Veteran newsman A Kadir Jasin has concluded that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has succeeded in clinging on to power following his series of manoeuvres in the past week.
He said this in reference to Najib's move to purge his 1MDB critics from the cabinet as well as the co-opting of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) members into the government as well as the sacking of attorney-general (AG) Abdul Gani Patail on Tuesday.
"His executive powers is more solid as his critics in Umno and the government have been ousted or silenced with the post of minister or deputy minister," said Kadir in a blog posting today.
Furthermore, he said the special task force investigating 1MDB is in disarray with Abdul Gani's replacement.
Similarly the PAC's separate probe on 1MDB has been stalled with its members' government appointments.
However, Kadir said this does not mean that Najib's position as prime minister will be completely secure.
"Najib succeeded in retaining executive power but for those who know him, he has lost moral authority to govern," said Kadir, who is a close ally of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Not end to 1MDB scrutiny
Furthermore, Kadir said Najib is also facing some upcoming challenges.
"Najib may have succeeded in clinging on to power, but every day the economic situation becomes more shaky, the ringgit is beaten down and the market is lethargic as Malaysia becomes a laughingstock," he said.
Kadir also believes that this will not be the end of the allegations against Najib’s pet project 1MDB, pointing out that the local investigations may have been crippled but the information is also now in the hands of overseas authorities.
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