Najib seeks to avoid Badawi’s failure to control UMNO warloards
posted by din merican in Bangkok, Thailand
The Malaysian Insider
September 21,2009
By Consensus, Badawi failed miserably
By consensus, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has failed miserably and squandered Barisan Nasional’s historic 2004 mandate because he became a prisoner to UMNO. His successor is trying hard to cut free from the party.
Datuk Seri Najib Razak is barely warming his seat as UMNO president and prime minister for six months but is already facing the push back from the party warlords even sooner than Abdullah.
Abdullah, or Pak Lah as he was known to all, is on record as the shortest-serving prime minister but served a while longer as UMNO president than founding president Datuk Onn Jaafar. The reasons for most UMNO presidents leaving office can be eerily similar. Some say that his fear of what his party felt set in after the 2004 party assembly when he realised that he could not stop the practice of money politics. Others say it was a year into his office when Abdullah succumbed to the wishes of the warlords.
Najib has not had the pleasure of at least a year to run his ideas or stamp his authority on the nationalist Malay party that has won every election since before independence in 1957. His 1 Malaysia remains a slogan, the economy sputtering despite two stimulus packages and the Cabinet is distracted by fractious fights within coalition partners.
The troubles within his ruling Barisan Nasional coalition prompted him to appeal for unity in his first Hari Raya Aidil Fitri message as prime minister yesterday as he sought to regain the initiative to keep the ship together in troubled waters. His efforts have been in vain.
— Reuters picPenang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng paid him a back-handed compliment last week, telling the Financial Times that Najib is better than Abdullah in getting things done.
Even MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, who is facing calls from UMNO to step down after a record 11 terms at the helm, has praised Najib in the face of scorn from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who recently ticked off the veteran leader as a liability for Barisan Nasional.
But those platitudes have not made Najib’s job any easier, especially as the son of the country’s second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein has been a cautious and risk-averse politician since succeeding his father, who died in 1976, in the Pekan parliamentary seat. His only political setback was in 1999 when he won the seat with a 241-vote majority.
Since then, he has grown from strength to strength and took over as prime minister last April 3, promising the end to big government, reforms in the economy and furthering Bangsa Malaysia through his 1 Malaysia concept.
And while he knows that selling equity in government-linked-companies (GLCs) like Sime Darby to foreign investors is the prudent thing to do, Najib is worried about upsetting the UMNO ground, calling the deal a speculation and pre-empting a decision when it was reported by The Malaysian Insider.
Similarly, privately he is upset with the action of party members involved in the cow-head demo and has told Cabinet members of the perception that UMNO is becoming right wing. But he appears unwilling to haul up the right wingers and recalibrate party to the centre.
Just like Pak Lah, Najib seems content to deliver inclusive sounding speeches on the national stage but is wary of hitting too hard at the party base. But without a doubt the warlords are fighting back. They don’t think much of 1 Malaysia, were upset that Datuk Idris Jala was appointed to the Cabinet, and showed their true colours at the recent by-election in Permatang Pasir.
Several Penang warlords sent word that their support can only be guaranteed if they were put back on the gravy train of contracts. The choice of candidate was also dictated by warlords despite his disbarment being an issue in the Permatang Pasir vote.
The Bagan Pinang vote on Oct 11 will be a key test of Najib’s success to turn the party to do his bidding. He might get them to accept a bigger base to vote in party officials but finding the best candidate for elections seems to remain at the hands of the warlords.
If they continue to hold the party to ransom, Najib could go the way of Pak Lah — both men trying to save a party from itself but remaining a prisoner to its desires. But Najib must not fail or UMNO and its allies will, in the next general election.
Can he control the UMNO warlords? I have my doubts. Why? He is one of them, that is before he became the Prime Minister. Being part of the system which is corrupt and decadent, Najib will not upset the apple card.
If he wants to convince us, then he should take action on PKFZ, where some UMNO warlords are believed to be heavily involved. But he has instead appointed a Super Task Force to do some cover-up.–Din Merican
dinobeano - September 21, 2009 at 10:21 am
How can he do this job when he himself has so much baggage. The UMNO warlords have some cards in their hands, I believe.
Mui Kwai Fa - September 21, 2009 at 11:48 am
” But he has instead appointed a super task force to do some cover-up. ” – din merican
but after RAJA PETRA KAMARUDDIN – did the country a favour by releasing the relevent cabinet paper , what more can they cover ?
salah jangka - September 21, 2009 at 11:51 am
Badawi is plain lazy and loves to talk but loathes action. As a result, he lost the opportunity (in 2004) to make a difference of a lifetime. He deserves to be confined to the dustbin of history for adding to the misery of our nation which was created by that institutional psychopath Tun Dr. Mahathir. He was too feeble to take on UMNO warlords. He did not have the courage to tell Mahathir to shut up, or use the power of his office to put his predecessor in his proper place. No leader in the world would allow that to happen. Tun Dr. Mahathir openly declared that he would work hard to force Badawi to step down; and he did it. How stupid can Badawi get to let his predecessor to belittle, if not insult him.
Najib by contrast a mean, hard working,reasonably intelligent and politically astute man. But he will not a reformist. He is just a status quo person, too well bred in UMNO Baru culture which,as many interlocutors have repeated said, is decadent and utterly corrupt. His 1Malaysia is just another spinner’s invention, there is no substance and billions of ringgits will be expended to promote, only to be reversed by whoever succeeds him. Just look what happened to Islam Hadhari which Badawi created, only to be rejected by the Muslim world, including Malaysian Muslims.
Selamat Hari Raya to all from a newcomer to this blog. I am frequent reader, but this is my first input into the discourse process which our host is promoting. I thank him for his effort. He is succeeding in his attempt to make us critical of people entrusted with power.
pak pendek - September 21, 2009 at 1:02 pm
“…Najib…is wary of hitting too hard at the party base”
This is precisely where the Youth Wing (and the Womens” Wing) should have come in if they are the real conscience of the party and the country. These groups ought to have created a stir of their own after the tsunami and not stopped until the entire leadership of seniors had been ousted. The absence of even a ripple from them means not only that we have no reason to hope for any change in BN but also that the two wings are part and parcel of the same outdated system. No wonder someone (Tengku Rithaudeen, I believe) suggested disbanding them.
One or two terms as opposition might be just the trigger BN need to wake up to the new realities.
Isa Manteqi - September 21, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Najib will as usual talk as loudly as possible to drown out all the wrongdoings he and his warlords have done and are still doing with impunity. He is convinced that somehow or rather there are still stupid voters, who will take him for his words, and believe in him.
The very truth is that his beess are being squeezed left and right, top and bottom due to his own baggage that he has and his flawed character, and I am sure, the pdrm, macc, judiciary and his warlords are holding him to ransom with all the evidences and files they have on him.
_______
Richard, greetings from Bangkok where democracy is thriving and the economy benefiting from a heavy inflows of tourists despite H1N1. Maybe you are right. It explains why he has not been upfront with his shenanigans including the commissions on the submarine, Eurocopter and Russian fighter deals.—Din Merican
Richard Loh - September 21, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Who are these so-called “warlords”??
Are there terriroties carved out by these so-called warlords, given to them as rewards for their loyalty to the emperor, to administer and to tax and collect revenue for themselves?
Are we still in the Middle Ages?
Mr Bean - September 21, 2009 at 7:45 pm
“Are we still in the Middle Ages?” Mr. Bean
Not quite sir, but please be patient. Two or three more Hassan Alis in PR and we shall soon be there.
Isa Manteqi - September 22, 2009 at 9:25 am
In that case we should protect the modesty of our women folk by distributing free iron chastity belts and throw the keys away before Attila the Hun returns.
Mr Bean - September 22, 2009 at 3:20 pm
tis not attilla the hun whose return that bodes worry. its najib mongolia’s tenure that gives rise to goose pimples for fear of further exploding female bodies, billion ringgit defence contract kickbacks, beheaded cows and deaths in police custody that challenge apartheid south africa’s record. would an umno warlord fear a new leader or reforming angel with baggage? please laah!
ginger_cat - September 30, 2009 at 12:58 pm
the umno warlords are those umno veterans having the respect from the general umno members. they move quietly but surely and their networks are extensive all over the country.umno members listen to their advise and comments.generally, they are quite rich having enough resources to mobilise the groups.
edosmera - February 26, 2010 at 3:00 am
Badawi should have learnt from Mahathir. Never show full support to your deputy. He should have let Najib and Muhyddin pit against each other for the post creating bad blood between them and their supporters.
Sim Chuen Nen - March 17, 2010 at 4:02 pm