Najib’s afraid of losing his job

Ana Ghoib Syeikh Malaya 7:37 PTG
I stand corrected for predicting that Prime Minister Najib Razak would dissolve Parliament on March 26 to allow for the 13th general election to be held in mid-April. I had thought he would be man enough to do it.

It is unclear now when he will make the much-awaited move to face the people’s decision as to whether they want to retain his Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition as the government or consign it to the Opposition benches. He could also wait for Parliament to automatically dissolve on April 28.

In fact, the Negeri Sembilan State Assembly has already been automatically dissolved – as its five-year term ended on March 27. The next state assembly to follow suit is the Pahang one on April 7.

Najib’s delay does not look good for him as it shows a lack of confidence. Already, many are calling him “coward” on social media. In contrast to the Opposition’s push forward by first unveiling its manifesto way ahead and DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang’s daring declaration of standing in the Gelang Patah parliamentary constituency in Johor, the bastion of BN, followed by DAP MP Liew Chin Tong being moved from Penang to a yet-unnamed seat also in Johor, Najib’s inaction is a sign of weakness.

To make it worse, BN’s Penang state chief, Teng Chang Yeow, has been dared by DAP secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to face him in the Padang Kota state seat. If he declines, he might be called “coward” too. And BN can’t afford to have too many of these in its leadership.

Meanwhile, what Najib has done in an obviously desperate measure to win votes is going around throwing money and goodies at people – first, at the military, the police and the civil service; then at the employees of Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and Telekom Malaysia; and lately at the staff of seven statutory bodies. He has also been promising that if BN continues as government, it will dish out more money to the rakyat. The BR1M (Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia) RM500 handout could become RM1,000.
*Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the bestselling bookNo More Bullshit, Please, We’re All Malaysians, and the latest volume, Ask for No Bullshit, Get Some More!