INTERVIEW It is in Umno's best interest to stick with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak as the chances of winning the next general election will be higher, said an ex-party leader.

 

According to former deputy higher education minister Saifuddin Abdullah, the situation might actually get worse if Umno takes on a new leader.

 

"You can have a new president and prime minister, but if you start moving to the right, I think we (Umno) might do even worse in the next general election.

 

"My bet is still (to) remain with what we have (Najib as Umno president)," he said in an interview yesterday at the Malaysiakini office in Petaling Jaya.

 

He said this when asked if he agrees with former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad who has urged Umno to change its leader if the party is to hold on to power.

 

Mahathir is currently on a campaign to oust Najib, claiming Umno and BN would lose in the next nationwide polls - which must be held before mid-2018 - if Najib remains the leader.

 

Saifuddin however questioned whether Mahathir was better than Najib when the former was premier.

 

"Everyone is free to criticise, but we should go beyond just looking at Mahathir criticising Najib, but also look at Mahathir's policies when he was prime minister.

 

"Was (Mahathir) really better in certain aspects of our daily life compared to Najib?

 

"So on that score, my support is for Najib, because I know exactly what he is fighting for - it’s about moderation, progressive (policies), transformation," he said.

 

Saifuddin, who is known to be in Najib’s camp, is the chief executive officer of the Global Movement of Moderates, whose patron is Najib.

 

PM forced to veer to the right

 

Besides supporting Najib, the former deputy minister also urged Umno to revive the premier's pre-13th general election transformation policies.

 

"(We need to) realign (the party), go back to where we were before GE13, do more transformation, further the democratisation process.

 

"That is the right thing to do and that’s what the people hope for. We were saved in GE13, to my mind, because of his (Najib's) transformation programme," Saifuddin said.

 

Najib had taken a progressive approach to politics upon assuming office in 2009.

Among others, he abolished the Internal Security Act, which was used to quash dissent during Mahathir's time. Najib also vowed to repeal the Sedition Act.

 

BN's majority in Parliament however slipped further in the 2013 polls, and internal pressure from Umno forced Najib to veer to the right.

 

This includes his announcement at the 2014 Umno general assembly that the Sedition Act would not only be retained but instead be strengthened.

 

"It is really unfortunate, Najib made a promise to repeal Sedition Act, everyone was very happy, and everyone was optimistic. I'm saddened that he actually maintained the Act.

 

"But again the question is, is he doing it by himself? I would like to believe he was pressured," Saifuddin said.

 

Bad advice

 

He said the Umno president's advisors had been giving him bad advice, and urged them to support Najib's progressive policies instead.

 

"The way forward for Umno and BN to win GE14 is to continue doing political transformation, not to backtrack.

 

"If you look at the result of the last three general elections [...] the number of voters who voted on developmental hope (e.g. roads, schools) is shrinking.

 

"Whereas the percentage of voters who voted based on democratic hopes (e.g. human rights, freedom) is increasing," he said.

 

"Hence the popular vote on the BN side is shrinking, whereas the popular vote on the Pakatan side is increasing," he added.

 

 

The interview was jointly conducted by Zikri Kamarulzaman and Chai Jian Mei.