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Have we all underestimated the Najib-Rosmah team?

The fall of Deputy Prime Minister and vice-president of Umno, Muhyiddin Yassin, in an unceremonious fashion from the cabinet together with several others who were opposed to the Najib Abdul Razak game plan should make many people rush back to the drawing board. Not so much to hatch a counter-plan but to search their souls if they had underestimated the joint prowess of the Najib-Rosmah Mansor team.

As we reckon, Muhiyuddin is no plain politician who rose to the echelons of power by chance. He is a grassroots man and hails from the cradle of Umno, Johor, to begin with.

Add to that the recent spat between a Najib-Rosmah loyalist with the royal household of the state of Johor.

What do you have? A potent, latent ball of unhappiness that can go ballistic of course, given the Malay culture where to ‘menghina’ is not taken kindly. And when a Muslim invokes the name of God in resignation in the face of such totally unacceptable sacking of their leader, the embers cannot be extinguished over time.

But that sentiment aside, have we really underestimated the Najib-Rosmah team power? Yes. Let us eat humble pie to appreciate this truth.

All the opposition mavericks could not bring the 1MDB to weigh upon Najib or his spouse or the paid blind loyalists.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad, often compared to a cunning old fox too could not shunt the throwing out of those who stood by his battle-cry to remove Najib.

Did anyone anticipate that there will be new cabinet taking shape so soon? Yes. We knew it for sure as the rumour mill had been active for quite a while. But it came at a time when we least expected by the days and weeks.

What is most significant in this day and times is the fact that the Najib-Rosmah team would not have hatched their checkmate advances recently. It must have been a plan long on the boards under cover.

Looking back, it could all have been in the pipeline since the days of weapons purchases and kickbacks sourced. It could have almost got derailed with the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder but the team pulled that one through with no one being sent to the gallows, even after all these years and the courts having deemed that motive was not essential.

Before the 1MDB debacle, there had been many more dents to their armour - from branded bags to shopping sprees to jet set-lifestyles allegedly at government expense.

There was a news break-out about Rosmah’s son making it real big in the wild wild west.

They survived all of that, too. Then came the multi-million splurge on a wedding. That do was dusted off like droplets on a duck’s back.

The cascades of global expose of the 1MDB that saw a scramble to initiate all kinds of high-profiled investigations saw many going incommunicado or tight-lipped.

Was it fear or wisdom or sheer facts against allegations that silently dictated to some that to instead pledge absolute loyalty to the Najib-Rosmah team is the only option to withstand an onslaught in the making?

Yesterday we witness the Najib-Rosmah team surrounded by a team of full-fledged loyalists, the new cabinet line up.

Higher overdrive mode

Umno is in tatters. But the Najib administration has revved up to a higher overdrive mode. The opposition is running around with a torn stigma of a failing coalition given the unsavoury fact that the Najib-Rosmah team saw to it very much earlier that the opposition camp’s charismatic leader Anwar Ibrahim is best shut away in the dungeon.

All the veterans of Umno tried. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah tried. Musa Hitam did, too. Daim Zainuddin would certainly not have abstained. Rafidah Aziz blasted, too.

But the Najib-Rosmah team has checkmated all of them. That may be hard to accept. Some will argue that the old fox is not done yet.

Even before the dust can settle this Tuesday July 28 as streams of shocked supporters are almost camping at the now former DPM’s house, we hear whispers of the 1MDB investigations hitting a wall already.

With the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) in sight, with initiatives in place soon in Hawaii and later in Malaysia come November 2015, all that matters to the global players is that the Najib-Rosmah team is not rattled. That, too, is another fact that the Najib-Rosmah team are capitalising to the last letter.

In the days ahead we will know whether Umno will crack up or have a last go at the Najib-Rosmah team. But with the change of guard in the Attorney-General’s Department, is there much hope really? Already there is talk of hauling up those guilty of hanky-panky dealings beginning with the now former DPM’s fingers in the cookie jar.

The question then is have we underestimated the Najib-Rosmah team this far?

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