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Monday, July 20, 2015

NAJIB'S TWIN DRAMAS FAIL TO CONVINCE: Umno warlords begin SECRET talks on his removal

NAJIB'S TWIN DRAMAS FAIL TO CONVINCE: Umno warlords begin SECRET talks on his removal
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysians, gripped for months by the political scandal shrouding Prime Minister Najib Razak, were mildly surprised by a pre-Hari Raya 'dawn attack' that appeared aimed at splashing blame onto his critics for trying to sabotage his career with 'false' accusations of corruption.
However, despite the dramatic release of a 'video confession' by Rahman Dahlan, a Cabinet minister and one of Najib's most vocal 'loyalists', plus news out of Thailand that should have shocked Malaysians but did not, the bid to 'cleanse' Najib and help him consolidate power failed to take off.
Instead, mediocre response at his Raya open house showed Malaysians were more upset at rising costs of living and alarmed at how his financial scandals were hurting the ringgit and economy than in his latest propaganda efforts. This has given more ammunition to his political rivals, especially those from within his own Umno party.
"This week all the Umno warlords have decided Najib has to go. Now they are holding secret discussions among themselves on who forms the new Cabinet. So all this talk about Najib's Cabinet reshuffle is not going to work. He is the one who is being reshuffled out," a political insider told Malaysia Chronicle.
The source was responding to speculation Najib will soon announce changes to his Cabinet, with 2 new faces set to join and where outspoken ministers Muhyiddin Yassin and Shafie Apdal might be dropped, while Zahid Hamidi, the Home Minister, could be pushed down to a less powerful portfolio.
Another 'old trick'
Malay bloggers, familiar with the Umno political scene, have speculated Najib will take over the Home Ministry himself so as to gain direct control over the police - which would allow him to pin down his rivals such as former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad with threats of arrest or home detention.
NST, an English daily owned by Umno and under Najib's direct control
Many believe Zahid might be transferred over to Shafie's Rural affairs ministry, and Shafie dropped, while Najib's cousin Hishammuddin Hussein might be given the Finance ministry.
As for Muhyiddin, who is Deputy Prime Minister, there has been off-on talk he might 'sacked' for telling an Umno meeting the entire 1MDB board of directors should be fired and the police called in to investigate corruption.
"That's an old trick. It was used a few months ago to frighten Muhyiddin and Zahid Hamidi. It won't work anymore. Even the threat of Cabinet reshuffle cannot stop the internal revolt in Umno now," said the insider.
"What you see the past 2 days is Najib trying anything and everything to delay his eventual (political) demise. Soon you will hear again, he wants to sack Muhyiddin, but it's just delaying tactics."
Political dilemma
1MDB is a sovereign wealth fund created by Najib and is mired in financial controversy over a RM42 billion debt and recently, RM2.6 billion was found diverted to Najib's personal bank accounts at AmBank group. Najib has denied using the funds for personal gain but not the funneling of public money to his personal account, which in itself is an offence.
Najib and cousin Hishammuddin Hussein
The money trail, first revealed by the Wall Street Journal, has placed the ruling Umno-BN coalition in a political dilemma. To clear Najib, his supporters have hinted the money was disbursed to his party and allies in the BN coalition so as to help them win the 13th general election in 2013.
If this was true and Najib found guilty, fresh elections would have to be called and this is bad news for the weak parties in the BN such as MCA and MIC, which are expected to lose even more seats in a new election.
The same applies for Najib's Umno party, which is split down the line on his remaining in power or for his deputy or a caretaker council to replace him until fresh polls are held.
"Many of them, especially the Umno warlords, are very angry because they now know they only got a pittance of that RM2.6 billion. But how can they publicly demand that Najib explains or admits the lion's share went into his own pockets. That would expose the entire Umno-BN in a web of corruption and lose them the next GE," said the insider.
"But time is not on Najib's side. The thinking now among the Umno warlords is that either way, GE has to be held and if Najib stays, Umno-BN will lose because the country will be stuck in scandal, the ringgit will continue to plunge and the economy worsen. For them, it is better for Najib to step down whether he is found guilty or not.
"The breaking point will be when the Attorney General announces the result on the ongoing probe on Najib. If they announce a whitewash, there will be trouble and this is why Najib's supporters are trying to pre-empt it by tarring parties like Sarawak Report and Xavier Justo to make it seem like their exposures were tampered data and untrue. But the drama won't work. If Najib thinks his Umno mates will come around and swallow an all-clear verdict from the task force, he is in for a nasty shock. He has to go, no way out."
Najib's fightback 'TWIN DRAMAS' - Justo & S'wak report
The source was referring to London-based whistle-blower website Sarawak Report, which has been instrumental in exposing many of 1MDB's shocking deals where massive corruption running into billions of US dollars were allegedly uncovered. Indeed, till now, former premier Mahathir Mohamad is insisting that Najib comes clean on 1MDB's 'missing billions'.
Xavier Justo is a former PetroSaudi executive, accused of blackmailing his former boss over its dubious deals. He was arrested by Thai cops while in Koh Samui and has just had his remand mysteriously extended by another 60 days.
Justo has reportedly confessed to extorting money from PetroSaudi, and allegedly sold stolen data to 10 parties including an Umno politician and an Opposition figure. But he has insisted none of the PetroSaudi data in his possession were fake.
Perhaps, this explains a 'shocking report' from the New Straits Times, an English daily owned by Umno and under Najib's control, that the PetroSaudi emails and data of its dealings with 1MDB had been tampered with - not by Justo but by Sarawak Report, in concert with Malaysian Opposition leaders including reform icon Anwar Ibrahim.
"Funny how Thai police say all these things to the NST and nobody else," responded Sarawak Report Editor Clare Brown.
"We just wonder why other media do not point out more clearly that they are merely quoting a biased UMNO owned paper rather than the officer himself?"
"There is no way this officer of the Thai police officer is in a position to allege this lie that Sarawak Report “tampered” with documents – and if he has really done so then it was for money or other motives, because it is not the truth."
"Instead of mauling the messenger (something UMNO have lately announced they don’t believe in) PetroSaudi, 1MDB and indeed Jho Low and Najib Razak confront the issue – if US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) was not diverted away from the 1MDB PetroSaudi joint venture into the Good Star account, why can’t they account for its whereabouts?"
"Why have they been caught out so many times lying and then having to admit the money isn’t where they said it was and why was US$530 million transferred from Good Star to Jho Low’s personal account in Singapore?" - Malaysia Chronicle

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