UMNO DISINTERGRATES AS 3RD FORCE PUSHES ITS AGENDA

Is he still calling the shots?

UMNO is in deep crisis, the oligarchy that helped the Najib backed Ahmad Zahid  Hamidi to become the President are finding it difficult to maintain their grip as the more intelligent members of the party are waging a war to take Najib out of the limelight and for him to  stop issuing policy statements, they do not want Najib around at all, so it seems, as they see him as a huge liability to the party especially with the possible criminal cases coming up against him and the mounting evidence against him being made readily available both nationally and internationally.

Is he really in control

According to a Negri Sembilan UMNO youth member who has links with some of the new breed in UMNO it is reported that the move to appoint Apandi into the Supreme Council was the work of Najib whose advice the President, Zahid Hamiddi still  solicits rather frequently.

In this case it was cast upon him to appoint Apandi and when the move backfired from both within and without UMNO,  Apandi withdrew after first likening  his return to the party to a fish returning to its spawning grounds.

Following his appointment  there was an uproar not only in UMNO but also in the alternate media, however initially Apandi stood his ground  saying "I am now able to exercise my right to associate with a party (UMNO)" with whom he was a member and claimed he left after being admitted to the Bar."

A pandi,  even went on further to claim it was "an honour to be appointed", and that he would help the party in its efforts to rejuvenate itself  but  suddenly did a 360 degree turn and declined the offer saying,  "After thinking about this thoroughly and deeply, I think it's unreasonable for me to accept my appointment as an UMNO supreme council member."

Suddenly turned down Supreme council position in UMNO

"What plays in my mind is that my appointment will be mired by all sorts of negative perception that will be linked to whatever move and decision I made while I was a judge and the attorney-general," he said.

This decision came on the heels of Kedah's UMNO Youth Chief Shaiful Aazizy criticising  the move to appoint Apandi to the Supreme Council. 

Shaiful Azizy said it was not an UMNO team,"committed to the transformation agenda" and will only drag UMNO down further in the public eye. 

What is even more striking is;

Shaiful Azizy came out with a mei culpa saying, "the strategy to appoint the former attorney-general (Mohamed Apandi Ali) to the supreme council appears desperate and done without consideration. The public knows his role in previous scandals". That was indeed a damning statement.

Kedah State Youth Chief - Young guard shows his mettle

Khairy Jmaluddin described the appointment and the acceptance and then the fact that Apandi turned down the appointment as,  "disappointing" and "embarrassing". 

In his tweet he said the "initial appointment was embarrassing," Khairy's statement is a  a clear indication that there are many in UMNO who know that this man Apandi is not only an embarrassment but also a liability because of his role in the Najib alleged scandals which are being pursued by the MACC.

Concerned UMNO seniors sees this as a 'journey  to disaster', "there is a third force now in UMNO", said my friend from Johor UMNO, "it is not a new force but now it has become the third force, it is equipped and has 'immense  resources.' it is directing the party towards looking after only its own selfish interests, and if Zahid does not check this soon, UMNO will be gone." 

Taking pot shots at Zahid

These are concrete indications that there are  groups in UMNO who are willing to admit that there were mega scandals in UMNO and that Apandi was involved in them 

The Youth Chief of Kedah seems to have hit the nail on the head so much so it seems to have  prompted Najib to come out openly to  assert his influence on the party again.

Although in the run up of the Presidential elections Zahid had promised the UMNO members that he would provide transparency in UMNO and allow the party to be criticized  his mentor and now ex-President Najib Razak has come out and seemingly hit at these critics, the timing at least seems to indicate so, saying, "any UMNO member who is not willing to die for the party must leave the party." 

"Why should he make such statements at this time,  when the President himself is quiet,"  asked Daud (not his real name) from Johor UMNO. "We see it as serving his own interests and we feel the timing of this statement has a lot to do with Shaiful Aazizy's press statement. Many UMNO members especially from the Youth wings  support Shaiful's stand, that is the correct way to go, we wronged the people and suffer today, we want to show them that we can change, but with these kind of moves how can we?"

According to our sources, Najib's wrning to UMNO members came  following "Najib's utter disappointment" of Apandi turning down the position in the Supreme Council."

There is discontent in the Youth movement in Johor, Kedah, Selangor, Federal Territory and parts of Pahang especially on the behind the scene roles being played by Najib.

Sources tell us that there is a new movement taking shape within UMNO with the aim of removing the present oligarchy as the funds in UMNO have been frozen, they feel that with Najib's defence team delaying things it will take longer than usual to get a final judgement in the case. 

These new guards  are hoping for the funds to remain frozen and untouchable, that way there will be ample opportunity to beat the system of money politics that is  so rampant in UMNO resulting in making  the removal of these powers thata possible task. "Cut the funds and they will lose."