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Was Najib's decision on Sedition Act to avoid criticism from delegates? (Comment)
SOLIDARITY — this was the buzzword and running theme of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s presidential address at the 68th Umno General Assembly that has “Melayu Bersatu” as its slogan.
But Najib’s speech this year was not the usual kind of policy speech Umno delegates used to hear in the past.
It’s more like a presentation, complete with screening of short video footages, whenever the Umno president needed to stress his points.
While the audience understood their leader’s call for unity and to act in solidarity in times of crisis and tragedies — examples of the Lahad Datu incident and the tragedies involving MAS planes had been given during Najib’s 70-minute speech — delegates whispered among themselves whether there was a real crisis brewing in the party for the party leadership to repeatedly remind them on the need to act in solidarity.
Are they reading too much from signs of conflicts of opinions on pending issues and policies in the Umno house to conclude that there is indeed a leadership problem?
There have been barbed comments on several government policies and decisions of the Najib-government from Umno members, some wearing the hat of non-governmetnal organisations (NGOs).
Najib’s chief critic Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was the longest-serving Prime Minister and Umno president, had been criticising a lot and even made a call on Umno delegates to criticise their leaders should there be a need during the assembly.
Eyebrows were raised on Tuesday night when Najib’s deputy, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, suggested that Umno not postpone internal elections soon after the general election, as was done before, but to hold it on schedule, according to the time set by the party’s constitution.
As expected, the issue of Umno leadership was again thrown into discussion the minute the suggestion was made by Muhyiddin in his speech at the joint opening of the Youth, Wanita and Puteri assemblies.
While the boys in Muhyiddin’s camp insisted that the suggestion was purely an attempt to prove a level of maturity in Umno — that the party’s interests could be maintained even after going through a bruising election process, others are more suspicious.
This is unfortunate. In politics, it has become the norm to see things said or actions of leaders being interpreted, some wildly and without much basis, by people in and outside the party.
In the case of Muhyiddin’s suggestion, keeping to scheduled elections could be a way of showing outsiders that the ageing Umno walks the talk when it said it wanted to reform.
Muhyiddin, for all to see, particularly the Umno rank and file, has all along been a loyal deputy although speculations arose from time to time that he is interested in contesting the Umno presidency.
His critics this time said he was pushing for no postponement of party elections since he would be “too old” — he will be 71 should Umno holds its elections after GE14, which is due in 2018.
Well, most Umno members and supporters eventually got what they wanted — the delegates were very happy when Najib said the Sedition Act 1948 was here to stay, an announcement that won him a standing ovation from the floor.
In fact, Najib told the audience at Dewan Merdeka that the Act would be fortified with special provisions aimed at preserving the sanctity of Islam and all other religions and to prosecute those who called for the separation of Sabah and Sarawak from Malaysia.
Perhaps, he too was acting in solidarity with fellow party members who are against the idea of the government scraping the Act, a move which Najib himself had first pledged in 2012 to do away with and replace it with laws on national harmony as part of his administration’s raft of reforms.
Najib had made similar promises after that, too, and that being the case, he had already come under criticism from Umno’s foes and civil society.
Still, within his party, there are voices that said Najib had bowed to internal pressure not to abolish the Sedition Act because he was afraid to face criticism from delegates debating over the next two days.
