Some 160 Umno division chiefs are gathering in Putrajaya at 3pm today to show support for party president Datuk Seri Najib Razak's leadership, a move seen as reflecting that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's latest salvo against the prime minister is not finding resonance in the party.
The Malaysian Insider understands the organisers are trying to get all 193 Umno division chiefs to turn up in solidarity with Najib, who took the top post in 2009 from Dr Mahathir's successor, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
"We have all been invited to show support. I think there's at least 160 confirmed," an Umno warlord told The Malaysian Insider.
Other sources say the move is to isolate Dr Mahathir and his criticism made in a blog posting on August 18 against the prime minister, which was widely reported in online news portals but kept out of the mainstream media.
One Umno source said several Umno leaders had also responded to Dr Mahathir's criticism although in a diplomatic manner as they were mindful of how his attacks on Abdullah led to the latter's resignation in 2009.
"Umno is being circumspect with Dr Mahathir but the division leaders want to say that they are happy with Najib," he added.
In his blog posting, Dr Mahathir lashed out at the Najib administration, saying he was withdrawing his support for the prime minister as his criticism had fallen on deaf ears.
“I have tried to give my views to him directly, which are also the views of many people who have met me," wrote Dr Mahathir in his popular blog, chedet.cc.
"I have no choice but to withdraw my support. This has not been effective so I have to criticise," he said, adding that Najib was no better than his predecessor, Abdullah.
Dr Mahathir said he had hoped Najib learnt lessons from his poor performance in the last general election but it appeared that he had not.
Najib's Umno won nine more federal seats but the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition lost seven seats in the 2013 general election (GE13). It has since regained another seat in a by-election.
“Many policies, approaches and actions taken by the government under Najib have destroyed interracial ties, the economy and the country’s finances,” he added.
The country’s longest serving prime minister said if no one else wished to speak out against the administration, he would take it upon himself to criticise Najib, even if it meant opening himself up to abuse.
He added that he had similarly reproached Abdullah as well as Malaysia's first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.
“It is not because I do not love my leaders. But I love my people and country more,” Dr Mahathir said in his blog.
But Dr Mahathir's first deputy prime minister, Tun Musa Hitam, said that his old boss would only be happy if someone like him kept the job.
"He will only be satisfied if there is a Mahathir clone who becomes the top leader in Malaysia," Musa told The Malaysian Insider in an exclusive interview this week.
Musa said when Najib succeeded Abdullah, Dr Mahathir was announcing that the former was his boy and was busy advising him to do this and that.
"But when it appeared that Najib knew his mind and was doing things on his own, it got worse and worse for Dr Mahathir.
"Dr Mahathir felt that Najib was not consulting him on important issues but instead subjecting himself to foreign influences," Musa said.
"That is Dr Mahathir for you, do not believe what he says about claiming that his criticism of Putrajaya is friendly advice.
"His objective is to get Najib out of Putrajaya," Musa said flatly. – TMI
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