Dr M alleges Najib paid Umno members for their support

Former PM claims not all three million members support Najib Razak’s leadership and those who do, have most likely have been paid off.

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Razak has paid off some Umno members for their continued support of his leadership, alleged Dr Mahathir Mohamad today.

The former premier said this while commenting on how Umno had become a divided party with a president who no longer had the full backing of all members as he liked to claim.

Speaking to reporters after a student and faculty event at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman where he was a guest speaker, Mahathir said, “Umno is divided due to the leadership of Najib.”

“His performance should be better than Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi), but as we know now, Umno’s performance has worsened with him at the helm.”

Mahathir said that from what he had heard, most members were not satisfied with Najib’s leadership and had asked for his resignation although their president had refused to budge.

He also said that paying off members in exchange for their support, which he alleged Najib had done, was ethically wrong.

“There are a lot of division leaders, members of parliament and other office holders that Najib frequently calls in for briefings.

“And now, Najib admits, he gave money to members. Why would they not support him?” asked Mahathir, referring to Najib’s admission that the USD700 million that was deposited into his personal accounts was not for his personal use.

“If he hadn’t paid them, there wouldn’t be any support,” said Mahathir with certainty.

He also rejected Najib’s claims over the weekend that the three million strong members in Umno were firmly behind him.

He questioned, “How does he know that? If we look at Twitter … the Internet, everyone wants him to step down. These are Umno members.”

Mahathir also defended Muhyiddin Yassin for speaking up against Najib as it was for the good of the party and the country and said that the PM’s rationale for sacking his deputy two days later was absolutely “unacceptable”.

He stated his outright refusal to endorse current Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as the next prime minister should Najib step down but refused to offer his choice of candidate.

“Umno still has a deputy president that was elected (Muhyiddin), and Zahid Hamidi was not elected as deputy president, so we have to see what Umno decides,” he quipped.