Emotions high in Umno ahead of big meeting

THE aftershocks from the conviction of Datuk Seri Najib Razak are still reverberating through Umno.

The party is dealing with a multitude of emotions - shock, sympathy, confusion and even anger.

That was what Bastien Onn, the Umno Youth chief for Segamat, encountered when he officiated at an event in Segamat yesterday.

He had just stepped down from the stage after making a speech when people approached him with questions about the court debacle.

Many of them wanted to know why didn’t Umno or the Prime Minister help Najib.

One of them, a retired government servant, told him that the enemies of Umno have finished off Najib and Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi would be next.

Another Malay gentleman told Bastien that he would have understood what happened if Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was the prime minister but Najib, he said, was being jailed while an Umno man is in charge.

For Bastien, it was a glimpse into how the rural folk viewed complex events taking place far away in the capital.

Scenarios like this are probably being repeated elsewhere in the Malay heartland where Najib’s policies touched the lives of people. The former premier is a villain and kleptocrat to some but a caring leader to others.

Critics of Najib see the trial of the decade as the 1MDB scandal coming full circle.

Pakatan Harapan politicians have hailed the conviction as a victory in their fight against corruption. Their leaders took to social media to tell supporters they have achieved what they set out to do in 2018.

The 1MDB scandal and Najib’s excesses gave Pakatan a powerful weapon to use against Umno in the 2018 general election. Ironically, his conviction seems to have handed Pakatan the proverbial silver bullet for the next general election.

Pakatan leaders are telling the voters: We did it, we can do it again!

A Johor Umno leader admitted the party has suffered a setback of sorts.

“Our morale is affected and if morale is low, party members will not campaign at 100%,” said the southern leader.

The party has also lost its star campaigner because Najib was able to go to places where Umno was not welcomed.

Meanwhile, Umno is holding a big pow-wow on Saturday with the aim of containing the situation.

This will be a more extensive gathering than the heated meeting last Monday. It will be attended by hundreds of division committee members.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaako did not attend last Monday’s meeting but he needs to be there this Saturday even if it means facing a potentially stormy atmosphere.

He has yet to comment on the court decision, he is indeed under pressure and not being present will hurt his image.

The buck has to stop somewhere and it seems to have stopped at the doorstep of the Prime Minister.

Unreasonable as it may sound, some Umno members had expected him to do what Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad did for Pakatan when he saved then Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng and PKR star Rafizi Ramli who were facing serious court charges.

The more rational segment of Umno say they only want a fair trial for the former premier. According to Bastien, they are angered by the way Najib’s legal team was denied requests for adjournments.

“We are disturbed by reports of a draft judgement pronouncing Najib guilty even before the hearing ended,” said Bastien.

Rengit assemblyman Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi, a mouthpiece of Najib, caused ripples with his Facebook post: “Umno does not need a poster boy.”

He questioned the purpose of having a poster boy who had become like “a football, a punching bag and a weapon that backfired”.

Puad has since been shouted down by supporters of Ismail Sabri but he was voicing what some are saying in private.

Ismail Sabri recently marked his first year as Prime Minister and he had used the occasion to present himself as a moderate leader who cares about the country and the people.

Surviving a year in this toxic political climate has been quite an achievement. But little did he realise that the tough part was about to begin.

A crisis is building up around Ismail Sabri. The party meeting this Saturday will look to him for an explanation. They will also press him to call for a general election before things deteriorate further for the party.

“The situation is volatile, we need to keep calm and think rationally when we meet this Saturday,” Pasir Salak vice-chief Dr Faizal Tajuddin.

The views expressed here are the writer’s own.