COMMENT | Yesterday, in the first half of my article, I explained why Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak was in a precarious position. What then are Najib’s strategies for survival? It is not that Najib doesn’t understand the precarious position he is in. He does know that Umno will not be able to win an outright mandate in the coming election.

Hence, Najib has been trying to break up the opposition as soon as the 2013 general election was concluded.

There were even attempts by Indonesian Vice-President Yusof Kala, between June and August 2013, to broker deals between Najib and Anwar Ibrahim, which Anwar rejected.

And, since then, Najib’s strategies have included:

• Putting Anwar Ibrahim behind bars, hence depriving the opposition of its prime ministerial candidate and unifying figure;
   
• Luring PAS into a de facto alliance with Umno on the pretext of promoting hudud legislations; and
   
• Portraying the opposition as a DAP/Chinese-dominated alliance.

However, in his grand scheme to win by default, Najib did not anticipate:

• The opposition surviving despite Anwar’s imprisonment;
   
• A sizable number of ousted PAS leaders forming Parti Amanah Negara in September 2015 to continue the struggle, and many in PAS still disagreeing with their top leaders’ collusion with Umno; and
   
• Umno splitting in 2016, and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia being formed and joining Pakatan Harapan...