First blood drawn in Umno war?

 Kim Quek: The best form of defence for PM Najib Razak is to attack. Why not use the Sabah RCI (royal commission of inquiry) to get at the mastermind?

There are plenty of leads in the thousands of pages of testimonies and submissions during the hearing to nail this traitor. It’s time for decisive action. Do it before it is too late. Don’t yield to your adversary’s demand (which has nothing to do with 1MDB), lest you will regret.

It is against his interest to deliver the fatal blow now, unless you have done what he wants you to do.

Hplooi: Be aware too that the successful initiative to preserve ‘Akta Hasutan’ (Sedition Act), and even strengthen it, is also the initiative of the same extreme right-wing clique now bringing out the long knives for Dear Leader.

And Kim Quek is right. Dear Leader should have aligned himself with the moderate forces instead of pandering to the extreme right-wing. He should co-opt and move the silent majority to his side. This will help to counter the outsourced Brownshirts (many covertly funded by Tun with his massive war-chest).

But Dear Leader is clearly clueless and depends on his appointed advisers who are generally less than bright.

The night of the long knives have started. Unfortunately, the replacement may not be better or even worse than the person being replaced. IMO (in my opinion), the replacement will be a precursor to iron fist in velvet glove.

P Dev Anand Pillai: It is a pity that despite all the spoon feeding and funds available from the taxes collected from the ‘others’, the Malays still don’t seem to have it in them to challenge the political blue bloods and dynasties who keep lording over the Malay peasants (masses).

Aren’t there any other Malays besides those from these families to lead the country? The ‘others’ are not allowed because of race and religion but what stops the common Malay to stand up?

James1067: Racial and religious rhetoric do not seem to be working as they might win some support in the peninsula but lose great numbers in Sabah and Sarawak.

With the 25 eminent Malays now voicing up, it might draw even more people away. Umno knows that if drastic steps are not taken to correct what is wrong it might be doomsday in the future.

It seems that there are others in Umno who are tired of being manipulated by these few leaders who use the party for their own agenda. There are now speaking out before the damage becomes beyond repair.

Sirach: The prospect of Najib leaving will not bring tears to many eyes, but what is scary is the prospect of the successor being Muhyiddin Yassin.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard him speak English, so I cannot comment on how articulate he is in the language. He certainly doesn’t exude charisma, and one suspects that he might be not just a seat-warmer but, far worse, a puppet on former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s strings.

If the DPM is a scary prospect as PM, a potential Ahmad Zahid Hamidi premiership positively sends shivers down the spine. This man is a politician in the most unflattering sense of the word.

Although it holds true of many in Umno Baru, Zahid in particular was reputed to be one of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s closest allies when the latter was in power, but dropped Anwar like a hot potato when he was sacked.

If true, such time-serving opportunism hardly flatters his character. As for Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, he doesn’t really look PM material, does he? All in all, a veritable gallery of mediocrities.

Matsalleh1: Yes, much scarier than Muhyiddin is the likely strategy that he will serve a seat warmer merely for Zahid.

Now there you have a true believer in Malay (read: Umno) power unbridled by any petty concerns for democracy, legality, the constitution or any other nuisances of that sort.

‘1MDB got loan extension from Bank Negara’

Sirach: I was wondering why BNM (Bank Negara Malaysia) has been so quiet on this 1MDB mess. Clearly, governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz has been overruled by the powers-that-be.

If I recall, a previous governor who stood up to the then PM did not have his contract renewed. But he had his honour intact amid the fiasco the followed when the favoured and pliant successor presided over the forex fiasco which cost the nation an estimated RM20 billion in the then ringgit value.

The Caymans skullduggery was disgraceful. BNM should have stepped up then. To remain quiet is unacceptable in the face of such rampant abuse of public funds.

Fair Play: Finally parliamentarians Tony Pua and Rafizi Ramli might be vindicated. If the non-performing loan extension was not given by Zeti, the entire banking system might collapse upon itself and bring to the nation to the brink of a financial crisis of unimaginable dimension.

Imanust Nais Yalam: A gentle reminder to all Umno leaders – if you folks don’t promptly find a fall guy for the impending 1MDB implosion, even the ardent Malay supporters of Umno will not touch you with a 10-foot pole in the next GE because they would have by then experienced non-withdrawal of EPF (Employees Provident Fund) money, depreciation of the ringgit, job losses, higher taxes, lower property prices, etc.

Louis: I pray that this is not a mirror reflection of the American subprime loan crisis. We do not have the resources available to the Americans to tackle the issue.

Instead of flying here and there, Najib should stay home more to tackle our economic problems. There is no point giving impressive speeches and receiving standing ovation, while our economy is in doldrums.

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