The Economist says ‘so much for the great reform programme’
(The Malaysian Insider) – Influential international newspaper The Economist has suggested that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak may be courting electoral disaster because the reforms he has introduced so far are just enough to alienate his own party but too little to convince the centre ground.
In a scathing report headlined “Najib at bay” that was published today, the weekly newspaper pointed out that the Umno president was at odds with his own party where the concept of Malay privileges is entrenched at divisional level.
“The trouble is that though Mr Najib believes in change, much of his party clearly does not,” The Economist pointed out in its report on politics in Malaysia.
“Umno was founded specifically to protect Malay privileges and has ruled Malaysia without interruption since independence. Mr Najib came to power in 2009 not through an electoral mandate for change, but in an internal coup.
“As a consequence, he lacks the clout and possibly the will to impose his agenda on Umno. And the longer he postpones an election, the more his personal authority will ebb.”
Yesterday, the still powerful former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad urged Najib to postpone polls until he wins back support from the Chinese community.
Dr Mahathir also said he believed that Barisan Nasional (BN) would win a simple majority if elections were held today, but would not regain its two-thirds majority in Parliament nor win back states it lost to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in 2008.
But The Economist in its report today said Najib’s inability to convince the Umno party hardline would cost him.
The newspaper said that resistance to Najib’s changes has become something of a leitmotif, or theme, of his time in office.
It also pointed out that the decision of the Attorney-General to appeal Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy acquittal “hardly looks good” and has renewed suspicions that nothing much has changed in Umno.
