The anti-Najib movement has conceded defeat

Basically Kadir admits that Najib won the day and that his detractors were sent home in disgrace, while his biggest detractor of all conceded defeat by not turning up for the closing of the assembly.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

(Free Malaysia Today) – A veteran newsman sees the just concluded Umno General Assembly as all about saving party President and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak. “There was no emphasis on finding a way out for the party and the nation on numerous issues.”

“Najib’s position as Umno President has been reinforced and he remains Prime Minister. Umno members have now bestowed ‘demi-God’ status on him. He’s regarded as a pure human being with extraordinary powers.”

It was quite obvious, said former New Straits Times Group Editor-in-Chief Kadir Jasin, that Najib was nothing more than a “demagogue”, someone who seeks support driven by an overwhelming desire and prejudice while ditching all rational arguments. “Najib prefers to whack his critics, for being critical, rather than engage in rational dialogue with them to rebut their allegations against him.”

Najib and those hanging around him couldn’t care less if the party remains split, the government administration was in disarray and the economy continues to head south, warned Kadir. “What they were worried about was continuing to remain in power.” (READ MORE HERE)

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Today, Kadir Jasin, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s ally and spokesman, has accepted the fact that they lost in their move to oust Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. “Najib’s position as Umno President has been reinforced and he remains Prime Minister,” said Kadir.

In not so many words Kadir admits that they did attempt to use the recently concluded Umno annual general assembly as the last and final resort to oust Najib after failing so many times before this (in Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, Plan D, Plan E, and so on).

That is why Kadir said, “Najib’s position as Umno President has been reinforced and he remains Prime Minister.” They were hoping that Najib would fall during the Umno assembly, which did not happen. And that was the last and final platform they could use. After this it would be impossible.

As I had said in my earlier articles, if they can’t oust Najib by December then it is never going to happen. And Kadir has more or less admitted the same thing when he said, “Najib’s position as Umno President has been reinforced and he remains Prime Minister.”

Kadir also said, “Najib prefers to whack his critics, for being critical, rather than engage in rational dialogue with them to rebut their allegations against him.” But then he did. They organised a briefing session before the start of the assembly to explain all of those so-called issues that the anti-Najib movement raised. However, Najib’s critics, Muhyiddin Yassin included, refused to attend that session to listen to the explanations.

They keep complaining about dialogues and explanations and the need for Najib to rebut the allegations. But when that is done they absent themselves from the event and refuse to listen to any explanation. And then they complain that there is no explanation. Apa lagi dia orang mahu? A free trip to the Middle East to meet the RM2.6 billion donor maybe?

Kadir also complains about the party being split. But then who is splitting the party? Is Najib splitting the party or is it Dr Mahathir, Muhyiddin and the anti-Najib movement? Najib wants to unite the party. It is his detractors who want to create two camps, Team A and Team B, like they did back in 1987, which resulted in Umno getting deregistered.

In fact, Najib is prepared to forgive and forget. He even walked over to Muhyiddin to shake his hand. Why did Muhyiddin withdraw his hand when Najib tried to raise it as a gesture of reconciliation? Najib wanted to make his peace but Muhyiddin did not reciprocate. And after that Muhyiddin announced that although Najib shook his hand he is still going to continue to attack Najib.

So, if the party is split, as Kadir says, whose fault is it? Why blame Najib for that when he tried his best to reconcile while it is his adversaries who refuse to reciprocate? They only want Najib ousted and nothing less than that. And they are grumbling because after one year of attacks since December last year until now they failed to oust him.

The anti-Najib movement tried so many ways to oust Najib. However, they failed each and every time. The last and final avenue was the Umno annual general assembly this week.

On the eve of the assembly they organised a rally in Kampung Baru where they were promised a crowd of at least 50,000 Umno supporters. Considering that Umno has 3.5 million members a crowd of 50,000 is not really that impossible.

But they managed to get a ‘crowd’ of less than 1,000. And many in that ‘crowd’ were actually opposition supporters or kay poh people who are not members of any political party. So it was a mere handful of Umno members.

They should have realised by then that the anti-Najib movement has failed. They do not have the support of the grassroots. No doubt many opposition supporters were there that night in Kampung Baru but then they do not matter because this is supposed to be an internal party matter involving Umno.

Dr Mahathir attended the opening of the Umno assembly and was forced to sit there and witness Najib tearing his detractors to pieces. Dr Mahathir then left in a huff and scurried out of the hall. He did not mingle or shake hands with the Umno leaders or members like all the others did.

That was already a bad sign. He should have at least salam with the others even if he did not want to salam with Najib. That is the proper Malay thing to do. So Dr Mahathir demonstrated a very un-Malay character by walking out just like that. It demonstrated not only bad Malay culture and tradition but also demonstrated defeat.

Then Dr Mahathir did not attend the closing. If he wanted to show that he has not been defeated he should have attended the closing as if to say, “I am back!” But he did not. And the message that people got from that is Dr Mahathir saying, “I have lost!”

The other bad thing about Dr Mahathir’s absence is that people interpret this as him abandoning his team. Muhyiddin and Shafie Apdal are his hirelings. Dr Mahathir should not have abandoned them. He should have stood by them as a show of support.

But he did not do that. Dr Mahathir stayed away and left his people to ‘die alone’. That is not a good move for the leader of any movement, anti-Najib movement or otherwise. A leader must stand by his people and die with his people. He does not allow them to die alone.

Now people are going to think twice about joining Dr Mahathir’s anti-Najib movement. They realise that when the tide turns their commander is going to be missing. It was a huge tactical blunder for Dr Mahathir to stay away from the closing after attending the opening and then send a message to all and sundry that he has lost the fight and has given up.

Muhyiddin’s tactical blunder is for adopting an anti-Malay and anti-Islam culture. To the Malays asking for forgiveness and offering forgiveness is very important. That is what Hari Raya is all about, about asking for and giving forgiveness. In fact, most Malays view this as mandatory. If you have wronged someone you ask for forgiveness and the other side must offer forgiveness.

Muhyiddin says he is Malay first and everything else second. Yet when Najib walks over to shake his hand he rejects the gesture and pulls back. That would be seen by most of the 3.5 million Umno members as a most un-Malay attitude. And because of that Muhyiddin lost in the Malay court of public opinion.

It was actually a very clever strategic move by Najib. For one year since December last year they ruthlessly attacked him. Most had expected Najib to sack them from the party. But he did not. And he did not because if he had then they would not have been able to attend the Umno assembly and he wanted them to.

Then, at the Umno assembly, in front of his detractors (not behind their backs), he delivered his speech and replied to all the issues (as Kadir himself lamented). He did not whack them from behind like they did to him. He spoke to their faces.

Then he extended an olive branch to show that in spite of what they did to him he is still prepared to reconcile. He allowed the whole of Umno to witness that he is prepared to reconcile and that his detractors rejected the gesture and want to continue hurting the party by continuing the fight.

As far as the Umno or Malay court of public opinion is concerned, Najib did the right thing, the proper Malay and Muslim thing. His detractors, however, were very un-Malay. And that is what worries people like Kadir and is the reason why he is lamenting.

Kadir knows that Najib pulled of a very brilliant public relations move and that he has come out looking the perfect Malay-Muslim gentlemen while his detractors came out looking like the gulungan kecewa bunch of losers. And that is the reason why Kadir said, “Umno members have now bestowed ‘demi-God’ status on him. He’s regarded as a pure human being with extraordinary powers.”

Basically Kadir admits that Najib won the day and that his detractors were sent home in disgrace, while his biggest detractor of all conceded defeat by not turning up for the closing of the assembly.

“So where do they go from here?” some are asking. There is nowhere else to go. It is game over. The results are in and Najib won. And Najib’s detractors are more or less admitting that they lost and Najib won. So it ends here. There is nowhere else to go. And the faster they realise this the better for them or else they are going to continue to make fools of themselves.