The movement of support for Muhyiddin Yassin, former deputy PM fired by PM Najib Razak a month ago, has gathered steam in some states, but it is not sufficient for the ruling party Umno to move against its embattled leader.
Word is out that Johor is still at boiling point over the firing of Muhyiddin, while the state Umno does not endorse the official version intended to clear Najib regarding the Middle Eastern donation of RM2.
6 billion, a huge sum of cash that went directly into the PM's account.
"The Umno leadership, at least those in the corridors of power, have thrown in the Middle Eastern donor explanation in a bid to atone the Malay-Muslims of the country.
But it has not bitten, and now the power that be is struggling to establish the truth about the billions," Ali Amir, a political analyst said.
The Najib government has tried to enlist the Malay community behind it on the 1MDB issue, with the fact that the scandal ridden sovereign fund has spent its money building Mosques, which is considered a holy act for the Muslims.
The problem is, Johor, the birth state of Umno and a fixed deposit in the elections for the ruling Malay party, failed to give support on these issues.
The Johor Mentri Besar, Khalid Nordin, has not relented on his calls for the party to reject corrupt practices, adding pain to the miseries of the Najib regime.
The Johor Umno is rigged with trouble since the removal of Muhyiddin as deputy PM, said another observer to The Week Review.
“Khalid Nordin is spearheading a campaign to rid the Umno of its ills, and one of these is the allegation of corruption and the weakness of the political organisation,” said the observer.
In less than a week in July, the MB has urged party members to act in order to prevent issues affecting the party to fester any longer, showing an urgency in the need to redress the party’s image.
“The situation is dire, as it involves other powerful figures in the state,” said the observer.
Anti-Najib banners were unfurled in Johor in public places, including highways and bus stops.
Najib was given the cold shudder when he attended the Pasir Gudang Umno division’s annual general meeting .
Ahmad Maslan, the Umno information chief and Pontian MP who was shifted from the Ministry of Finance to a less prominent role as deputy Minister of international trade and industry, was booed at his constituency's meeting.
The list is unending, with powerful figures in Johor coming out to express their dissatisfaction over several issues.
The powerful Johor royal family have also made online posting viewed as veiled criticism of Najib and his wife, Rosmah.
Umno’s biggest voter bank is now not invulnerable from the opposition coalition’s push to take over the state.
In the 2008 elections, Barisan Nasional had won 50 seats, with the DAP gaining four seats and PAS winning two.
Back then, deposed DPM Anwar Ibrahim’s Party Keadilaan Rakyat did not have a chance against hardline BN supporters in Johor.
In 2013, Pakatan Rakyat registered major gains in Johor in the local assembly elections, winning 18 seats, spearheaded by PKR, still seen as a splinter Umno party by Johoreans.
Umno won 32 of the 38 seats won by the ruling coalition.
That year, BN won 53.99% of votes in the state assembly election, and PR won up to 45% of the vote.
Barisan National won 21 Parliamentary seats — but the PR coalition won five, a feat it had never achieved before in the state.
As it is, Umno is bound to face stiffer challenges in the 2018 elections — with voters riled over allegations of a corruption cover-up amid blurred lines over RM2.
6 billion banked into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s account.
The funds, that were said to be traced by investigators prying into 1Malaysia Development Bhd, are to be a donation from the Middle East to the Umno party.
But even this statement is being contested by rebel former ministers.
With rising concerns on 1MDB and perceptions of inadequacy in Najib Razak’s explanations regarding the ‘donation’ from the Middle East, Umno now faces an internal rift it has never seen since Anwar Ibrahim was jailed in 1998.
Since 2008, Barisan National has lost its grip on two of Malaysia’s richest states, Penang and Selangor.
Johor will not be immune to national sentiment over debt-ridden 1MDB, the RM2.6 billion traced to the Prime Minister’s accounts, the arrest of Malaysian Anti Corruption Commision officials and their transfer to the PM’s office — as well as the Cabinet reshuffle.
All these are seen as attempts to cover up what the public has now perceived as gross wrong doings by the ruling coalition.
It is worth noting that the movement to clean Umno of its vagaries is not new.
Calls to remove Najib as Umno president have been led by former Malaysian stateman and political stalwart Tun Mahathir Mohamad, who was also the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Mahathir has garnered sufficient support within the Umno and outside the party sphere, for his allegations to be a concern for Najib.
Khalid Nordin views the problems facing Umno as cancerous — and has urged Umno leaders to admit the party is in bad shape.
The Johor MB is not alone and has the support of Muhyiddin Yassin, who has made known his intentions to cling to his post as deputy president of Umno despite attempts to oust him, sources who spoke to The Week Review said.
Yassin also seems to have the support of former Cabinet colleague Mohd Shafie Apdal, who was revoked from his Ministership in the recent Cabinet shake-up.
Like Yassin, Shafie is also an Umno Vice-President, hailing from East Malaysia.
Shafie Apdal has contested the fact that the RM2.6 billion was a donation — there has never been mention within Umno of such a donation from the Middle East, he claims.
Najib fired back by saying that the party should trust him with donations and the party’s expenses.
But for how long?
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By The Week Editors
By The Week Editors
