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Wednesday 25 September 2013

Najib-Muhyiddin re-elected without contest CONFIRMS Umno’s political bankruptcy – PR

Malaysia-Chronicle

The unopposed contests of Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in Umno’s top two posts despite Barisan Nasional’s (BN) disastrous Election 2013 results, shows the party’s lack of credible leaders, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders said today.

PKR vice-president N. Surendran pointed out that under Najib’s leadership, BN had recorded its worst-ever electoral performance in the recent May 5 polls, where it failed to win the coveted two-thirds parliamentary majority and lost the popular vote for the first time since 1969, when it was the Alliance then.

“That despite his poor showing, Najib is re-elected is a sign of Umno’s bankruptcy as a political force,” Surendran said.

“They did worse in this election and are steadily heading towards GE defeat. But Umno is desperate; they have no one better and can’t afford the massive blood-letting of a presidential contest,” added the Padang Serai MP.

Najib and Muhyiddin returned unopposed as Umno’s president and deputy president yesterday in the party elections.

Malaysia’s prime minister and deputy prime minister are typically the top two leaders in BN’s mainstay party.

PAS central committee member Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said today that the absence of a challenge against the top two posts in Umno spelled doom for the dominant Malay party.

“Najib failed on both passing marks on the two-thirds majority and winning back Selangor,” Dzulkefly said.

“Despite all those, there’s none in the party that is willing enough to come out and give a strong reprimand over his failures…The challenge is meant to convey a very strong message that you are not indispensable and you must be accountable for your failures,” he added.

Dzulkefly also stressed that although Umno had increased its federal seat tally from 79 to 88 in the 13th general election, BN’s performance as a whole needed to be taken into account.

“They can’t go round bragging they won nine more seats. The question is, at what price? You have to put that in perspective,” said the PAS research centre director.

“The effect of killing your comrades, your partners…there’s only Umno left in BN,” added Dzulkefly.

MCA had suffered a crushing defeat in Election 2013 by winning just seven federal and 11 state seats, leading the main Chinese party in BN to refuse government posts.

DAP strategist Liew Chin Tong said that no one in Umno dared to challenge Najib and Muhyiddin as the duo had the power of incumbency.

“No one has the numbers. The electoral system favours the incumbent. There’s no taker because they don’t see they’re going to win,” Liew said.

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