Najib will never become PM, says Dr M

KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who turned 83 today, dropped a bombshell — he predicted that Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will never allow his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Razak to take over as Prime Minister.

Picture courtesy of The Malaysian Insider

Writing in his blog chedet.com, the former premier did not mince his words when putting forth his theory.

Dr Mahathir said that although Abdullah promises that Najib would succeed him by 2010, allegations would be hurled against the deputy prime minister before then to show up his inability to take over.

The Malaysian Insider had reported earlier that Abdullah would announce his decision to relinquish his post in June 2010

"Somebody who is deemed more loyal to Datuk Seri Abdullah will replace him (Najib). The replacement candidate will not take over the prime minister's post in 2010 because he lacks experience. Datuk Seri Abdullah will then hang on to his post until the 13th General Election.

"If the people's current trend of thinking continues (until the next general election), Barisan Nasional will lose the elections and Datuk Seri Abdullah will no longer be the prime minister. Therefore, there will be nothing for Datuk Seri Najib to take over from," said Dr Mahathir in his blog.

The former prime minister also accused Abdullah of not practising what he preaches; in particular, not adhering to his own directive to Umno.

"Campaigning for party elections is not allowed but the party president can bring all division leaders together and tell them not to challenge him for the president's post," he added.

He also said that Abdullah would assure Najib that there would be no challenges for his job. "If Muhyiddin insists on contesting, he will be seen as disloyal to the party and deemed a traitor because he does not respect the president's ‘democratic’ directive," he said.

But this is what Dato Seri Najib said as he paid tribute to the PM for setting a specific timetable for the handover of power. He noted that various people had urged him to go for broke in December.

"I must admit it was nice to hear this. But after calm had returned, I asked myself about my own core values. The fact is that I have never won a position by contest. It seems odd that at the tail end, I want to contest for a position. The concept of transfer of power suits my personality and my values. I don't want to do anything which I don't want done to me. I would not want to be force to step down, so I will not do it to someone else."

This tradition of not challenging the top leaders began after the debacle in 1987 that ended with Umno being deregistered following a challenge by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah against Dr Mahathir. The next year, Umno in the form of Umno Baru was registered.