UMNO IN DISARRAY OVER DR SAM - WITH NAJIB CAMP REBUKING ZAHID CAMP - WHILE PRO-PN CAMP TRIUMPHANTLY SILENT - AS THE UNSPOKEN 'I TOLD YOU SO' RINGS LOUD & CLEAR ACROSS THE PARTY
Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now!
KUALA LUMPUR (Politics Now!) - It looks like the split in Umno is getting wider and deeper. Isham Jalil, seen as part of the camp led by disgraced ex-premier Najib Razak, ticked off party mates who have been rather frantically trying to downplay the massive victory chalked by Pas in the Kemaman by-election on Saturday.
While the camp that has always disagreed with Umno president Zahid Hamidi's decision to support embattled Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's government has maintained an ominous silence, although the unspoken 'I told you so' could be heard loud and clear in the once mighty but now factionalized party.
“Who are we trying to deceive? If we don’t admit defeat and cannot correct ourselves,” Isham said in a Facebook video telling his party mates to snap out of their 'in denial' mode.
Indeed, so far the ones who have blustered and sabre-rattled the loudest seem to be the president's men. And the president himself, Zahid Hamidi, is facing calls to step down by enraged grassroots who blame his corruption scandals and closeness to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the multiracial DAP, the thorn in many Malay eyes, for Umno's downfall.
“People from (the Malay-majority) areas will think… If PH can win by tens of thousands in non-Malay areas, what if we give PN tens of thousands of votes (to emulate the same thing)?” Isham warned against exacerbating Umno's steep loss of credibility among Malays, the largest electorate in the country.
EVEN UMNO'S OWN MEMBERS VOTED FOR PAS
Meanwhile, two Supreme Council member have echoed Zahid, who has refused to acknowledge the sharp increase in votes won in Kemaman by Samsuri Mokhtar, the Pas chief minister for Terengganu.
Puad Zarkashi insisted there was no need for Umno to pull out from Anwar's government to save itself from a total rout in the next general election, while Razlan Rafii denied Umno's own members had backed Samsuri.
“There’s no truth to this claim at all,” Razlan argued that Pas would have won 70,000 to 80,000 votes if fed-up Umno members had thrown their support behind Samsuri.
The Terengganu chief minister had won with a majority of 37,220 votes, securing a total of 64,998 in a straight fight with Umno's Raja Affandi Raja Noor, who garnered 27,778 votes.
Puad, who is also the Rengit assemblyman, even said the latest election defeat was a signal Umno needed to focus on its rapport with Anwar's Pakatan Harapan coalition, which he also claimed was growing stronger by the day.
“It shows that the unity government is committed. Umno will only reconsider its position in the unity government if we are backstabbed,” Puad told FMT.
Puad didn't give details of what he meant by 'backstab' - who would backstab Umno, by what means and for what motives.
THE PRESIDENT'S MEN & DR SAM
Muhyiddin Yassin, a former premier and now the leader of the PN main opposition bloc that includes Pas, had in the wake of Samsuri's victory urged Umno to review its position and realign with PN to form a new government, ousting Anwar and Pakatan.
Speculation has swirled there are between 10 to 15 Umno MPs keen to join Muhyiddin's Bersatu party but are held back by the anti-hopping law that would require them to quit their seats if they resigned from Umno. They are biding their time, hoping to topple Zahid instead so that Umno itself could switch sides, which would not violate the anti-hopping law.
Former premier Ismail Sabri and former minister Hishammuddin Hussein are among the heavyweights in Umno who are at odds with Zahid's pro-Anwar and pro-DAP stance - preferring to ally with PN instead.
Many believe the Samsuri victory will kickstart a long-planned move by the PN to oust Anwar and this will now take place sooner rather than later. Samsuri, also known as Dr Sam, is seen as a PM-candidate-in-waiting to replace Anwar but so are Ismail, Hishammuddin and Muhyiddin.
Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now!
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