Najib’s false bravado
Umar Mukhtar
The false bravado exhibited by Prime Minister Najib Razak in his “I will not surrender” speech is symphonic of the precarious position he is now in regarding his prime ministership. The last time we heard that desperate declaration was when Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim was on his way to the hard realities of Sungai Buluh prison. Good choice of words!
Najib’s calculation that a large majority of UMNO divisional heads are in his pockets, plus the majority of the members of UMNO’s Supreme Council are his people, may be accurate for now. He may be safe in the party as long as he makes them happy. With all the goodies in his hands, why do you think he had to scream that he will not surrender?
Do not forget that this is not just about saving UMNO. It is about saving Malaysia. That gives licence to non-UMNO Malaysians to be activistic. Dr Mahathir, for now, may have a limited objective of keeping UMNO strong by removing Najib. But numerous other Malaysians want Malaysia to return to sanity. So If UMNO as the predominant party can’t do it, other configurations can come into play!
You only need a handful of UMNO Members of Parliament to kick Najib out. Najib can remain UMNO President with his present flock, but he needs the support of at least 112 MPs to remain a Prime Minister. Sure Barisan National has 133 sitting MPs and of these, UMNO, MCA, MIC, Gerakan, SUPP and PPB have 88, 7, 4, 1, 1, and 14 MPs respectively, totalling 115.
The rest of the ruling coalition MPs are from UPKO (3), PBS (4), PBRS (1), all formerly of PBS in Sabah, and SPDP (4) and PRS (6) from Sarawak, formerly of PBDS. All have tasted shit from the hands of UMNO when they were in the opposition. Remember the locked gates of the Governor’s mansion, etc., to frustrate PBS and the devious means to break up PBS and PBDS into mosquito parties, and these parties’ common campaign for the BN government to recognise East Malaysian grievances?
Surely they can forgive, but not forget. They are waiting patiently for that opportunity to get even and also to bargain for their interests. Imagine a handful of Peninsular BN MPs facing up to certain realities and holding Najib and his cohorts at ransom. They have to broaden their options. They love UMNO but not Najib.
They meet PR and declare honestly their limited objective of removing Najib as PM, asking PR’s cooperation for a Vote Of No Confidence, and submitting as the new PM, a reasonably acceptable to all, an MP that will enjoy the confidence of a majority of the MPs! As a transition until PRU14. That way there will be something to fight for. Not insurmountable debts.
Without even doing that, just the capability and threat of doing that by the handful BN renegade BN MPs will drive UMNO helter-skelter. UMNO will drop Najib like a hot brick! Just 25 MPs, say 15 from BN and 10 from the above parties from Sabah and Sarawak and the 89 current PR MPs, UMNO will talk. There are enough UMNO MPs pissed off with the situation and the shenanigans.
Or, all 25 MPs are from UMNO, as is Mahathir’s fallback target, when he is forced to deal outside of UMNO. So not necessarily a majority of UMNO divisional heads, or, if a bargain can be struck with the opposition, no need at least 112 BN MPs, to make life miserable for Najib to cause him to scream like he did. No need to scream, just show where is our money.
Having spent it to help BN in PRU13 doesn’t count, as an example of a cooked-up excuse.
Up to the UMNO warlords if they want this scenario to happen. Mahathir is trying hard to avoid having to do that. But he will go all the way if he has to. That’s what Najib gets for infuriating the wrong person.
The question is, will the Opposition play ball? Not if they can tolerate 20,000 million ringgit of the Rakyat’s money gone missing under our noses. This should be a bi-partisan issue. What a glorious way to unite!
