Cancelling UMNO meet a wrong move by Najib, says ex-minister

KUALA LUMPUR — United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) president Najib Razak appeared to have reached a dead end in his bid to remove Mr Muhyiddin Yassin as the party’s No 2 given the move to cancel the Supreme Council meeting scheduled for tomorrow, a former UMNO minister said.

Mr Zainuddin Maidin, a former information minister, said that although Mr Muhyiddin and Mr Shafie Apdal — the duo who were sacked from Cabinet two days ago — were incapable of creating trouble, their statements confirming attendance was enough to rattle Mr Najib.

Writing on his blog today, the former Utusan Malaysia chief editor also said that Mr Najib’s move to sack Mr Muhyiddin might prolong his positon as prime minister but it won’t be able to stop oncoming challenges within the party resulting from his rash actions.

“There are no other moves left for Najib to save himself except to continue with his authoritarian ways.

“I cannot imagine what will happen to UMNO if Muhyiddin has to be retained as party number two until the next Umno elections,” Mr Zainuddin wrote.

He added that if the situation persisted, Mr Najib would face a bigger challenge because the UMNO division meetings all over the country would invite Mr Muhyiddin and surely discuss his sacking as deputy prime minister.

He also predicted however that Mr Najib would not call for such a meeting as long as the president did not have the confidence that the process to oust Mr Muhyiddin would be carried through smoothly. “The cancellation of the meeting is prove that Najib has made a wrong move, adding on to the string of mistakes that the people are keeping track on.

“If he is afraid to face UMNO leaders at a briefing session? How will he be invited to officiate the UMNO division meetings?

“Or will he be selective and only attend the meetings of the divisions where he is sure of support?” Mr Zainuddin asked.

Mr Muhyiddin was dropped as deputy prime minister and education minister in Tuesday’s (July 28) cabinet reshuffle, which saw Mr Najib purge those who had openly questioned him on his handling of debt-ridden state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB). Also axed was UMNO vice-president Mohd Shafie Apdal. Both, however, remain in their party positions. THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER