Unity Bid to Drive Malaysia’s PM Najib from Power?
Razaleigh redux??
Long-shot attempt to recruit onetime political force Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah
With Malaysia’s national
ruling coalition government virtually paralyzed by scandal, Prime
Minister Najib’s opponents in his own party are said to be seeking to
put together a unity government headed by onetime Finance Minister
Tengku Razaleigh, 78, as prime minister.
Razaleigh has
not been a significant political force in Malaysia for 28 years.
Reportedly, the current deputy prime minister and deputy United Malays
National Organization vice president, Muhyiddin Yassin, 67, would ascend
to the party presidency under this scenario. Traditionally, the prime
minister has always served as UMNO president. The unity bid would split
the two jobs, at least temporarily.
The embattled Najib has been able to keep the cadres in line with a river of government money
that pours into their pockets through rent-seeking contracts, make-work
jobs and other goodies from the 1MDB Foundation, which he controls, to
the tune of an estimated RM1 billion, a source told Asia Sentinel. He
has engineered repeated informal votes of confidence and cajoled party
wheelhorses to make public statements of support. Indeed, his sway may be such that despite his troubles, he can prevail again.
Seeking a way out
But UMNO party elders, particularly those aligned with former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, are
growing increasingly desperate to rid the government of him after a
long string of deepening scandals. Many are worried that the workings of
government are being ignored as the prime minister twists and turns to
try to shake off his enemies. The Malaysian ringgit has been losing
value steadily since last September, drifting down sharply to RM3.70 to
the US dollar in May as international investors have lost confidence
over the country’s political mess.
Reportedly a
meeting was held at Razaleigh’s home in Kuala Lumpur on June 11 with a
group headed by Daim Zainuddin, a close ally of former Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad. Daim, also a one-time finance minister, is said to
have sought the meeting to attempt to persuade the septuagenarian
lawmaker to take on the task. A second meeting is said to be scheduled
for this weekend to discuss whether to seek a vote of no confidence in
Parliament next week.
Razaleigh has
periodically been mentioned as a unity candidate for months, but few
have given him much chance of ascending to power, and the current
attempts to recruit the apparently reluctant politician, UMNO’s
longest-serving MP, may be running into roadblocks. But
some party leaders, while continuing to profess loyalty, are deeply
concerned that allegations of massive scandal are wrecking the party’s
chances for the 2018 general election.
Razaleigh “would
be totally acceptable,” said a well-informed source in Kuala Lumpur.
“But how quickly he wants to move, I wouldn’t know. In the past he has
hesitated.” Another source also said Razaleigh is hesitating this time
as well on whether to make the bid. His wife, Noor Yvonne Abdullah, died
on June 4. According to another source, her death, from multiple
myeloma, sad as it is, frees him from caring for her and would allow him
to concentrate on the country.
Najib has been
crippled by allegations of corruption and massive mismanagement of
1Malaysia Development Bhd, a state-funded investment company established
at his behest in 2009. Allegedly a young playboy financier, Jho Low
Taek, was the brains behind the development of the firm and Najib is its
chief economic adviser. 1MDB, as it is known, has run up RM42 billion
[US$11.18 billion at current exchange rates] of liabilities, an unknown
amount unfunded. One source said that as the scandal deepens, 1MDB
sources are starting to think of saving themselves and that they are
going to the press with additional details.
The government
has been scrambling around selling 1MDB assets at inflated prices to
other government agencies, borrowing massive amounts and seeking other
ways to continue payments on the debt in an effort to forestall what
many are worried could become a huge crisis that could threaten the
country’s financial standing.
At the same
time, Najib has appeared almost paralyzed. He suffered a huge blow to
his prestige last week by ducking out on a rally of 2,500 people he had
called to answer questions when Mahathir appeared, a no-show that
observers in Kuala Lumpur said did incalculable damage. He
also delayed a trip to visit earthquake devastation in Sabah’s Mount
Kinabalu region, instead flying first to Saudi Arabia on business that
according to speculation was connected to attempts to find money to
stave off the 1MDB disaster.