Umno vice-president Najib Abdul Razak is now thrust in the limelight, after he was 'named' by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's deputy prime minister.

Who is Najib? As far as I know, he is the kind of politician who will not hesitate to change his position at the last minute to suit his ambitious plan to be the prime minister. In 1987, his last-minute support for Anwar Ibrahim, who seemed to have promised him to be his deputy, killed Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah's political career when he lost to Mahathir.

Thus, from the very beginning, Najib was opposed to Pak Lah, who was supporting Tengku Razaleigh at that time. In1993, Najib again at the last minute swayed his support to Anwar for the second time, to form the so-called Wawasan (Vision) Team. He was the last to join in the group, after satisfying himself that the group will win.

When Anwar was expelled from Umno, Najib was among the first to condemn Anwar, thus aligning himself quickly with the winning group.

While he was the defence minister for the first time, our soldiers in Bosnia needed mobile clinics. Four multi-million ringgit clinics were established, though there were allegations that the actual cost for each clinic was below a million ringgit each. The figure was inflated mysteriously.

Lastly, Najib also has a personal life that has amused the grapevine for years.

All the facts that I have listed here are well-known to Umno members. Are they happy with Najib? I do not think so. So could this be another mischievous scheme of Mahathir for a reason known to him only.