Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has come under intense attack from within Umno as well as the opposition.

And an Umno division leader is upset that the party top brass is not coming to the defence of their president.

Syed Ali Alhabshee said Najib is being pelted with all sorts of allegations and slander by the opposition.

Therefore, he urged Umno leaders, especially those who sit in the supreme council, to be more aggressive and step forward to deflect the criticism.

The Cheras Umno division leader was disheartened by the attitude of leaders who were not sensitive and appear to have left Najib to face the allegations on his own.

He said Umno leaders at all levels, including from the Wanita, Youth and Puteri wings, should serve as the president’s shield.

“On a daily basis we read the opposition’s slander on the social media against Najib but unfortunately, there has been no reaction from Umno leaders, no response at all. This is very disappointing

“We chose Najib ( right ) as the party president, so we must be responsible to defend him and make Umno strong to safeguard the interests of Malays,” he added in a blog posting.

In view of this, Syed Ali said Umno leaders cannot be vexed when there are claims that some of them are “sleeping” because the perception is based on what is transpiring now.

He warned that whatever allegation if left unanswered would appear to be the truth and confuse the people.

As party leaders, he said, they should be courageous enough to launch counter attacks with arguments that would show that Umno is still relevant.

“If we love the president and deputy, we should be brave to go against the opposition, not to remain quiet and adopt a ‘wait and see’ approach.

“It is sad to see Najib being constantly hammered by the opposition, where are Umno’s top leaders? Why leave the president all alone (to face the attacks)?” he asked.

Syed Ali pointed out that opposition leaders such as DAP’s Lim Kit Siang, Guan Eng, PAS’ Mahfuz Omar and PKR’s Rafizi Ramli are aggressively attacking Najib.

He said Umno leaders should not feel nervous or fearful to face Kit Siang and Rafizi as the allegations against the prime minister are “baseless”.

“Where are the Umno leaders? Only a few are brave to voice out like (supreme council member) Nazri Abdul Aziz,” he added.

Syed Ali said Najib’s leadership required the support of all quarters, including those at the grassroots level.

As for former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s criticism of Najib, the Umno man agreed with Nazri who viewed it as a sincere reprimand made with good intentions.

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