Umno leadership hanging by the skin of its teeth
The great irony of Najib’s career is that he has united Malaysians against him despite his efforts to unite us in support of him.
Scott Ng, Free Malaysia Today
Umno is the only reason Prime Minister Najib Razak is still standing, beaten and bloodied but not defeated by the onslaught of scandals that would have forced a leader to resign in almost any other democracy. The leadership of the party has managed to hold steady by the skin of its teeth, much to the consternation of the public, including even some sections of Umno’s own grassroots.
Umno is beginning to shake from rumblings within. The voices of dissent range from the whispers of a handful of ministers on the verge of breaking ranks to the screams of one Wanita member who could no longer take being “urinated” on. In fact, Anina Saaduddin, the woman who ranted against Najib in a video that went viral, claimed that the Umno President was supported by less than 20% of Umno.
It seems that everywhere you go, nobody, regardless of race, religion, or ideology, wants to see Najib in power a second longer. Coffee shops echo with murmurs of discontent and Internet forums and social media abound with daily insults for the Prime Minister. The great irony of Najib’s career is that he has united Malaysians against him despite his efforts to have us united in support of him.
So why then has Umno not taken steps to remove a man who appears to be leading them down the path to possible extinction in the next GE?
Well, you’ll have to ask Umno’s division heads. You see, contrary to his claims, Najib is not really a “democratically elected” Prime Minister. It is Umno that gives him his mandate to be Prime Minister. The division heads are the ones who choose the party president to be the de facto Prime Minister. That’s how powerful the Umno division heads are as a political force in Malaysia.
But it cannot be that the division heads are so divorced from reality that they do not see what the grassroots are seeing. Our currency has fallen to worrying levels against the dollar, the public has been openly calling for Najib to step down, and in Johor, Umno’s own birthplace, people have hung banners in derision of the Prime Minister. Furthermore, it seems that even party stalwarts can no longer sleep easy because loyalty to the party president is prized over all else.
