PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli believes the voice of Umno grassroots has been disregarded because Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and the party division leaders only care about their own interests.

The grassroots, he said, have voiced their concern about the country as well as Umno's future, but the party's top leaders have not given attention to the grievances.

"This is what I am sympathetic about for my friends in Umno; they are also the rakyat just like us and they have voiced the concerns of the rakyat in their meetings.

"Umno has never been controlled by the grassroots. Umno is controlled by the 191 division leaders, with the leader being Najib who has his own interests.

"And the 191 division leaders have their own interests. So no matter how loud the voice of the grassroots is, they (Najib and Umno’s division leaders) will only care about their own interests and the voice of the grassroots will not be given attention," he told reporters in Shah Alam today.

The Pandan MP added that although Najib is aware of the grievances from the rank and file, the prime minister would not do anything due to the culture of prioritising one's own interests than the party members.

Rafizi said this when commenting on Langkawi Umno delegate Anina Saaduddin who had claimed that Umno's three million members had been lied to by Najib .

Najib must resign to restore confidence

On another matter, Rafizi admitted today's political scenario was one of the factors that led to the Ringgit’s plunge.

However, he claimed it started from questions to Najib’s leadership in relation to the RM2.6 billion transferred into his personal accounts as well as the 1MDB imbroglio.

As a result, he said investors are now not confident to invest in the country.

To return the confidence of international investors, Rafizi believes that Najib must resign as prime minister.

"Najib realises the ringgit's plunge was due to him and he knows the rakyat are unhappy and the majority wants him to resign.

"I am confident Najib knows this, but his interests are aplenty until he can’t bear to sacrifice them for the sake of the rakyat," he said.

Najib yesterday blamed "excessive politicking" as among the reasons for the steep decline in the Ringgit against the US dollar.

"There is excessive political play and speculation that have resulted in uncertain sentiment towards the country's governance," he had said in a blog posting.