Razaleigh, not Muhyiddin should replace Najib, says MP

Ariff Sabri says DPM Muhyiddin Yassin cannot be made PM as he is cut from the same cloth as Najib Razak.

KUALA LUMPUR: Raub MP Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz feels compelled to say that he partly disagrees with former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s two-part solution to the ongoing turf war in Umno.

He disagrees with the second part i.e. confining the choice of who should replace Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to the hierarchy in Umno.

He agrees with the first part i.e. that Najib should be removed. “Najib is a menace to the country,” said Ariff Sabri who blogs as sakmongkol AK47. “We can write many things about Najib until we are blue in the face, the arteries in our necks are visible and until the cows come home to the condominium at 1 Menerung.”

He was commenting on the Friday meeting where, according to him, nothing new can be expected from Najib as the scenario has already been scripted by his PR people for stage-management. “We ask Najib. Please accept the challenge from a 90-year-old man to debate openly,” said Ariff Sabri. “He will not. He only likes to hit you from behind like what he is doing at the moment to Mahathir.”

“Mahathir prefers a frontal assault.”

Muhyiddin, said Ariff Sabri in dispelling the notion that the Deputy Prime should naturally be a shoo-in for Najib, was part of the ship that is running aground.

So why should he be allowed to become ship’s captain when he is cut from the same cloth?

“Pick someone who is not part of the ship that has run aground.”

Resuming his disagreement with the hierarchy in Umno, the MP openly declared that Umno Kelantan veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah should replace Najib. “However, the question remains whether he’s willing to be unpopular.”

Razaleigh, added Ariff Sabri, has to forge a new politics that gets rid of race-based, religion-based political parties. “He must recognise that Gerakan and MCA are no longer spokesmen for the Chinese community. He must reset the politics of the country.”

“He must reset all the institutions that support our democracy and the election process, the Judiciary, Parliament. He must get rid of corruption.”

Razaleigh, reiterated Ariff Sabri, must be willing to restructure Umno to make it relevant to the future. “Most of all, he must change the mind-set of the Malays.”

What does that mean?

“It means that relevance of the Malay struggle was not based on race, religion or Kings,” he stressed. “The results in the recent by-elections in Permatang Pauh dan Rompin showed that these issues are no longer as important as before and that no party can buy its way to victory.”

In pushing for Razaleigh he cautions against linking him to the Bumiputera Malaysia Finance (BMF) scandal in the 1980’s.

BMF was not under the Finance Minister at that time, he recalled. “It was under the charge of the Prime Minister’s Office – meaning Mahathir – as Bank Bumiputera Malaysia Berhad the parent company fell under it,” said Ariff Sabri. “The history of BMF is clear.”

“The papers that linked Razaleigh to the BMF scandal were sued for defamation. He won each and every one of the suits.”

Again, the message: Pick Razaleigh as the new Prime Minister.