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Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Why is Najib still in power?


QUESTION TIME After all his failings and lies over his brainchild, 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), and at least US$3.5 billion (RM14 billion) embezzled from it, and as much as US$7 billion (US$28 billion) unaccounted for, why is it that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak remains in power?
How could a nation keep a prime minister who is directly and indirectly responsible for the biggest fraud in Malaysian history and perhaps the biggest fraud ever in the world in power? The Minister of Finance Inc (Najib is finance minister, too) owns all of 1MDB, he was chairperson of the advisory board and the memorandum and articles of association of 1MDB required him to sign off on all major deals.
In other countries that practice true parliamentary democracy, that would have been enough to nail him and kick him out hard if he had not already resigned by then, but not here. Why?
Just because he was head of Umno and Barisan Nasional or BN when the coalition won the last elections in 2013, it does not convey on him an automatic right to remain prime minister until the next elections.
A prime minister can be removed if he does wrong under the law but for that to work you need independence of both investigating and prosecuting authorities. Najib circumvented that by removing the previous attorney-general under highly suspicious circumstances. At the same time, the country's corruption-fighting body saw wrenching changes while central bank officials were questioned by the police for possible leaks of information over that US$681 million “donation” that went into the accounts of Najib at AmBank.
When dissent within his party began to surface, he took action against senior party officials culminating in the expulsion of his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin who, together with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, has now formed a new party.
That served as an example for any others who might want to challenge Najib’s leadership of Umno and resulted in Umno top guns and other heads of political parties within the BN coalition keeping mum and voicing their support for Najib. 
Umno party elections have been postponed to after the next general elections, preventing would-be contestants from ousting him. It looks like no one within Umno is capable of organising a revolt or rebellion and to force an extraordinary general assembly which could remove him as party chief and hence prime minister.
That Najib remains PM, and Umno president, is first and foremost a reflection of the poor leadership at the top of Umno. Except for Muhyiddin, Shafie Apdal and Mukhriz Mahathir, no significant Umno leader has opposed Najib over 1MDB and other matters. If enough Umno top leaders join in the clamour against Najib, Najib will have to go - you don’t even have to wait for a grassroots revolt.
Let’s take it from the top. Najib’s current deputy, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, continues to make noises of support for Najib. This one-time solid Anwar Ibrahim supporter, jailed under the Internal Security Act (ISA) with Anwar in 1998 under Mahathir’s rule, must know that if Umno goes into the polls with Najib at the top, its chances of winning would be much eroded. But he does not want to make the mistake his former boss did of moving too hastily.
And then, with the exit of Shafie Apdal, comes Hishammuddin Hussein, Najib’s cousin and son of the third prime minister, Hussein Onn. Najib was son of the second. If Hishammuddin had his father’s guts, principles and integrity he would have no choice but to voice his opposition to Najib. But no, he does not but condones Najib.
And then there is Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin - suave, dapper and Oxford educated. A man in so much of a hurry to get to the top that one can’t expect him to be steadfast and upholding and give up what may, yes, get him to the top.
No ‘scrotal gumption’
For all three of them, does good politics dictate that they must support Najib no matter what, even if he allows Malaysia to be turned into a kleptocracy? Do they all not have the “scrotal gumption” - to borrow two words from former Court of Appeal judge Mahadev Shankar - to at least this once put nation and people above their own personal ambitions, and do what’s right even if it is risky?
Who knows, their political ambitions may be furthered if they do that because a majority of Malays themselves are likely to support their actions. Polls indicate Najib’s support among Malays is at an all-time low of 25 percent.
Remember Mahathir’s meteoric rise after he lost his parliamentary seat way back in 1969, criticised then-prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, got expelled from Umno and then became education minister in 1974 after he was given a seat to contest by Tunku’s successor, Abdul Razak Hussein, Najib’s father?
Clearly they don’t make young Umno leaders like they did before. And clearly too Umno politics were rather devious even then.
And MCA and MIC, what say you? Does Liow Tiong Lai for a moment think that the ordinary Chinese think his support for Najib is justified? What about the Indians, Dr S Subramaniam, do you think they support Najib right now?
Over in Sabah and Sarawak, do Kadazans and Dusuns and others actually support Najib? And shouldn’t leaders of parties like PBS and PBB be more circumspect of their support for Najib as leader of the coalition? How about it, Joseph Pairin Kitingan and Adenan Satem? Is it not time to make your views felt?
Umno after all had only 88 seats out of 133 seats at the end of the last elections in 2013 in the 222-seat Parliament. Umno cannot rule without its partners no matter what some of their leaders say.
The combined opposition had one more than Umno with 89 seats. If all of Umno’s partners moved over to opposition, the government is toppled. In fact, if only 23 out of 44 defect, down comes Najib’s government. Surely they are collectively in a position to make some threats but why don’t they? Lack of scrotal gumption again? 
He could be removed by Parliament - by a vote of no-confidence which will precipitate general elections if enough people vote with their conscience and not along party lines.
Najib stays in power because not enough elected representatives from the ruling coalition will say a word against him, let alone vote against him. Umno has failed the people, MCA has failed the people, MIC has, and likewise Gerakan. The East Malaysian parties have also failed the people.
Ultimately, Malaysia’s elected representatives in Parliament collectively failed the people - they let a terribly tainted prime minister continue in office. Now all that is left is for the people to pressure the representatives to do their job and if they do not, kick them out unceremoniously when the time comes.
That will teach them to do the right thing the next time around.

P GUNASEGARAM can be contacted at t.p.guna@gmail.com.

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