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This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on November 12, 2018 - November 18, 2018

THE blistering attack by Umno mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia against Datuk Seri Najib Razak, accusing him of lying about the “donation” of billions of ringgit in his personal bank account, is seen as a move for the current party president to finally steer clear of the former president.

I won’t go into the details of the Utusan commentary as many would have already read it. Suffice to say that the newspaper said the party members feel cheated and as such, Najib “must apologise to all Umno members for this lie which caused people to lose confidence in the Barisan Nasional leadership, resulting in it and Umno losing power”.

Bluntly put, it is a move for president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to get rid of Najib’s political baggage and for the latter to shoulder the burden himself without asking Umno to carry it it too.

Najib has always maintained that the Umno-led coalition’s defeat in the 14th general election was because of the “lies and slander” about 1MDB spread by its opponents. He is also adamant that responsibility must be borne by “all of us”.

Political pundits suspect the editorial by Awang Selamat in Mingguan Malaysia, Utusan’s weekend edition, was penned by a top editor closely linked to Zahid, or by someone who was following the instructions of that editor.

Awang Selamat is a pseudonym that represents Utusan’s editorial voice. Former editors of Utusan did not want to comment on who Awang Selamat is in this case, as if to imply that the writer is not as important as the message. However, most agree that Zahid is trying to free himself from Najib’s misfortune.

As the former editors see it, these are interesting times indeed.

Incidentally, the commentary was published a week before the Umno supreme council meeting to discuss Zahid’s fate as president, following calls for him to take leave until the 45 court charges against him are settled.

The editorial also happened to come out the day after Najib held a session with some 1,000 supporters at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur. In his speech, he attributed BN’s electoral defeat to “lies, slander and empty promises”, without directly mentioning 1MDB.

That prompted a response from Umno leaders, including Khairy Jamaluddin and Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, calling on him not to be in denial. Khairy tweeted, “We lost because of 1MDB. The End.”

In not so many words, that can be seen as indicating that Najib has to answer for the defeat as he is associated with 1MDB .

There is no easy way to say it. Umno — well, a substantial number of members and leaders anyway — are now avoiding Najib like the plague.

Deputy Umno president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, for instance, stated that the party should not be held responsible for the scandal as it “is innocent and has absolutely no involvement with any 1MDB operations or transactions”.

His remarks are viewed as a veiled attempt to put the blame squarely on the former president although Mohamad is also on record as saying that “Umno and I are sympathetic to Najib who has to deal with all the blame”.

But I must agree with veteran politician Lim Kit Siang when he said it is quite naïve for Umno leaders to believe that “they can wash Umno’s hands of the 1MDB scandal when the party did not renounce the scandal and over RM400 million of 1MDB monies ended up in Umno’s hands ”.

Lim, who is MP for Iskandar Puteri, went on to to ask if Mohamad is prepared to be the first Umno leader post GE14 “to denounce Najib and his cabinet for the international 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal”.

He asked why Mohamad did not come up with his statement before GE14 when “Umno and BN leaders thought the sun will never set upon them”.

Back to Najib … will he ever solely take the blame for BN’s GE14 defeat? I don’t think so.

Yet for him, the writing on the wall is clear, written by Umno itself. The words of Khairy are plain enough. And the Awang Selamat piece is as blunt as can be. You can’t be more blunt when you say “not all thieves are liars but all liars would always steal”.

I remember talking to a highly placed Umno insider four days after BN lost the election. He was the same person who, on the morning of May 9, had confidently predicted that BN would win 142 of the 222 parliamentary seats.

After GE14, he told me, “The captain wanted to bring the whole ship to sink as he didn’t want to drown alone. The change of captain only came after the ship had sunk.”

There was bitterness towards Najib even then although I cannot say for sure if that was the sentiment of the majority in Umno at that time.

Hence, I would say the best thing for Najib now is to zip it and focus on his defence against the many charges he faces in court. He should do that if he loves Umno — as he been saying all along — because the more he talks — via speeches or on social media — the more he is hurting and splitting the party.

Najib has vowed to carry on, declaring proudly, “I am only interested in correcting and explaining the uncontrolled cheating by Pakatan Harapan, clearing my name, criticising and giving my opinion when I see an issue that is related to the rakyat and the country’s future.”

Right ... so who am I to advise a former prime minister?

 

Mohsin Abdullah is consulting editor at The Edge. He has covered politics for more than four decades.

 

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