It looks like the “barrage of gunfire” directed at PM Anwar recently over Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Zahid Hamidi's “great escape act" from his widely publicised corruption-related charges, has now been redirected at Pakatan Harapan instead - well, at DAP to be precise!
So much so that recently Umno Supreme Council member Isham Jalil had said that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong never commanded his party to go to elections with PH.
In fact, according to him, apparently, he only agreed to the collaboration with PH to form a unity government during his tenure as Umno information chief as it was at the instruction of the King.
He further called on Umno to distance itself from DAP if it wants to see the return of its grassroots support and had even recently proposed a referendum to gauge the party's cooperation with DAP!
Meanwhile earlier he had said that some Umno members, including himself, might face expulsion by the party leadership and the Supreme Council - but that it was up to them. However his allegations turned out to be unfounded as no such decision was made by the party's Supreme Council.
As was reported by Malaysia Now website, Isham who is a staunch Najib loyalist, has continued to question Umno-BN's pact with PM Anwar's Pakatan Harapan coalition. He went on to cite the results of the recent by-election in Pulai and Simpang Jeram and warned that his party could be wiped out in the next general election without support from the grassroots.
However it has to be pointed out that in both constituencies, ethnic Malays reportedly make up around half of the total registered voters; so if one were to crunch the numbers it's hard to see how the PH candidates could have won comfortably without the support of Malay voters?
For the record, PH had won the Simpang Jeram seat with a majority of 3,514 votes. While in Pulai it had won with a majority of 18,641 votes. Source: Berita Harian.
Agreed, Pulai may have been too close to call as Malays make up less than half, that is, around 44% of the electorate - but to assume there was no support for the unity government candidate from Umno grassroots may seem a little far-fetched. After all, how could have PH won with such a big margin from the support of non-Malay voters solely?
As for Simpang Jeram with Malays making up more than half of the registered voters at 52%, and considering the comfortable margin of victory, it's obvious that PH would not have won the seat without strong support from the Malays.
Incidentally, Isham, a graduate from Harvard and Wharton had worked as a political economist at the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) in ex-PM Najib Razak's government prior to the landmark General Election in 2018 which saw the collapse of the mighty Barisan Nasional government.
Interestingly, as Najib's special officer, he was touted as Menteri Besar-designate for Selangor prior to GE14; plus he was also the one who had proposed that Najib be held under “house arrest” instead of being jailed pending granting of a royal pardon.
He had maintained that the ex-PM was "technically" a political prisoner; claiming that the SRC International Sdn Bhd and 1MDB cases had a lot of political elements in them.
Meanwhile, another prominent ex-Umno leader who has been training his guns at DAP lately especially after Zahid Hamidi's release has been Khairy Jamaluddin aka KJ.
Clearly infuriated by DAP leader Anthony Loke's less-than-convincing stand on the matter he had lashed out at the PH component party saying that its "morality level was even lower than MCA" and that they were a "lapdog" that allows the abuse of power. (Psst: So far there has been no official comment from MCA on the comparison)
He added that if Zahid has been freed, then they might as well free Najib; whom he claims will bring more value to PH-BN. Anyway, he also predicted that Najib will not serve the full 12-year prison term. Well, maybe there'll be some who will agree with him.
Still, isn't it rather odd that some of those who appear to be calling for ex-PM Najib's release from prison, are now attacking DAP?
Perhaps, Isham's stand may be understandable in that he is a true Najib loyalist after having served "Bossku" as his personal officer. But, why direct his fury at DAP? Could it be out of fear that DAP may act as the biggest stumbling block for Najib's release?
He had also argued that he only agreed for Umno to join the unity government; but not to stand for elections together. But if one was to follow that logic, how can it be called a "unity government" if its members are not "united" in their actions? Wouldn't that be oxymoronic?
As for KJ, could it be that he was actually releasing his frustration with Zahid by targeting DAP; whom he may see as “propping up” the Umno president and hindering his plans for a quick return to the party? After all, isn't Umno still the best option for him to pursue his goal of becoming the country's prime minister one day?
Then, of course, wasn't it Zahid himself who had unceremoniously given him the boot and suspended his pals Shahril Hamdan and Hishammuddin Hussein, both for 6 years?
Could those be the udang di sebalik mee (hidden motives) for all the paranoia over DAP; the perennial punching bag, who have grown from strength to strength - thanks to Umno's inability to see its own failings?
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