Who after Najib?
Another Brick in the Wall
It is a Sunday. Not the best day to talk politics. Time for family, leisure and errands.
Those going balik kampong for Hari Raya Haji and school holidays will be streaming back to their respective homes. The highway will be packed and traffic will be slow. Hmmm … why not as it provide something to read on the smartphone?
More so, there are something interesting in Tun Dr Mahathir’s latest posting here 2 days ago. One particularly, he seemed to have reached a phase of repeating himself.
According to Joseph Goebbel, repeating is an integral part of propaganda. But then, there will be those especially the Kelab Che Det-type that will vehemently oppose the description of propaganda.
1MDB thinks otherwise. They regret that “Mahathir easily forget“. They felt he “continues to reuse and recycle stale and unproven allegations, which have repeatedly been proven wrong.”
It is convenient to forget because according to a World War II propaganda manual, it is to address to “the least intelligent”. Roosevelt said, “Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.”
Instead of repeating himself in the last two months of postings, Tun M should lay out the proofs to justify his refusal to believe the explanations. Creeping normality propaganda gave the impression the majority agreed Najib halted investigation.
Without doing so, there is insufficient legal basis for Tun M to get him to withdraw. His rationale is subjective as one opinion against another.
If the past is a predictor of the future, the repeating phase is the crossroad where Tun M is unable to go forward or will go down to reach out to the masses. It could spell the end of Najib.
The new target being bandied around is December. Time to think of a successor.
Zahid
Thus far most visible, Najib has chosen Dato Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as his successor by removing Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
It automatically dispel the popular believe that he will bring up his cousin, Dato Hishamuddin Hussein Onn as successor.
Though Hishamuddin has more exposure and trained for the position than Zahid, many felt it is not viable for Hishamuddin since he came third in the VP race by miles to Zahid and Dato Shafie Apdal. Zahid came first twice.
Shafie is hardly an option. His mind is only set on being Sabah Chief Minister. Has exceptionally too many skeleton in his cupboard. Approach to remain in power in his constituency is to perpetuate a dependent mentality. That sucks to high heaven!
To be fair to Zahid, he is not the same person of the past. High time to let bygone of his Youth Chief and reformasi days be bygone. Thus far, he has been steady in his various Ministerial positions. He has not meddle in the process and structure of government. Relatively much controversy.
One handicap is English. He does not sound comfortable speaking it. Eventually address the United Nation General Assembly. Can be hyped for the pejuang bahasa’s false sense of pride.
Remember that Malaysia is the 16th largest trading nation. English is important in communication for trade, diplomacy, law, etc. The Prime Minister cannot be someone insular but global in outlook, awareness and presence.
Muhyiddin
Many has discounted Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as possible the next Prime Minister but lets not forget that he is still the Deputy UMNO President. Say something happened to Najib like arrested by FBI or abducted by CIA, then he could not stay on.
Zahid can deputise for a while but not on a permanent basis. Void of any other influential personality, Tun M’s loudmouth voice and chorused by others like Pak Lah, and Tun Musa will want Muhyiddin as PM. He is still member of Parliament and still Chief Whip.
Maybe Muhyiddin is not as exposed and groomed for Premiership like Najib or Hishamuddin. In football, there is the spine. Similarly, in administration, there are the important positions like Finance, Foreign Affairs, Home, Defense, and Information.
Education used to be for its political value but not any more. Most important UMNO positions are not held by the Cikgu as it used to in the past. That is the only key position Muhyiddin have held.
In the previous cabinet, Muhyiddin is a long serving member. He can match Najib in terms of capability but trails in terms of expose and global presence. Remember 16th largest trading nation.
The worry is his past as Johor Menteri Besar will be dug back.
Muhyiddin is loyal to the Amirul Mukminin. He has been reluctant to express anything visionary to not supercede Najib. However, when it warrants for, he is unafraid to speak up as he did to Pak Lah and it led him to willingly withdraw. Najib side had long been wary of this.
In the latest episode, someone did a number on him to viral a closed session speech at Janda Baik. Since it is already out, he had to meet audience expectation to explain himself. Not to be forgotten that his first public “outburst” on 1MDB was to call for the resignation of the Board of Directors. It was a sensible move but Najib is not in the habit of sacking people and keeps all the deadwoods.
The rumour making it’s round is Muhyiddin had collaborated with former Attorney General, Tan Sri Gani Patail to arrest Najib and it was planned after the cancelled UMNO Supreme Council Meeting. The absurd thing is he is not Home Minister to do so.
Zahid has no issue and still remain cordial with Muhyiddin. At one time when there was talk of a Najib-Hishamuddin tag team, there was also the Muhyiddin-Zahid tag team. It is not impossible for Zahid to give way to Muhyiddin.
Having once been Najib’s political secretary, Zahid had always been a Najib man.
It is widely made known by Muhyiddin that he had been reluctant to be PM. Some quarter said he is not excited to clean Najib’s mess. Najib’s mess is also Pak Lah and Tun M legacy issues. There are those in the late 60s saying he better not cause he is the same age as them.
