Najib’s opponent has run out of bullets to hit him
Former prime minister Najib Razak has started the Johor polls campaign in a manner that sends shivers to the opponents.
The Pekan MP kicked off Barisan Nasional’s (BN) campaign on Saturday (26 Feb) by going around Pagoh, Perikatan Nasional (PN) Chairman and Bersatu President Muhyiddin Yassin’s stronghold.
The two former premiers had been on loggerheads since the announcement of the Johor polls on 22 January.
Muhyiddin, who has opted not to defend his Gambir seat in the state elections, seems to have been overshadowed by Najib and gone quiet since.
While Muhyiddin was in Pagoh and Muar to show his support for PN candidates and attended several events, there was an obvious lack of noise.
Najib on the other hand has engaged his top gear and is seen receiving overwhelming support from the people of Johor.
It is rather surprising to see the support from the Chinese community is back towards Najib with many seeking to snap pictures with him, despite his alleged involvement in the 1MDB scandal.
This was proven on Sunday (27 Feb) morning with the Chinese community in Perling, when Najib visited the area. The overwhelming chants of “Bossku” could be heard from the Chinese community over there.
Najib has remained busy with his Facebook postings, while Muhyiddin’s has been rather muted.
According to a news report from FMT, Council of Professors fellow Jeniri Amir said it was apparent that the voters were leaning towards the Umno-led coalition, pointing out that they could now judge between BN and PN’s time in power.
He told FMT the sentiments on the ground showed that Najib was the more popular figure of the two, adding that the Pekan MP was “far ahead of Muhyiddin” in that respect.
“They can more or less assess who’s better in governing the state, or the nation as a whole. They’ve seen how Najib and Muhyiddin performed (as prime ministers).
“While some are trying to harp on 1MDB and the court cluster, it’s just overkill. People don’t care. What matters to people now is stability and the new state government’s ability to lead Johor into a new era.
“The people are trying to be realistic. This is real politics. Facing the future, they want political stability, economic growth, job creation, all these things,” the portal reported him as saying.
Jeniri added that Najib was going to the ground with full confidence, a factor he said was key for any political leader.
Najib Confident Of The Chinese Support Towards BN
Najib, who is also the BN advisory board chairman said there is a possibility that the tables will turn in Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) stronghold of Perling for the upcoming state election next month.
He said based on the current reading, support for MCA has been strong and something unexpected might happen in Perling.
“We are not dismissing the possibility that MCA can spring a surprise here as the Chinese community now feels cheated and disgruntled by the DAP.
“The Chinese and business communities have no avenue for assistance from the DAP. They know the difference that BN’s past rule is better compared to being under the previous PH administration that lasted for 22 months.
“However, in the end, such support needs to be translated into votes,” said Najib when met by reporters after visiting a food court in Bukit Indah with BN’s Perling candidate Tan Hiang Kee.
DAP chief Liew Chin Tong will contest under PH in Perling.
Perling, with a high percentage of Chinese voters, is considered a DAP stronghold since clinching the seat in 2013.
In the previous 14th general election (GE14), PH won the Perling seat with a 19,533 majority from about 100,000 registered voters.
For the coming state polls, Perling will see a three-way contest between BN’s Tan, PH’s Liew and PN Khoo Shiaw Lee.
In Johor, the Chinese community comprises 37 per cent of the electorate where most of the Chinese community has expressed frustration with the PH administration for failing to fulfil its promises to develop the state constituencies won during GE14.
The return of the Chinese community definitely sends shivers to opponents not only to PN but also PH.
Forget about Mahathir’s Pejuang, Shafie Apdal’s Warisan, MUDA, PBM, PSM, Putera or even PAS as they are nowhere near the game.
Although MUDA was initially seen as a threat, Syed Saddiq’s latest strategy will kill him eventually.
PAS, as usual, has dug its own grave because the leaders prefer PN rather than Muafakat Nasional (MN), which is a disastrous move for the Islamist party to survive and still be relevant.
PN Is Heading Without Any Directions
PN is clueless on where they are heading in this Johor polls.
The coalition has got nothing to offer and the only pledge it made is if PN wins in the forthcoming polls on 12 March, Muhyiddin will be made the state’s economic advisor.
This pledge does not go well as Muhyiddin is proven to be a failure during his tenure as the eighth prime minister of Malaysia. His longest half-baked lockdown angered Malaysians.
Muhyiddin was seen as corporate-friendly by relaxing business standard operating procedures (SOP) to them while small and medium business industries were forced to close.
Many small retailers were forced to close shops during this period.
Several families were also forced to raise the “white flag” surrendering themselves as they failed to put food on the table. Survival was tough during this period although financial aids were given by him but many failed to receive them because of the “red tapes”.
PN’s leaders and a tiny fraction of supporters went on claiming that “Abah” was really “prihatin” (concerned) and allowed withdrawals from Employee Provident Fund (EPF) in three stages.
This too does not go well because the common man out there knows this was the pressure given by Najib to the PN government on EPF withdrawals.
Claiming credit on EPF withdrawals by Muhyiddin has failed too.
Muhyiddin has no other choice other than to hit below the belt on Najib and UMNO President, and BN Chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Recently, Muhyiddin accused Zahid and Najib of having asked him to intervene in their ongoing court cases during his tenure as the eighth prime minister.
Both Zahid and Najib maintained that they never sought Muhyiddin’s help to clear their court cases.
Najib went on saying that he only met Muhyiddin once when the latter was prime minister in December 2020 to request that people be allowed to make withdrawals from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
“He asked me about my court cases and I told him I was still applying to recuse Gopal Sri Ram as the (lead) prosecutor in my cases,” Najib said in one of his Facebook postings.
Zahid also took this to his Facebook and said he was willing to take the “sumpah laknat”, or religious oath, to deny Muhyiddin’s allegation that he had asked him to intervene in his court case. He also challenged Muhyiddin to do the same.
Muhyiddin, being known for his “religious” nature and also the son of an Imam (a leader of congregational prayer in a mosque) declined to take Zahid’s challenge to take the oath and maintained he was telling the truth.
Many Muslims began to wonder why Muhyiddin was reluctant to take the oath if he was telling the truth. Muhyiddin’s refusal to take this oath has raised eyebrows within the Muslim community if he was telling the truth.
This clearly shows Muhyiddin has run out of bullets to hit BN. Muhyiddin is only focusing on hitting Najib and Zahid. He has nothing against any of the BN’s candidates.
It seems that Muhyiddin’s PN is losing its plot.
PH Is Doomed
PH knows where they are heading and what might be their fate in this coming state election.
DAP to be precise, knows the Melaka and Sarawak polls results might repeat and that was the reason they decided to throw Anwar Ibrahim and his PKR under the bus.
PKR’s Organising Secretary Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said that the party’s decision to use its logo in Johor is due to “overwhelming” requests to do so from the party’s grassroots and supporters.
While PKR strategic director Sim Tze Tzin said this was an important decision, adding that he had “first-hand experience” from PKR’s wipeout in the Melaka polls.
Although these leaders portray that they are on the same page, the fact is, they are not.
DAP leaders know Anwar no longer has the pulling factor among the Malays. PH’s 22 months rule was a disaster. They have to find another icon to replace Anwar.
Anwar also knows DAP is no longer accepted by the Malays. Holding on to DAP could be suicidal for Anwar.
If by PKR using its logo and losing badly in Johor, we can expect PH to break into pieces. DAP, with its pet Amanah will show PKR the door.
And, if PKR manages to do better than Melaka, Anwar will show DAP and Amanah the door.
Whatever it is, PH is doomed, and if this happens as predicted, we have to thank Mahathir. It was Mahathir’s factor who put PH into power and it was also the octogenarian’s factor who brought it down.
BN’s Opponent Has Nothing To Offer In Johor
Other than BN, none of the parties contesting in Johor has an interesting or shall we say “spicy” menu to offer to Johoreans.
BN’s opponents have only Najib, 1MDB and “court clusters coming into power” in their menu card.
DAP’s Lim Kit Siang as usual has started his “kleptocrats” chants in all his Facebook postings and 99 per cent are hauling abusive words towards him. Kit Siang too, losing his plot.
Even Kit Siang’s “ceramah” (political talks) are no longer gaining momentum unlike how it used to be previously.
PN’s political talks are being attended by supporters out of Johor. Busses load of people are being brought in by PAS from neighbouring states.
Same goes to Amanah and PKR. Johoreans are losing interest because nothing is interesting to look into.
Everyone repeating the same old stale stories of 1MDB and corruption issues.
These issues may have some effect on the “elites” but not on the commoner on the streets who are struggling for their bread and butter due to the pandemic.
PN or PH can’t go on showing their track records of what they have done to the commoners, unlike BN.
BN’s strategies are simple. It is just showing the graphs of pre and post GE14. That speaks louder than anything else there.
The D-Day is on 12 March, and it is all in the hands of the Johor voters. Their fate is in their own hands. If they vote wisely, Johor will go back to her glory days like how she used to be.
So Johoreans, vote wisely. – New Malaysia Herald
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