Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Najib listening ...


The Malaysian Insider today carried a news on the Prime Minister. Off course, there will be some Ajinomoto flavoured in their story.  Let's take it on good faith first.

The report claimed Dato Najib is not taking back his five officers that lost in the recent general election. Najib had many political secretaries but sources claimed none seem to work for him. Instead, they are more concerned with their own political career.

Tun Daim had blame his "Penasihat" for BN's dismal performance in the recent general election. It could actually mean his Advisers, Secretaries and Special Officers or  it could mean something else.

Nevertheless, if his political secretaries are incapable of winning, what useful political advise can they give the PM?

It is as simple as that.

The news and interspersed with our comments, below:
Under pressure, PM to dump all five aides who lost GE13 contest

June 12, 2013  

The move signals Najib's resolve to clear out the Umno "war room" that has come in for criticism following Election 2013 - File pic
KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 ― All five political aides to Datuk Seri Najib Razak will be dropped from office for purportedly putting their interests above the prime minister’s in what is seen as a move to axe the deadwood weighing down his office ahead of Umno elections this year, Barisan Nasional (BN) sources have told The Malaysian Insider.

Handpicked to run in the May 5 polls, Datuk Latt Shariman Abdullah, Datuk Shahlan Ismail, Datuk Mohd Shafei Abdullah, Datuk Mohamad Fatmi Che Salleh and Datuk Mohamed Suffian Awang have come under attack from Umno bloggers and pro-establishment critics following their embarrassing defeat in the 13th general election.

The five had been seen by Najib’s “war room” strategists as having the best chances to give a fillip to the ruling BN in its bid to regain the coalition’s two-thirds supermajority in Parliament lost since Election 2008.
Correction: None of the five are in the first list of "whites" generated by the War Room.

Running Aides
But Umno bloggers have blasted Najib for allowing his aides to contest in the polls, arguing variously that the five men had little grassroots support in their constituencies.
BN ultimately won 133 seats in the 222-member Dewan Rakyat and Umno, the coalition lynchpin, took 88 federal seats in Election 2013 ― up nine from 2008.

But several party veterans have blamed the party and BN’s lacklustre performance on Najib’s “war room” strategists, and hinted that the prime minister might be shown the door if he does not remove his strategists for their bad advice.

Najib’s two special officers, Shahlan and Latt Shariman, were beaten by PAS candidates in Kedah although BN succeeded in snatching back the rice-farming state from the PR pact.

Shahlan lost by 3,935 votes to PAS vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar in the Pokok Sena federal seat while Latt Shariman was defeated by PAS’s Mohd Nasir Mustafa by a 1,044-vote majority in the Kubang Rotan state seat.

Mohd Shafei, who is Najib’s political secretary in the Finance Ministry, lost to PKR’s Datuk Dr Tan Tee Kwong by a 5,511-vote margin in the fight for a seat in the Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory, which was significantly bigger than the 2008 results.

Two other special officers, Mohamad Fatmi and Mohamed Suffian, were also trounced in the contest for Kota Baru and Kuantan respectively.
Datuk Latt Shariman ran in one of the ADUN in Kuala Kedah. How does this MCOBA with a face that looks like he had weekly facial treatment in a Bangsar saloon expect to be accepted by the hardy fishermen and padi farmers of Kuala Kedah? He was not the first because there was another MCOBA cowboy before.

Latt held back the disbursement of campaign monies in the Division account and it contributed to the 0-4 lost for Kuala Kedah. PM's own adviser breached party headquarter's instruction!

Datuk Shahlan lost partly due to cah keting from Division head, Datok Ahmad Lebai Sudin. Grassroot believed Ahmad had a pact with Dato Mahfuz Omar of PAS. He may have not delivered all the seats because Mahfuz expressed surprise at his press conference when told Ahmad won at his ADUN.

His was a lost his cause when his campaign speeches shot his own feet. It may have been divine intervention because there was suspicion on Shahlan when certain BTN materials were found to be printed by PKR's IKD affiliated printers.  

Dato Shafei and Dato Fatmi are destined to lose but thought they are winnable. Win-cable is more accurate. Shafei was responsible to sabotage Wangsa Maju's MCA candidate in the 2008 general election. Thus, the MCA support is not expected to be forthcoming in 2013. Don't blame it on Chinese Tsunami.

Fatmi had lost so many elections in Kota Baru and seen as a quarrelsome figure in UMNO Kota Baru Division that it is unfathomable for him to be allowed to contest. During campaign (in which we were at his constituency), he regularly did not turn up as scheduled and was not reachable to the media.

His slogan emulated a Jerry McQuire's movie quote, "Bantu saya untuk membantu anda." Gapo mu kecek ni, Fatmi? He could have done better with "Show me the money!" 

Sufian is a protege of Dato Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis (JJ). He is parked inside PM's office and his presence had been suspiciously to serve the interest of JJ.

War Room
The culling of the losers is the first sign of Najib’s seriousness in ridding himself of his advisors, many of whom have been blamed for misreading the ground ahead of the closely-fought election.

The BN “war room” had been tasked with selecting the candidates and advising various strategies to win the polls.

It counted Rompin MP Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis, Putra World Trade Centre chairman Datuk Seri Dr Alies Anor Abdul, Petronas director Omar Mustapha Ong, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor, party information chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan and former Terengganu mentri besar Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh as among its members.

The war room had stuck to its prediction of BN winning between 145 and 150 federal seats and also getting back Selangor in Election 2013 although some senior BN leaders were privately doubtful of the figures.
No, like the over confident Dato Zin of Selangor War Room, the War Room had given a projection of more than 160 seats win for BN. Even Najib did not believed it.

Credit where is due, there is a War Room member who placed a projection of only 135 seats.
And by noon on Polling Day, the war room had issued its “white list” of 118 federal seats it was sure to win, but some like Pasir Mas, Shah Alam and Lembah Pantai were lost, which some Umno divisional leaders said reflected the disconnect between the leadership and the ground.
The country’s sixth prime minister is also under pressure from Umno to distance himself from his “war room” planners, namely Alies Nor, Omar (Ong) and Jamaluddin (JJ), a party insider had told The Malaysian Insider.
The "holy trinity" as some insider described. Or perhaps The Untouchable.

A blogger that raising the issue of Alies Nor received a call and a threat from an UMNO high official. Alies Nor is the man in charge of the War Room.

Raising the issue of Omar Ong may infuriate the PM who is overly protective of him. Emanating from his consulting company, Ethos Consulting and associate, McKinsey and Company, Omar Ong is in charge with generating the many acronymed liberal policies of Najib and milking the government with consulting fees.

Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar and Omar are responsible for policies that made Najib seemed to overly bend over to the DAP-voting Chinese demands. It is not going down well with BN's voters.

Over tea last weekend, Najib tried to blame others like Dato Shahrir Samad for inviting him to an event to deliver donation to Chinese school when asked from the floor. That is not good enough.

JJ has to contain his ego and gung ho ways. He is O-istic and widely known to be C-upt. The man thinks he is progressive and open but he is not.

He turned schizo and requested to pull down postings when bloggers questioned his suitability as cabinet member. His presence as so-called PM men will not endear the PM with the ground.

Token Challenge
Several disgruntled east Malaysian MPs met with veteran Umno lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah last night to discuss their positions after not getting anything for their wins in the closely-fought Election 2013, pointing to a lengthening line-up to rattle Najib after he won his first personal mandate with fewer seats than his predecessor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Analysts and other political observers have said that Najib’s leadership of Umno may be challenged in the party polls due year end, which could also unravel his hold over the 13-party BN coalition and undermine his default position as prime minister.
For Najib, he could survive the political assault and we believe he will win over any challenges.

However, any challenge or contest may expose Najib vulnerability. For Najib, he can take three routes to save him from any further embarassment and it is the same advise and winning that we have been repeating since 2009.


First, to seriously address issue of corruption. UMNO must not only be seen clean but Halaalan Toyyiba. One obstacle to clean up the country of corruption is the Attorney General, Tan Sri Gani Patail.

To regain confidence in UMNO, he need to wield his cane swiftly to address leakages in the system related with National Communication Team  and internal UMNO's Secretariat. These led to systematic failure in BN's campaign. [Read Bigdogdotcom's series on Systematic Failures I and II here and here.]

Betrayed Malay Agenda

Second, he has to address the Malay aka Bumiputera agenda seriously and not rely anymore on his current neo-liberal Advisers. Many of his effort like Equinas and Teraju are perceived as hoodwinking the Malays.

Among the serious issues that need to be addressed are scholarships, University and College entries, jobs in GLCs and government, entrepreneurship development, etc. This is what the Saloran 3 and 4 really want but is wrongly presented by the likes of Omar Ong. Najib ended up giving them handphone rebates.

The change from affirmative action policies of NEP to need-based policies was not managed properly. Bumiputera are severely handicapped and deprived of basic opportunity. The solution to leakage is deprivation. Both Najib and Pak Lah side step this vote sensitive issue.

If the need-based policies is not properly formulated, there is no basis for Malay and Bumiputera to support or vote UMNO and BN anymore. As far as the ground is concerned, there is no two way about it.  

Third, Najib must have a serious long term plan to generate economic growth. Projects like the KLIFD, Menara UDA, MRT, Naza's Exhibition Centre, etc. are not seen to boost the local economy when contracts are given to foreigners.

Too much emphasis on financial asset play than developing and promoting real sectoral economic tgrowth, which are economic multiplier. Like stocks, shares, money marker instruments and cash, property is also considered as financial asset.

Change or Bust

So far, not hiring five secretaries and special officers is still not a serious change.
Najib should fire first and review back his existing communication team. Better to get a new team. Some are not seriously focusing on their work. Some are incompetent and not respected by the media community. Some are rumoured to be corrupt. 

Najib should review his economic planning team. Get real economist, not a Shell power point expert. For more than 55 years, the government servants had successfully planned the nation's development.

Off course, the implementation aspect can be assisted by the private sector but getting business consultants to plan the economy is a strange practise. The role of PEMANDU has to be reviewed because it is the sore point to government servants.

Is performance enhancement and KPI system a priority? And, it makes no sense to judge crime and corruption based on reports made. KPI is supposed to be a quantitative indicator and not the final say. Quantitative analysis and field survey is still relevant.
Having seen how NKEA works and all the expensive labs to generate data, it looks like a con job. Understanding and analysing industry should be done by experts and not a survey of any Tong Davindran and Haris. 
The consultants are doing justification work and not real research work. There are lots of complains of PEMANDU massaging statistics.
Lastly, we know Najib does not like it but we are not in the business to please him like the pengampu around him. But, here it comes again: 
Najib need to seriously consider forming a Council of Elders. It is not about stifling the power of the Prime Minister but to help elders guide the leadership so that no more fatal mistakes.

The Chinese did not vote for BN but there is wisdom in one Chinese proverb. "Aged ginger is more pungent." It means elderly people are more experienced. The elders know the potholes of the journey ahead. The young ones don't and not when they are too theoretical.

Najib should not repeat the mistake of Pak Lah to submit to the wishes of his young advisers who though seemed clever but are without experience, wisdom, and true ground information. We know Najib's boys have been ridiculing some old timers as out-dated. 
Look at it this way. If it fails again, he can blame it on the elders. :)
Better late than never, Najib is showing that he listens. But he needs to do more to convince he has the guts to fire incompetents around him. Due to his advisers, Najib bungled on the candidate lists, campaign strategy, policies and cabinet appointments. Nothing less than cutting off the "holy trinity" of Alies, Omar Ong and JJ would satisfy the supporters.


Edited and Updated 8:00 PM

21 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:07 PM

    Still a vote of confidence ke to Najib bro. How far would you go then. Defiinitely you have whitewash OO in this article by using the lamest excuse..Najib's being over protective. OO JJ AN and Najb must go there is no more tolak ansur. Its a different ball game 150k members to vote Its now TSMY's time.
    Nice one about the council of elders but with TSMY all the slates are wiped clean. Council of elders will be TSMY rallying call for the presidency.

    Shalelalela

    Shalelalela

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5:13 PM

    I think it is too late... too many blunders and DS Najib's blunders have cut too deep for people like me to forgive. UMNO needs a stronger leader!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5:45 PM

    I think the stories from this blog contain some of the interesting inforamation that we on the ground has expressed it loud and clear.The same mistake created by Pak lah seemed to be repeated by Najib. Stop this otherwise BN or UMNO will be thrown out in PRU 14.I think it is nit too late for Najib to take the necessary action,after all to err is human. We rakyat will give him time to change but dont take too long.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous6:12 PM

    Nuar benci Najib We all meluat kat dia, Nak tranfom apa jika penjawat awam x sambut program dia, hanya lepas batuk d tangga, tuun lah tengok apa yg kurang, atas kertas sema cantik kat baeah ni hampass, semanak ada.. Program hanya ala kadar..org da bosan

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  5. Anonymous7:15 PM

    Agreed, we need strong leaders with ultra Malay agenda who LISTENS to party ELDERS leike Tun M and DAIM.....time for Najib ti step down...it is either Najib or Malay Muslim and the future stake of this nation- I would rather choose the latter

    HLH

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous8:05 PM

    And make sure his brother at CIMB MUST also toe the line. Otherwise remove him if Najib values his survival.

    To survive, Najib must have PRO MALAYS/BUMIPUTRAS agenda that will ensure survival and success of this group of Malaysians. Otherwise he can forget about being the next PM, ever....

    Revive ALL agencies for the advancement of MAlays/Bumiputras and place them at the appropriate Ministry instead of continually destroying them....

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous8:57 PM

    if really najib is listening, pls.advice rosmah to 'tutup aurat' and bring forward a Muslimah attitude and outlook.

    believe me,,some reason why pas member reluctant to vote for najib is becouse of rosmah outlooks and behaviour not in line with najib islamic job to rule the 'islamic goverment'

    gen2felda

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous10:22 PM

    Under Najib, UMNO did not care about agenda Melayu. Not only he didn't care about Melayu but Melayu was also sidelines. Look at what happened in Petronas...is Petronas President a Malay or worst is he a Malaysian? Time we get a truly Malay Petronas President as well as UMNO President that care about the future of Bumiputera
    Semangat melayu bukan boleh dibuat-buat. Ianya timbul daripada hati yang ikhlas ingin membantu kaum Bumiputera agar maju seperti kaum lain. Jika dari awal tiada semangat itu maka susah untuk diadakan. Maka solusinya, harus digantikan mereka itu.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous10:40 PM

    Tepat sekali, Najib has been wrongly advised, If he still méngejar bayang bayang pen gundi yg menolak dia, n buat Benda yg tak perlu, speak bila rakyat nak hapuskan ISA,or OSA or kata hasutan, rakyat tak Kisah, sebab rakyat bukan nak buat kacau, itu adalah kehendak DAP n Anwar ...lihat kesannya, bila hapuskan ISA,OSA Ada najib dapat undi lebih?? Yg dapat sikap kurang ajar n melampau pembangkang....tolonglar sedar.....itu strategi Pembangkang utk menghancurkan penghalang penghalang mereka utk jadi liar.....rakyat majorities tak Kisah pun Ada ISA or OSA Atau hasutan pun....titular letak priority salah,..bila pembangkang menjerit, Najib melompat....ikut cakap pembangkang , tolong jadi Berani, Kalau najib lembik juga n ke cut nak pertahankan Dan memperkasakan bumiputera....tunggu lah PRU14, kami tiada Alasan utk menyokong BN.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous11:06 PM

    Najib has done more damages to UMNO than Pak Lah. And it is time for him to go. But before that he got to sack those useless buggers that gave him bad advises.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous11:08 PM

    Alasan Atas Alasan supaya Najib dapat pegang jawatan untuk mengsiok kan Rosmah!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous2:14 AM

    Hj Voice,

    "Sufian is a protege of Dato Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis (JJ). He is parked inside PM's office and his presence had been suspiciously to serve the interest of JJ."

    Beside Sufian, the other JJ's protege in PM office is Dato Azlin Alias, who is very closed with Azman Mokhtar. As long as AA is in PM office, Azman Mokhtar will remain untouchable in Khazanah.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous2:22 AM

    Najib still doesnt get it.
    He needs to unite all Malays to be strong n increase the Malay hold of Malaysian economy.
    Then only the chinese communist will shut up n respect us.
    He is too eager to listen to the chinese.
    Do not compromise Islam and do not compromise the Malay support!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous2:26 AM

    Dear Najib and rest of Malay leaders,
    Look around you...in MNC 70% employees are chinese holding high posts. Malay graduates are mostly working in banks as officers only.These malays need to be motivated.
    Dont sideline us.

    ReplyDelete
  15. berasiam5:29 AM

    Sudah sudahlah tu Najib. Dah lebih sebulan PRU berlalu, masih belum bertindak dengan berkesan. Lembab namanya tu.

    Nazir menambahkan beban Najib. Memang sengaja agaknya. Menambahkan benci kepada adik beradik anak2 Tun Razak ni. Betul juga kata2 orang, mungkin duit Yayasan Noah yang berbilion daripada hasil judi itu menjadikan mereka buta hati begitu. Boleh tuan haji ulas sedikit tentang Yayasan Noah agaknya dalam posting akan datang. Ramai yang tak tahu tentang itu rasanya.

    4 tahun jadi PM, Najib dah gadaikan banyak kepentingan Melayu Bumiputera kepada Cina. Bila PRU memecahkan tembelang Cina yang pekongnya semerbak, Najib tak tahu nak bertindak menghargai pengundi yang meneruskan mandat BN.

    PRU-13 bukan mandat Najib tapi mandat BN, khususnya UMNO. Dah lebih sebulan, Najib masih berdiam. Pengumuman peruntukan RM400 juta di Sarawak itu terlalu kecil nilainya. Lagipun, duit itu hampir pasti akan berakhir ke kantung Cina. Mana ekonomi Melayu Bumiputera nak diperkukuhkan. Mana program jelas untuk bantu ekonomi Bumiputeranya, Tak serius langsung atau tak reti nak buat macam mana.

    Gugurkan Omar Ong, gugurkan JJ dan kuncu-kuncunya, umumkan rancangan untuk Melayu Bumiputera dalam pendidikan dan ekonomi secara jelas. Kembali gunakan maklumat daripada dalam kerajaan terutama Kabinet, Perkhidmatan Awam dan pelbagai institusi kerajaan sebagai sumber utama perancangan.

    Masa makin suntuk, hari sudah boleh dibilang, tidak sampai 200. Najib semakin ditolak dan sukar untuk meyakinkan kerana dia memang tidak nampak meyakinkan untuk disokong lagi. Hatta blog ini pun ditempelak kerana kelihatan masih sokong Najib. 150k pengundi UMNO akan menentukan untung nasib Najib kali ini. Kebanyakannya saluran 1 dan 2 kalau dalam pilihanraya. Sama2 kita tengok nanti.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous7:06 AM

    As long as rosmah gets too much airtime, Najib is still weak

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous11:38 AM

    DS Najib, your leadership in GE13 was obviously worse than Pak Lah.

    Pak Lah had graciously stepped down due to BN bad performance in GE12.

    Now that DS Najib did worse, he should be more responsible and leave.

    No two words about it. Malu la still nak stay. Please step down Dear DS Najib. Graciously. You will be respected more that way.

    You and your wife will bestowed with "Tun"ship...

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous12:12 PM

    If He got No Balls to Axe...

    He Just Got No Balls Period.

    Trouble is too many people holding him by the Balls!

    ReplyDelete
  19. UMNO election this year.
    Just wonder who is Najib war room Boys o monitor the nomination and campaign.

    Mahayuddin and Tengku Razalaigh accesing the ground support.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I say u made me laugh down the hill. That one part on the saluran 3 and 4. They want jobs and opportunity but Najib gave them phone rebates hahahha...

    I think my stomach is hurt because of u....

    Najib hope not to see u after umno assembly...

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous10:38 PM

    Brick,

    Can you elaborate on your rather sudden para: "Over tea last weekend, Najib tried to blame others like Shahrir Samad...". You mean you guys had a tea session with Najib? Why no posting on it and what transpired?

    ReplyDelete

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