For now, Najib is the only ‘real’ opposition leader

Despite his resignation as head of Umno and the BN coalition, Najib Razak seems to be more active than ever, including during the time when he was prime minister, in responding to a number of burning issues.

There have been over 10 press statements from him regarding the new government's policies and declarations - all issued within a short period of one month since Pakatan Harapan took power.

Amongst the 11 statements issued by him, four were on the federal government debt, a couple on the High-Speed Rail project (HSR) while the rest touched on 1MDB, the new national car project and the gas pipeline project.

In contrast, other opposition leaders of the BN coalition seemed to be relatively quiet.

Although acting Umno president Ahmad Zahid has occasionally spoken out, most of his statements were on the revitalisation of Umno or calling for reconciliation within BN.

Outside of these internal matters, the former deputy prime minister did voice his objection to the Harapan government’s decision to terminate the contracts of over 10,000 political appointees.

Khairy Jamaluddin, considered a new force in the embattled Umno, also rarely speak out against the Harapan government. Three of his four statements issued after the 14th general election were on issues within BN and one questioning the new national car project proposal.

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang nevertheless found Najib busily issuing statements against Harapan interesting and described him as the “only spokesperson” for the opposition.

“Najib is emerging as the leading, in fact, the only spokesperson for Umno-BN, issuing periodic statements to attack the Pakatan Harapan government except that his statements could not get any audience for he had lost all credibility and trustworthiness,” said Lim.

Despite actively responding to various issues, political analyst Phoon Wing Keong, however, described Najib’s action as an attempt to defend himself instead of giving views as a representative of the opposition.

“Najib is not responding to issues from the perspective of an opposition leader. Instead, he is trying to defend his past behaviour from the perspective of a former prime minister who is being accused of corruption and being probed.”

Still catatonic

Scrapping the HSR project, abolishing the 1Malaysia logo and reviewing the ECRL project are “de-Najib-ilisation” actions intentionally done by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, said Phoon.

He added that Najib is now trying his best to save his legacy and preserve whatever remaining support he has.

Phoon also noted that all the BN components were still catatonic since their unanticipated defeat on May 9, which explained why most of the leaders have been comparatively silent.

And with both Umno and MCA focusing on their party elections which will take place in the coming months, they are unable to respond effectively to any major issue before a new leadership is elected.

“This frustrating and embarrassing situation may end only after the parties’ internal elections and the emergence of a new leadership. Only then, will we see a revived opposition,” said Phoon.

As for Zahid, Phoon said he is currently unable to play the role of the top leader of Umno as he is unsure he will win the presidency at the party polls since he has the shadow of the Najib’s era falling over him.

“Although Ahmad Zahid is the acting Umno president, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he will succeed in the coming party election. There are actually some noises against him from the grassroots.

“Thus, he can’t really play the role as the top leader of Umno at this period.”

Phoon posited that BN would only be able to respond to national issues in a meaningful way after the newly-elected leadership for the opposition coalition develops a fresh strategy and political stand.

More time needed

Think-tank Refsa deputy director, Wan Hamidi Hamidi, agreed with Phoon in that he viewed the diligent responses by Najib as more about reiterating his innocence and saving his legacy.

“They (Umno leaders) did issue some statements but there is nothing substantial. For example, Najib, most of his statements are about claiming that he is not guilty and he is clean [...]”

“If you look at the whole thing, no matter whether the national debt or the economy, whatever Najib is saying is not so much to criticise Harapan but rather to defend himself or his so-called legacy.”

Wan Hamidi also pointed out that Umno is the main opposition power now since the component parties of BN have been either wiped out at the polls or have left the coalition altogether as in the case of Sarawak.

But there wasn’t any powerful opposition leader so far as Umno’s new leadership is not yet elected, he added.

"Once Umno has a new leadership, they will have to determine whether they are going to follow the old way of racial politics or engage in the new politics of multiracialism and mutual understanding,” he said.

“As for the other components like MCA, MIC and Gerakan, I am not so sure. Honestly, they look so clueless at this moment. Perhaps the older generation may feel sympathetic for them but I think most Malaysians, especially the young people, don’t really care about them anymore.”

Wan Hamidi added that the people, nevertheless, should have some patience for both the government and the opposition as they adapt to their new roles.

“Pakatan Harapan is new to government and BN is new to opposition. I think we should give them more time, maybe another month or two." -Mkini

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