The three pillars of support which decides Najib’s position

 

Writer: Lan Zhi Feng

Oriental Daily, Feb 29, 2016

In the past year, Najib made several surprising moves in dealing with 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion political donation as well as their related issues and his strategic thinking has gradually become more obvious. He removed Muhyiddin and Shafie’s official posts, appointed four PAC members to the reshuffled Cabinet, delayed PAC investigations and further delayed the release of Auditor General’s auditing report, changed the Attorney General as well as the move by the new Attorney General to clear him of any wrongdoings based on the investigation in the RM2.6 billion donation and SRC International issues.

At the same time, Muhyiddin was barred from opening of and speaking at the annual meetings of three UMNO wings. His party post was suspended by the supreme council while Mukhriz was forced to resign from Kedah Menteri Besar’s post because he was unable to co-operate with Kedah UMNO.

Najib did not fight against the waves of attack immediately. He demolished potential threats one by one. He used time to exchange for more space to move and now he is well secured as the prime minister and UMNO president in control of the whole situation.

At the recent New Year gathering with the media, a veteran UMNO leader in talking about Najib’s ways of dealing with all these issues, said many people had underestimated Najib’s capability and his “explosiveness”. More aptly, it just means that Najib is not as vulnerable as one may imagine. His tactics and patience have been overlooked by his rivals who thought that he was being beaten. In fact, he had been doing all the planning and ready to hit back to regain his favourable position.

The prime minister and UMNO president’s supportive forces come from three pillars and none of which is dispensable. Whether Najib’s position is solid or otherwise depends directly on these three pillars. Even if one of them tilted, his position would be shaky.

Najib and his team must ensure that the three important pillars remain solid and strong and they would prevent anything that could cause any damage. The three inter-locking pillars are the cabinet, the parliament and UMNO divisional leaders.

Najib first reshuffled his Cabinet and removed Muhyiddin and Shafie who have been singing a different tune. He appointed his trusted men to key positions to carry out the job. The Cabinet reshuffle sent out a clear signal that “you are either with me or against me.” At the same time, PAC members were recruited into the government and thus, further delaying the progress of the probe.

As for the parliament, even though the no-confidence resolution against Najib has been listed on the agenda, it has not been discussed and seems unlikely to see daylight. At the same time, Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar’s reformation proposal has met with positive response from the Government, giving Pandikar a bigger stage.

After removing the thorns in the flesh in the Cabinet and defusing the threat of no-confidence vote in parliament, Najib started to tackle the thorny issue of how to settle with UMNO divisional leaders and adjust his image among the grass-roots leaders. Compared to dealing with his 36 Cabinet members and 88 UMNO MPs (plus 46 non-UMNO MPs), to deal effectively with the 191 UMNO divisional chiefs seems to be the most severe test.

Many divisional chiefs are well-entrenched and hold on to their strong political fortresses under the patronage system. Even if several of them ganged up, they could sway the situation and the position of the president could become vulnerable.

After removing dissident voices in the Cabinet and harassment in the parliament, Najib can now focus on UMNO. As he controls the 191 divisional chiefs, he has basically also gained control of the 3.53 million party members. UMNO presidency is equal to the prime minister’s position. Once any of the three pillars collapses, the leader on top will also be shaky.

This is a political reality. The general election, which gives people the voting right, is held once in five years. If the three pillars remain solid as in the past, Najib is well secured in his seat until the next general election.