COMMENT The Red shirt rally organiser said that not everyone who come for the Sept 16 rally love Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Some, one of them said, love former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad; others are from PAS. Interestingly, no one said that members of PKR and Parti Amanah Negara will turn up. There are, by the way, also many young and intelligent Malays in DAP such as Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, and even the veterans from Group of 25 eminent Malays like Noor Farida Ariffin, Asiah Abu Samah and Azimah Rahim.

Obviously, this is to divert the heat from Umno whose vice-president Zahid Hamidi has given his full endorsement. Even Najib said he will not ban any Umno member from attending the Sept 16 rally.

Umno cannot hide its hands

My question is, If Umno is not responsible for the Sept 16 rally, why does it even allow Jamal Mohd Yunos to be the main spokesperson, being a Sungai Besar Umno division head himself? His being in the frontline clearly implicates Umno.

Does Umno not have a whip or disciplinary board to haul him in, especially since he is going ahead with the rally despite the disapproval issued by a number of Malay NGOs?

Do the rally-goers, even if they are not linked to Umno, know that their presence at the rally will simply be politically manipulated and made to look like they are supporting the prime minister who currently may face a vote of no-confidence in Parliament?

In several of his speeches, Jamal ( photo ) has thrown his support behind Najib, blaming instead the Chinese and the DAP, whom he accuses of trying to overthrow Malay leaders.

Jamal has never mentioned that even the Chinese who turned up for Bersih 4 acknowledged that there are better Malay leaders such as Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to helm the Barisan Nasional government until the next general election.

Birds of a feather

Since Najib helmed the office of the prime minister, he has become the centre of controversies, one after another.

From the Scorpene submarine scandal to the tragic murder of Altantuya Shariibuu, and the 1MDB scandal to the RM2.6 billion ‘donations’ that went into his personal accounts, Najib’s term of office as prime minister has been one of the worst periods in the country’s history.

There is also the RM40 million which was being investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and RM2 million cash that was deposited into Rosmah Mansor’s personal accounts.

Now, it appears that here in Malaysia, we too have the Nexus of Forces against Najib, all the controversies converging around his premiership. Even the ringgit has fallen, and continue to pose a major threat to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

No prime minister, not even Dr Mahathir, has been ostracised as much as Najib both in the local and international arena within such a short period of time. It is a sad tale of one controversy after another.

Currently, it is understood that a number of governments around the world have initiated investigations into accounts linked to 1MDB. It is, however, surprising that the Singapore government has not mentioned anything about their own investigations into the 1MDB scandal, although there are rumours that investigation has been initiated.

What Najib is lacking badly are people who are good and clean, and have reasonable intelligence quotient (IQ) to help him overcome his controversies.

Compared to the people who went for Bersih 4, those organising the Sept 16 rally appear to have abrasive personalities, and are out to create ill-will between communities and to intimidate rather than to support some well-thought-out agenda.

There is not even a mention about stamping out corruption or against ‘wang haram’ (illegal money), which is against Islam.

As pointed out by Zaid Ibrahim ( photo ), “(The cabinet ministers) should be ashamed when told Malays will not have a Malay prime minister if Najib Abdul Razak has to step down because of corruption.”

He further reiterated that they “should feel ashamed when Malay thugs start questioning the patriotism of other Malaysians protesting on the streets, or when thugs ransack DAP offices, or when the police do nothing to stop gangsters destroying property, or when civil servants become lackeys of disgraced political leaders - they don’t feel that shame yet, but one day they will.”

Najib has apparently attracted all the ‘bad vibes’ to himself. Will the controversies involving him just end like this?

My answers are, It is highly unlikely, since he has attracted the wrong people to himself.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.