YOURSAY 'Going into GE13, race and religion were played to the hilt. Now he wants to rein them in and proposes for Umno to be more inclusive?'

Najib likely to face leadership challenge

Ferdtan: The upcoming Umno party polls will be held under a new system whereby 146,500 members get to vote instead of previously limited to only 2,000 over delegates.

There will not be any obstruction of getting a certain number of open endorsements from the divisions before a leader qualifies to contest.

Once, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was not even qualified to be a contestant when he could not get the required minimum nominations from the divisions. This time it is a different scenario. It's an open contest.

The influence of money politics and the warlords is somewhat diluted as there are more than 100,000 delegates to content with. For this reason alone, Razaleigh, as a third faction within the party, stands a chance (however slim) to win the presidency if he were to contest.

There are many Umno members who are not aligned to either Najib Razak's or Muhyiddin Yassin's group may side with Razaleigh. Both Najib and Muhyiddin are seen to be of equal strength and Razaleigh may just scrape through due to the split votes.

Remember how in the last Umno party election in 2009 for the Umno Youth chief when Khairy Jamaluddin won a narrow 304 votes against his rivals, Mukhriz Mahathir (232 votes) and Mohd Khir Toyo (254 votes)?

It is an exciting time for watchers like us. In the end, Umno may be brought down not by its enemy, Pakatan Rakyat, but instead implode from within.

MockingYou: I agree with Ferdtan. There is yet another unknown factor where Umno Baru may yet reap what they have sowed - the suspected phantom Umno members who wreaked havoc to a certain extent in GE13.

Quigonbond: Indeed, Najib reaps what he sows. Going into GE13, race and religion were played to the hilt. Now he wants to rein them in and proposes for Umno to be more inclusive? The two concepts are as different as day and night.

If I were an Umno grassroots supporter, this whole sordid episode will appear to me as nothing more as taking my limited knowledge and my nationalistic and ethnic feelings for a ride.

At least, the Pakatan message is clear - we all move to the centre - stop talking about race and start talking about needs. If I were part of the Umno grassroots, I'd punish the leader who is wishy washy on this.

Unfortunately, Umno is playing with fire and has moved to the right. Its leaders can't do anything about it but to continue fanning the flames to stay relevant and in power in order to reap the rewards.

Anonymous_4031: Umno breeds warlords; and warlords demand positions, perks, contracts, jobs. If they do not get what they want; they will look for someone who can deliver the goodies.

This disease of warlordism will eat into the vitals of Umno, like termites; and thus send it into the Intensive Care Unit. Whether it will survive or not depends upon the party leadership.

Transformation means getting out of the rut and moving forward and march in tandem with the majority of Malaysians, not just Umno Malays alone. Modern, moderate Malaysians want a peaceful, harmonious, and happy Malaysia.

Racism and racists have no place in Malaysia. The loss of two Perkasa candidates in Shah Alam and Pasir Mas clearly indicated that voters want moderation, not extremism.

Umno members must be realistic and come to terms with reality. They cannot hide their heads in the sand and pretend that nothing happened in the recent general election. A strong tsunami had hit BN. It must change or be changed.

Swipenter: Umno is stronger position than ever in BN after GE13, but paradoxically weaker than ever as a national force.

Umno can rule the country alone without MCA, MIC and Gerakan, but with the help of those aligned to them in Sarawak and Sabah. Effectively Umno now is the government and the government is Umno. Whoever controls Umno controls the country.

Najib either has to accommodate the warlords or cut them down to size to safeguard his own position. Knowing him, he would go for the former and win himself one more term as Umno president.

He has no guts to slog it out with his internal "enemies". The country would be limping along until after the Umno election. But the young Turks in Umno could be a wild card.

Doc: I agree with writer Dr Bridget Welsh - Muhyiddin has no choice but the take on Najib in the coming Umno presidential election. Not only for him but for all his crony supporters hoping to take a bite at Umno's favouritism agenda.

In the past, the economy was good and a weak opposition meant Umno was able to provide to nearly all of Umno's cronies. In the current climate, the economy is taking a dive, which means less money in the nation's kitty.

On top that, the opposition are like hawks, waiting for Umno to divert the nation's funds into their pockets through the awarding of contracts, and then pounce on them to increase their popularity.

Not to mention, the public perception that Umno are crooks, robbers of the nation's wealth and cheaters. The pool of money for Umno's cronies to eat off has certainly dwindled and these crocodiles have less meat to chomp on, thus the fight for these dwindling resources will have to happen.

In the end, Umno is all about "Show me the money."

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