Battle royal in Umno: Will Najib sink or swim?

updated 2.15pm Speculation is rife that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will not bow down to pressure and battle for his political life in the coming Umno elections in December.

And should the Umno president receive the necessary nominations to defend his title, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang is wondering who will be the protagonists in the looming 'battle royal' and what are the stakes involved.

In a statement today, the veteran politician also questioned the position of Deputy Prime Minister and Umno's second-in-command Najib Abdul Razak in this imbroglio.

"Will the protagonists in the Umno presidential battle be Abdullah vs Najib or will Najib 'sink or swim' with Abdullah in an Abdullah-Najib battle against the rest?

"What are the stakes involved? This question would be obtuse or even stupid in the past five decades when whoever is Umno president is automatically the prime minister," he said.

But according to Lim, this is no more the case after the two political tsunamis in the past six months - the first on March 8 and second in Permatang Pauh.

In view of this, he said the battle to be the Umno president at the end of the year is no longer automatically about who is to be the next prime minister, but probably the next parliamentary opposition leader.

Supreme Council Meeting

Meanwhile, Lim also commented on the recent Umno supreme council meeting, where it was reported that Abdullah had purportedly come under pressure from several senior party leaders to step down earlier.

"Although Umno information chief Muhammad Muhd Taib yesterday slammed as 'opportunists' those who leaked information on matters discussed in the supreme council meeting (which includes Muhammad himself), the facts remain uncontradicted that at last Thursday's meeting, Abdullah was pressured to have a quicker exit plan and not wait until mid-2010 according to his earlier power transition plan with Najib.

"Rafidah Aziz (who joined Muhyiddin Yassin, Hishammuddin Hussein and Shafie Apdal to pressure Abdullah to fast-forward the transition plan) even warned that Abdullah might not be able to secure the minimum 58 nominations (30 percent) required to defend his presidency," he said.

"Abdullah was openly pressured to make known his intentions by Oct 9 when Umno divisions begin nominating candidates for the Umno polls in December," he added.

Going For Broke

However, Lim said two events yesterday marked Abdullah's decision to go for broke in the Umno party polls.

The first, he said, was the public pledge of support for the beleaguered Abdullah by Penang Umno, calling on all the 191 divisions not to rock the boat and honour the 2010 power transition plan.

"This is most ironic as it was the Penang Umno which had done the most damage to the credibility, authority and legitimacy of Abdullah as Umno president and prime minister with its open defiance and contempt in giving full backing to Ahmad Ismail in the 'Chinese are penumpang' furore," he pointed out.

The second indication, Lim noted, was Abdullah's statement in Kota Bahru yesterday that Umno grassroots members want the strengthening of the spirit of consensus in the party in line with the leadership transition plan in 2010.

Support For Pak Lah-Najib Combo

In a related development, Malaysian Insider reported that nearly all Umno state chiefs will back the Abdullah-Najib combination for the top two posts in the party.

This decision was purportedly reached after a meeting at Seri Perdana between the prime minister and all but two of the state chiefs, a discussion which ended at 3am this morning.

The meeting, according to the report, was also attended by Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Mansor. It comes a day after Abdullah indicated that he would not bow down to pressure and was sticking to his original plan of defending the party president's position in December.

Yesterday, two states - Penang and Kelantan - have openly thrown their weight behind Abdullah. In so doing, the two pro-Abdullah states hope that this will put pressure on other states to follow suit.

A state chief, who requested anonymity, told Malaysian Insider that Abdullah made it clear that he wanted to stay on to complete several of the reforms he outlined after the March 8 elections.

"Several party officials apparently felt that sticking to the transition plan will allow Umno to concentrate on rebuilding the party and focus on its external enemies.

"There is the fear that a no-holds-barred contest for the top two positions in Umno will not only damage the main contestants in the eyes of Malaysians but also leave an already weakened political party disunited."