Jailing of “Bossku” Najib a game changer...
Ismail Sabri’s absence at an UMNO special briefing on Saturday (Aug 27) was a no-brainer. The prime minister deliberately cooked up an excuse to avoid being heckled and jeered by party leaders and members. The session was specially staged by UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to trap and humiliate PM Ismail, who only ranked third in the party hierarchy as one of the three vice-presidents.
Instead of attending the cheap drama dedicated to cry, whine and mourn the jailing of Najib Razak, PM Sabri went to Pahang to officiate the Malaysian Cheap Sales Programme. The premier also gave it a miss because he wanted to assess the “hostility” during the UMNO briefing before he attended an UMNO Supreme Council meeting later at night on the same day.
As expected, some 3,000 crowd at the Merdeka Hall in the World Trade Centre had openly jeered and booed Ismail Sabri, one of their kind just because they were instigated to hate the premier for refusing to interfere in the judicial independence in order to free a crook – former PM Najib. Java-immigrant Zahid thought he was clever, but Ismail was smarter.
The PM arrived at the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) headquarters around 8pm, escorted by jaw-dropping security, including balaclava-clad commandos and even an armoured MRAP (mine-resistant ambush protected) vehicle. It was to send a message that not only there was a civil war within UMNO, Sabri was being threatened by some UMNO “terrorists”.
After all, Najib and Zahid had provoked and incited hardcore loyalists to issue death threat to Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat – the first woman Chief Justice – when prisoner-in-waiting Najib was about to be sent to prison. Therefore, it’s possible that Sabri could be assassinated by the desperate crooks in order to immediately trigger a general election.
The purpose of the UMNO gathering was to pressure the turtle-egg man to dissolve the parliament. It was also to allow Zahid shed crocodile tears in front of party members to show his loyalty to his former boss as well as capitalized on Najib’s popularity. To make it more dramatic, Najib’s children were put on stage to tell sob stories and to shed more crocodile tears to win sympathy.
Najib in prison...
Zahid was hoping to use Najib’s branding to instigate a huge crowd of angry Najib fanatics to the street. Unfortunately, unlike Anwar Ibrahim’s politically motivated sodomy charges in 1998, which saw tens of thousands of people took to the street, only about 300 people flocked to the Palace in their attempt to harass the King to grant a royal pardon for crooked Najib.
While Nooryana Najwa (Najib’s daughter) and Zahid Hamidi have both won best actress and best actor awards respectively, has the UMNO film won the Best Picture Oscars award? Najib hardcore supporters believe the jailing of Najib will backfire as sympathy votes will see the party wins big in the coming 15th General Election. If that’s true, Zahid should not be panicked.
Immediately after Najib made history by becoming the first former premier to be imprisoned, Zahid defence lawyers informed High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah that they will call 43 witnesses – double the original number. Clearly, it is a delay tactic in his ongoing trial involving 47 charges related to corruption, money laundering and criminal breach of trust (CBT).
Instead of uniting UMNO like the persecution of Anwar in 1998, which led to “Reformasi” movement, the jailing of Najib has the reverse effect – further splitting the Malay nationalist party. Worshipping Najib like a cult figure is a double-edged sword. In the past, there was a popular question – what will happen to PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat or People’s Justice Party) if the party president, Anwar, is imprisoned.
Now, the same question haunts UMNO – can the party survive without Najib? The answer is obvious. The party is running around like a headless chicken from the moment the disgraced ex-premier becomes the Kajang Prison Complex’s newest inmate. Despite being the party president, Zahid appears directionless and behaves like a spoiled little brat who lost his candies.
The party is effectively leaderless because everyone has been relying on Bossku to deliver votes and win elections. To make matters worse, not only Zahid’s leadership sucks, those who attended the UMNO gathering on Saturday belonged to two categories – jobless parasite members depended on division chiefs for handouts and division chiefs lobbied for candidacy.
UMNO Special Meeting - Worshipping Najib - Poster
Zahid Hamidi panicked...
That explains why Azalina Othman bites the hand that feeds her. The Special Adviser to the Prime Minister slammed her own boss, PM Ismail Sabri, for refusing to sack current Attorney-General Idrus Harun and appoint a new Najib-friendly A.G. As the general election is around the corner, Azalina was lobbying UMNO president Zahid to sign the letter of candidacy (“surat watikah”).
The UMNO gathering was also for Zahid to flex his muscle – to show Sabri, including all the warlords, who is the party boss. As the party president, he can checkmate anyone who goes against him by not signing the letter of candidacy to those who desire to be fielded as candidates for the election. However, for the time being, Sabri is still the most powerful man in the country.
Sabri just needed to act dumb and play along, buying time till Zahid is convicted and disqualified to contest in the general election. Just because the Budget 2023 is brought forward by 3 weeks in October does not necessarily mean the premier will dissolve parliament right after that. He can say more reforms need to be done, such as the prime minister term limit.
Prime Minister Ismail Sabri - Clueless
PM Sabri is taking advantage of his clueless face to frustrate Zahid, dragging his feet for as long as he could. What is Zahid going to do about it? It would be like nagging a grumpy cat to go for an early election. The clueless prime minister knew his party president dares not sack him because it would create a new crisis – a bigger split that the party cannot afford at this moment.
Another favourite question UMNO used to mock Opposition in 2018, but has now plagued itself is this – who is UMNO’s poster boy? After the jailing of Najib, his loyalist Puad Zarkashi has suggested removing Ismail Sabri as the “poster boy” and candidate for Prime Minister. Now, not only Sabri isn’t sure, but UMNO members too aren’t convince if he will return as PM after winning the national election.
Heck, the UMNO vice president isn’t even sure if Zahid will sign his “surat watikah” once parliament is dissolved. The gathering to insult the PM was a huge mistake. It’s not rocket science that Ismail Sabri will do everything in his power to stay if he’s convinced that this is his last term as premier. However, the longer he drags, the riskier it is for UMNO due to inflation and economic uncertainties.
Azalina,Penasihat Undang Undang PM,
seolah memaksa PM melanggar undang2...
Zahid is expected to ride on sympathy factor during the election campaign, whining and bitching like a broken record about Najib’s unfair trial. However, on the ground as well as on social media, there are increasing numbers of Malays who think otherwise. Fence sitters who previously unsure about Najib’s 1MDB corruptions are now convinced that the son of Razak is indeed guilty.
Pouring cold water into false accusations that the judiciary system has been unfair to Najib, Sultan Nazrin of Perak said a judge must be free from any influence or pressure. Taking a dig at Najib and Zahid, the monarch said in the justice system, the judge is an important character and plays a big role in ensuring the credibility and integrity of the judiciary.
Some UMNO veterans went as far as using YouTube to slam Zahid’s desperate and pathetic attempt to defend the indefensible. The political party is in a very precarious situation. No one wants to bell the cat. Even Najib’s best buddy, PAS Islamic party president Hadi Awang, chooses to keep quiet as he doesn’t think it’s possible or worthwhile to defend “Bossku”.
Malays’ understanding is very simple. A whopping RM42 million had been stolen – 3 courts and 9 senior judges concurred Najib did it. Not a single judge had ruled otherwise. The head of all three courts who convicted him are ethnic Malay. The Chief Justice is a Malay. The Attorney General is a Malay. And the best part is Najib was sent to the prison by his own UMNO-Malay government.
The Malay community might not be sophisticated, but they are smart enough to see how the UMNO special meeting talked only about the super wealthy Najib, a “billionaire” crook behind bars. None of the 3,000 UMNO members and leaders talked about people’s “bread and butter” problems, let alone unemployment, underemployment, high cost of living or sagging economy.
Assuming Bossku branding is still influential, it’s unknown if the sympathy factor is significant enough to translate the impact into sympathy votes, what more if Sabri decides to call an election only next year. Najib isn’t some K-Pop celebrity hence the sustainability of his popularity could fade over time. To stay relevant, his paid cyber troopers have to continue updating his Facebook as usual.
While UMNO is chasing its own tail, the jailing of Najib will benefit Opposition Pakatan Harapan. It’s too arrogant to predict the return of Pakatan to power. But at least, the opposition can now tell their supporters, who had otherwise given up on voting again after the treachery “Sheraton Move”, that the votes they had cast in May 2018 has not gone to waste.
RM6 billion LCS littoral combat ship scandal...
In fact, Pakatan Harapan coalition, comprising PKR, DAP, Amanah and UPKO, can use the jailing of Najib to encourage voters to come home to vote again. They can argue that had the voters not returned to vote against the corrupted Najib-led Barisan Nasional coalition in 2018, Chief Justice Tengku Maimun would not have been appointed, allowing Najib to continue stealing.
Besides rallying supporters and justifying voters’ sacrifices in 2018, Pakatan Harapan can now show that it was the right decision to throw support behind Ismail Sabri and rejected Muhyiddin Yassin last year. Not only reforms like voting age lowered from 21 to 18 and anti- hopping law have been passed under Sabri administration due to MOU with Pakatan, the jailing of Najib has boosted Pakatan’s credibility.
The fact that traitor Muhyiddin Yassin is eager to work again with Pakatan Harapan under the pretext of defeating Barisan Nasional is testimony to Pakatan’s relevance. The opposition lost in Melaka and Johor state elections largely due to low turnout of Chinese voters, who in turn was discouraged and displeased over how their votes had been stolen.
Sending Najib to prison has answered the ethnic Chinese perception that their votes make no difference. For better or worse, the huge loss in Johor also saw the return of Rafizi Ramli to PKR as the party’s new deputy president. The jailing of Najib provides Rafizi, whose “Ayuh Malaysia” campaign aims to persuade people to vote is gaining momentum, with bullets to hammer UMNO.
The LCS (Littoral Combat Ship) scandal exposed by Rafizi recently fits nicely with Najib’s 1MDB scandal. The latest scandal, which saw RM6 billion paid without delivery of any of the six warships under Najib administration, is a major issue close to the heart of the Malays that can be a “tsunami” to defeat Barisan Nasional, or at the very least denies UMNO a big win.
Unlike 1MDB, the LCS scandal is easier to comprehend – and triggers anger – among ethnic Malay because it involved the Royal Malaysian Navy, where 99% personnel is Malays. The modus operandi on how people’s money was stolen in both 1MDB and LCS is the same. By explaining LCS, Malay voters could be made to understand why Najib is jailed due to 1MDB.
“Bossku Najib” behind bars is a game changer. UMNO has weakened while the Opposition is gaining strength. UMNO has enough votes to win if Chinese do not come out to vote (UMNO only won 38.39% and 43.11% popular votes in Melaka and Johor respectively). But the party is toast if the minority ethnics believe the sacred vote in their hands can make a difference after all. - FT
The rakyat were shouting “Don’t pardon him,Don’t pardon him"!!!
Rakyat went to merdeka parade and delivered a message to Agong...
Story kat SINI
cheers.
No comments:
Post a Comment