I have never for a moment bought the propaganda that Najib Abdul Razak is a reformist.

Remember the Perak debacle back in February 2009? It happened just barely two months before he took over from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. One must not forget Najib was all smiles when the three Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers turned ‘BN-friendly’ at a ‘joyous’ press conference .

In the months ahead, while he was blowing his own horn as a prime minister who cared and even came up with the now utterly discredited 1Malaysia slogan, he was also keeping a silence that was more ‘elegant’ than that of Abdullah on all the racist and extremist remarks by Perkasa, Isma and whatnot.

When push comes to shove, Najib will never hesitate to side with the radical forces in his own ranks. Think the blame that he placed on the Chinese when he failed to regain the badly-coveted two-third majority in Parliament in May last year, and his urging for Umno members to learn from the fighting spirit of, goodness gracious me, the internationally condemned Islamic State!

One can’t blame Najib for feeling livid. After all the money, resources and energy that went into salvaging the dwindling credibility of Umno, Najib only managed to do no better than his precedessor. It hence came as no surprise that Mahathir Mohamad is openly sharpening the knife, knowing that the more his hand-picked successor dithers, the likelier Umno would lose more seats four years from now, which would not ultimately benefit Mukhriz Mahathir.

Najib is, no doubt, fully appreciative of the danger that he is in now that the most influential (and politically lethal) party grandee has spoken. He has begun to prove his worth with the mass arrest of the Pasukan Perondaan Sukarela (PPS) members in Penang, in addition to the slew of sedition charges against not just the opposition politicians, but Azmi Sharom of Universiti Malaya and Susan Loone of Malaysiakini also.

There is a clear attempt by Najib to strike fear into the general population, aka Operasi Lalang in 1987. Perhaps Najib has decided that five years of patience is more than enough, and it is time to act tough and carry the party with him. After all, Umno under Mahathir became accustomed to the feudalistic culture of follow-thy-leader, but the leader must be willing to confront a critical and formidable public as Mahathir had done throughout the 1980s and 90s.

In the mind of the many, Umno symbolises an unquestioned right to rule Malaysia in perpetuity for the sake of religion, race and royalty (3Rs). Anyone seeking to replace it deserves to be crushed into pieces for ‘high treason’. But it takes a firm and authoritarian leader to execute the task, and Najib is apparently the right man at the right time.

With the conundrum in Selangor still unresolved, there is a strong likelihood that Umno is exploiting the divisions within Pakatan Rakyat to its own benefit.

It would not be surprising if the sultan has grave concerns over Wan Azizah Wan Ismail’s - and by extension Anwar Ibrahim’s - anti-establishment credentials, and would prefer someone from the Islamic party that would protect the interests of all, but the fact that PAS has allowed the situation to escalate in to a constitutional crisis now paves the way for Umno to plot another coup in the fashion of Perak in 2009.

Climate of fear

Seen in this light, who would have the guts to question the eventual outcome, say, an Umno menteri besar with the backing of the sultan, given that so many have been rounded up for ‘sedition’ in a climate of fear?

Hasn’t Malaysia's political history over the past five decades taught us that Umno needs only to create an atmosphere in which one of the 3Rs is seemingly in peril and that would be sufficient to rally not just the party but also much of the Malay population behind it?

And the chilling effect is more than visible across the mainstream media now. The MCA-controlled The Star in April this year launched a campaign ‘Be Brave and Beautiful’ in order to arrest its falling readership, and has recently paraded unashamedly a group of prominent columnists as ‘moderate voices’, Azmi Sharom being one of them.

Ironically, when the renowned academician was charged under the Sedition Act early this week, the ‘moderate voice’ of Wong Chun Wai itself was nowhere to be heard, and the editorial team no longer looks ‘brave and beautiful’. Well, it never really has anyway.

The same goes for Tay Tian Yan of Sin Chew Daily , who has accused ad nauseam Lim Guan Eng of being a big bully vis-à-vis Penang journalists. Tay’s accusation is not entirely unfounded, but his obsession with Lim rather than the much more arbitrary and hypocritical Najib only proves one thing right - Tay himself is nothing but a timid ‘senior journalist’ who only goes for the soft target, ie. Pakatan.

Lest one forget, Tay was quick to praise Najib for being brave enough to move Malaysian democracy forward ‘by 10 or even 20 years’ when the Internal Security Act (ISA) was repealed three years ago. His exuberant appraisal of Najib is now making him look foolish and ludicrous like the shit hitting the fan!

Be it Azmi Sharom ( left , who also writes a column for Sin Chew ) or Susan Loone, both The Star and Sin Chew have once again laid bare their true colours - opportunism, humbuggery and cowardice - by keeping quiet on the high-handedness of the Najib regime.

Najib has the mandate to abolish the Sedition Act, but he has chosen to go back on his own words because he realised that would not keep him in power for long, and everything that he permits the police to do now contravenes brazenly our fundamental rights. Worse, he is doing it in the name of the ‘silent majority’.

The choice now cannot be starker - speak up against the injustices right before our eyes, or risk having no-one left to speak up for us, and the decision is entirely ours.

JOSH HONG studied politics at London Metropolitan University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. A keen watcher of domestic and international politics, he longs for a day when Malaysians will learn and master the art of self-mockery, and enjoy life to the full in spite of politicians.