Najib's pot of gold at the end of the GE-13 rainbow

Prime Minister Najib Razak has delayed making firm decisions on almost every issue. Whether or not the delay is intentional, as he has been accused of being manipulative, he has chosen to let the RM250 mil NFC financial debacle involving minister Shahrizat Jalil simmer even though it could trigger a backlash in public sentiment for his Umno party.

He has also cut adrift the MCA, Gerakan and MIC, causing these parties to further weaken in the eyes of their communities. Even former premier Mahathir Mohamad tried harder, sending his deputy Ghafar Baba to troubleshoot at the components and help repair their common Barisan Nasional boat. But perhaps, the BN can no longer be saved anymore.

Only once since inheriting the premiership from Abdullah Badawi in April 2009 has Najib tried to steer a direction for the BN. It was during the Sarawak state elections in April 2011, and Najib failed - miserably. He had set out to 'tame' Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud but ended being embarrassed by the wily older man.

Taib managed to make Najib look foolish without even raising his voice. All he had to do was to ignore Najib's desperate and rather rude call for him to step down. It was after the Sarawak election was over that Malaysians, especially from the peninsula, realized that Najib is not omnipotent as his Umno party likes to make him out to be.

So 'soft' was Najib that he could not even control his wife Rosmah Mansor or stop her from grabbing the First Lady of Malaysia title, which is actually meant for the Queen. Needless to say, he also had zero luck in getting her to stop her shockingly expensive shopping sprees.

Suddenly on the offensive

Suddenly, beginning 15th February, Najib started to move with more visible energy. He started to hurl verbal missiles at arch rival Anwar Ibrahim, calling the latter "two-faced" over an interview with the WSJ on the Israel-Palestin issue, which was also stirred up by Umno newspaper Utusan.

His Umno elder Mahathir Mohamad fired the next volley, calling Anwar a spy out to help US and Israel set up a puppet government in Malaysia to overthrow BN. This is a perennial hot topic for Umno, especially in the olden days whenever it wanted to galvanize the Muslims into a voting bloc for the BN.

Even Anwar believes GE-13 is close at hand, and has forecast a May-June 2012 balloting day. But this may be too soon. November 2012 might be the more likely, given the money-raising schemes Najib has in mind for Umno, BN and of course, himself.

Cleaning up his image and tarnishing Anwar at the same time

In one of his swifter moves, Najib has managed to convince Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria that he and Rosmah were not bad Muslims for attending Thaipusam in Batu Caves, Selangor.

Harussani had shocked the nation when he chastised the couple for being 'un-Islamic' and attending an "idolatrous" event. Within 2 days, national TV1 showed Najib meeting with the Mufti and clarifying the Batu Caves trip.

Sure enough, Harussani admitted his mistake and declared a clean bill of Islamic health for both PM and wife.

UMNO attacks PR and prepares to win Selangor

On the same night, TV3 held a talk show with Umno's Satim Diman, the Selangor Opposition Leader and Sohaimi Shahadan, the Umno Youth Exco member. Both men rushed to highlight all the things that Pakatan failed to deliver in its election manifesto.

The week before, Najib confirmed the appointment of Ong Tee Keat as the Selangor BN Chief. Last night amid criticism that his grand plans for recapturing Selangor was floundering as he could not even name a Mentri Besar of chief minister-designate, he appointed Mohd Zin, the Sepang Umno Member of Parliament to be the BN election campaign coordinator for Selangor.

Speculation has swirled that Tee Keat may even be made the Selangor Menteri Besar if he gives up his Pandan parliamentary seat for a state assembly one. If true, this would indeed be a controversial move as it would be the first time Selangor had a non-Malay MB. However, all this would depend on the grace of the Sultan.

Umno has also begun efforts to win back Kedah

Umno's hand was sighted stirring unrest in the Pakatan Rakyat-led Kedah state government, with MCA-linked association heads lodging complaints that assistants to the Pakatan state assemblymen had demanded 'rebate' of between 25 to 30% of the funds due to them.

This was followed by BN declaring Kedah a 'winnable' state.

Indelible ink

The Election Commission has just announced that indelible ink will be used in the GE-13, and that stock ordered must be used within three months of its shelf-life. So, the moment Customs announces the arrival of the first batch of ink, Malaysians will know GE-13 will be within three months from then!

Strengthening BN

Najib has also announced three new affiliate members to BN, namely Gabungan Wawasan Generasi Felda, Persatuan Bekas Anggota Kemas Malaysia and Persatuan Kontraktor Melayu Malaysia. The three bodies have members all over Peninsular Malaysia, who will be mobilized to help BN win GE-13, focusing on the rural areas and servicing the constituents there.

Mahathir supporting the BN campaign

Mahathir has upped the ante, and is trying to frighten the Malays in particular, by accusing Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim of collaborating with the US and Israel to topple BN and set up a puppet government here.

The underlying message of course is that the fate of the Malays will be very uncertain under Pakatan Rakyat. At the same time Mahathir is trying to instil fear in the minds of the non-Malays that such a regime change will be resisted by the Malays. Violence could even break out, sending Malaysia to the dogs.

Najib not taking any action against Taib

After his April 16, 2011 lesson, Najib has given up on trying to push Taib out.

The PM is going to continue closing an eye to Taib plundering the wealth of the Sarawak people, so long as the CM delivers the parliamentary seats to BN in GE-13.

Effects of Budget handouts and economic growth

Najib is also confident that the feel-good factor from the various Budget 2012 cash handouts to students and lower-income families will work in BN's favor.

He is hoping the announcement by Bank Negara that Malaysia’s economic growth was 5.2 per cent, exceeding the previous 4.2 per cent forecast, will bolster confidence in his management of the economy.

But already, analysts complain the result was 'hiked up' and does not reflect a healthy trend at all  as it relied on consumer spending - at both government and private  level - to push up headline growth. Very glaring was the absence of growth in public and private investments.

But are UMNO and Najib really ready?

The answer is NO. Najib is still not happy with the present situation even though Rosmah has been conferred an honorary doctorate by Curtin University to help her redeem some credibility.

There is also talk that Najib has in the works a popularity survey that will show him far ahead of Anwar in the people's esteem. This 'survey' is being held back until he is confident enough to dissolve Parliament.

Najib not only wants to create a feel-good factor. He wants the people to regain confidence in the BN and help him achieve a two-thirds margin in Parliament. But even Rosmah would be able to tell him that might well be fat hopes!

Najib needs more time and money

Then, Najib also needs more money. It is significant that the Felda Global Ventures listing will hit the market in May-June. The IPO can be expected to jump on listing day and deliriously-happy Felda settlers can be expected to vote good-old Umno once again when called to the ballot box shortly thereafter.

The grapevine in the Ministry of Finance is buzzing with talk that Umno will siphon out every single sen of spare funding from all the other government bodies on the pretext of implementing projects across the nation. Actually, the money will be used in a gigantic vote-buying spree, much like Rosmah's jaw-dropping shopping trips.

The controversial 1Care will be bulldozed through, raising about RM11 billion for Umno-BN to siphon out once it is launched, perhaps by January next year. Umno will of course continue to milk the Employees Provident Fund.

The Felda listing, expected to hit RM21bil upon debut, will be controlled by Koperasi Permodalan Felda (KPF), which will become the single largest shareholder of the listed Felda Global Ventures entity with a 37 per cent stake. No wonder, Najib was insistent on making Isa Samad the KPF chairman. This will allow Umno and its proxies in Felda to cash out and cart away huge sums raised from the share sale.

PERKESO or Socso will also have its funds be diverted as well as Tabung Haji, the Umno-supported cooperatives, other statutory bodies and all the Government-Linked-Companies. Needless to say, these will all be called on to contribute huge portions of their resources to help Umno stay in power.

Pot of gold at the end of the rainbow

A question worth asking is, does Umno-BN really need so much money to hold GE-13? Obviously, the answer is NO. Najib and his cronies are also jumping on the bandwagon for their LAST GRAB, and Malaysians can be sure that the amounts they rake in will be many folds that actually spent on financing GE-13, including the 'allocations' set aside for vote-buying.

Call it institutionalized cheating or corruption, but it won't stop Najib. For his plan to be successful, Najib will need time and he is willing to wait even until nearing the end of his term in 2013. The proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is just too much to ignore. Not even Mahathir can frighten him into holding GE-13 earlier.

So given the current status of 1Care and the Felda listing, which are both still facing public resistance, GE-13 looks more likely to be held in November 2012 rather than in May-June. It could even be in 2013.

Malaysia Chronicle