can affect Umno. And when one leader makes a statement saying he supports Hudud while another says the opposite and yet another asks the party to take a strong stand on the issue this is opening Umno up to the danger of getting dragged into a crisis not of Umno’s own doing.
The Prime Minister has not said a word yet regarding Hudud. But many others have already done so, giving an impression that this is Umno’s official stand, which is not true at all. Sometimes I wonder whether they are just trying to be helpful or are attempting to throw a spanner into the works.
Let us wait for Prime Minister’s statement on this matter.
