TH-1MDB deal may be Najib’s final undoing
All signs seem to show that the situation is at breaking point, and many onlookers doubt that Najib will escape this time.
Scott Ng, Free Malaysia Today
The game between Mahathir and Najib seems to be headed to a foregone conclusion, with many speculating that Mahathir has already won the battle given the outpouring of public support for the good doctor and the movements within the Umno machine that hint at a coming upheaval. As always, however, politics is by nature unpredictable, and things can still change between today and tomorrow, between this month and the next.
Over the past several days, Malaysians have descended into a downward spiral of incredulity, disbelief, and yes, rage, over the perceived move to bail out 1MDB with the purchase of one of its assets by Tabung Haji. The move was derided almost universally, with prominent BN figures condemning it and Malaysians everywhere up in arms.
Tabung Haji is almost sacred to the millions of Muslims in this country. For years and years, they have saved significant portions of their meagre wages to fulfil one of the most holy duties in Islam – to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. They rely on Tabung Haji to keep those funds safely for the day that they can do their holy duty. To touch Tabung Haji is tantamount to robbing these hardworking Malaysians of their hard-saved money. Indeed, without concrete guarantee of return on investment, Muslims nationwide have good reason to be incensed.
Couple this with the extraordinary burden the GST has inflicted upon the masses striving to keep their heads above water, and you have a volatile cocktail of anger and frustration that is coming close to breaking point. Appropriating the Tabung Haji funds may prove to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, as it has become clear now that the Najib administration is desperate to the extreme in its search for funding to bail out the Prime Minister’s beloved project.
Perhaps more important than the anger of the people is the undeniable turning of the tide on Najib within Umno. Take, for example, Khairy Jamaluddin. Khairy and his Umno Youth boys may have shown the Prime Minister support when he met them to explain the 1MDB dilemma, but even this crafty politician has had to bow to the changing tides. Through a statement from Umno Youth headquarters, he has demanded that the Finance Ministry and Tabung Haji explain the purchase of land from 1MDB.
Khairy is joined by Umno Vice-President Shafie Apdal and many divisional chiefs in a chorus of disapproval that could be their lifeline in retaining their positions.
