Penawar, an organisation comprising ex-Umno parliamentarians headed by a Mahathir man, has expressed lack of confidence in the PM's leadership.
Party insiders have long claimed that the daggers are out, alleging that while in public, support is expressed for the president, behind closed doors his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin with the blessings of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is making his move.
The prime minister’s grip on power slipped further following the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9 while the controversies surrounding his wife Rosmah Mansor are also taking a toll.
Now, an organisation representing former Umno members of Parliament has voiced its lack of confidence in Najib’s leadership and wants him to step down.
The organisation called Penawar is headed by former Cabinet minister Aziz Shamsuddin, who was Mahathir’s political secretary from 1981 to 2002.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Penawar member said the organisation decided in a meeting last week that it is time for Najib to relinquish his post.
“It is up to Najib. If he loves the country and the Malays, he should resign as soon as possible.
“If he is not a selfish person, then he must quit,” the former MP told FMT, adding that the meeting was attended by ex-ministers from the Mahathir era.
According to him, Penawar, which represents some 50 ex-MPs, is dissatisfied with Najib’s leadership due to several reasons.
When pressed, he declined to elaborate on the reasons, stating that these are common knowledge.
Contacted later, Aziz, who is Penawar’s chairman, declined to comment on the matter but disclosed that the organisation will be holding another meeting tomorrow.
Muhyiddin’s brother also present?
Najib took over the reins in April 2009 and immediately portrayed himself as a moderate leader under his 1Malaysia concept aimed at luring back Chinese and Indian votes.
However, his all-embracing approach failed to go down well with certain quarters in Umno, with even Mahathir remarking that the party has failed to protect the Malays and this led to groups like Perkasa coming to the forefront.
On the same note, Chinese support continued to increase for the opposition as seen in several by-elections and the pressure on Najib mounted.
Prominent blogger Mohd Sayuti Omar also posted an article regarding Penawar’s call on Najib to step down.
Quoting a source, he said that among those present at the meeting were Muhyiddin’s brother, Aziz Yassin, former youth and sports minister Mokhtar Hashim and Tamrin Ghaffar, the son of former deputy premier Ghaffar Baba.
2 comments:
Some people have expressed lack of confidence in the PM's leadership. May be. I have expressed lack of confidence in the Department of Religion. Read on.
I went to the Post Office to register to vote; and upon checking my identity card, the Post officer asked which religion I belonged to. Why? I do not know. Therefore, we must reform the Department of Religion. Right now, only Islam is recognised as the religion in the Department of Religion. Therefore we need reforms. We need to divide the Department of Religion into two branches: one branch to deal with Muslim Affairs, and another branch to deal with non-Muslim Affairs.
Please make sure you go to the nearest Post Office to register to vote. Please exercise your right to vote.
If you do agree with me, please copy and remail it to whom it may concern. Those who receive it must in turn copy and remail it to whom it may concern. Let’s get the word around to as many people as possible. Let’s see what happens.
I’m sure that there are several reforms that Malaysia should undergo. Let’s at least get one thing reformed: education. As it is, there are three language streams in Malaysia. That, is, there are Malay-medium, Chinese-medium, and Tamil-medium schools currently operating in Malaysia. Then somebody decided to teach maths and science in English in all these three school systems. Next, somebody decided to flip-flop and remove the teaching of Maths and Science in English. What’s going on? They introduce English and then they remove it. There are too many flip flops.
Therefore, I read something interesting as a solution. Let me share it with you.
Firstly, lets leave the three language school system as it is.
Let’s focus on kindergarten schools. Let’s allow private kindergarten schools to have total autonomy from political intervention. If private kindergarten schools are allowed to teach the 3R’s (reading, writing, arithmetic) in English, then it may solve the problem.
Hopefully, the next generation of Malaysian children will firstly go for three years to an English kindergarten. After completing a stint in the English kindergarten, next the children will enter primary school. In primary school, they have to choose between Malay, Chinese, and Tamil medium schools. Eventually, they will complete secondary school education.
These students will be more multi-lingual and therefore will be an asset to the nation in a globalizing world.
In any case, almost all the universities (both government and private) use English language text books. Therefore, we have to connect English kindergartens on the one hand with English language text books in universities on the other hand. Do you see the connection now?
In any case, it is better than flip flopping. The bottom line is that I am sick and tired of politicians and bureaucrats constantly changing the public education system at the expense of the children of Malaysia. Somebody even put English as the only medium of instruction for Maths and Science only to be removed by another politician. So, instead of removing English I have decided to push English down to the kindergartens in Malaysia. The question is: should we push English up or down? I think we should push English medium down to the private kindergartens. This will be fair and square to everybody. Let's call this the MALAYSIAN MODEL. The Malaysian model means that Malaysian children will study for 3 years in English medium in private kindergartens. Then, they will be ready to enter the public school system. If the Malaysian model catches on it may be imitated by nations in ASEAN and the rest of Asia. Probably. I do not know. We will wait and see.
I fully agree that they should stop teaching Maths and Science in English in the public school system. Teaching Maths and Science in English would marginalize rural children who are mostly Malays. We want a system that does not marginalize. Solution: Malaysian Model. I suggest that all rural kindergartens be funded by the government and become English medium kindergartens. In fact, all government funded kindergartens should give early childhood education exclusively in English. I can tell you now that rural Malays will lag behind if they do not attach value to multi-lingualism. I can tell you that nobody can discern or predict on the massive market; and that the market makes and shapes the person.
Let us suppose that the university is at the top; and kindergarten will be known as the bottom. Both the top and the bottom would use English language textbooks. In between the top and bottom would be the Malay-medium, Chinese medium, and Tamil medium schools. This is the solution.
If you do agree with me, please copy and remail it to whom it may concern. Those who receive it must in turn copy and remail it to whom it may concern. Let’s get the word around to as many people as possible. Let’s see what happens.
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