24 June, 2008
The DPM has worked hard the past two years at disassociating himself from the ongoing Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial, although he cannot deny that one of the accused is a man who was a close confidant and adviser. But blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin upped the ante in an ongoing battle with the DPM by signing a statutory declaration which makes what must amount to highly sensational, and bordering on wild, allegations against the DPM and his family.
LESLIE LAU, THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
For Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the last few days at the top have become a little less lonely.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is now facing some political heat, and joins his boss who has sustained unrelenting pressure to step down since he led the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition to its worst ever electoral performance in March.
Najib is now the subject of what is suspiciously looking like a smear campaign.
The DPM has worked hard the past two years at disassociating himself from the ongoing Altantuya Shaariibuu murder trial, although he cannot deny that one of the accused is a man who was a close confidant and adviser.
But blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin upped the ante in an ongoing battle with the DPM by signing a statutory declaration which makes what must amount to highly sensational, and bordering on wild, allegations against the DPM and his family.
In the declaration, which he has reproduced on his website, Raja Petra alleges that certain people close to the DPM were present when Altantuya’s body was strapped with explosives and blown to bits.
This should be an easy matter for the police to clear up. Raja Petra will have to name his source and substantiate the allegations, or he will have to face the legal consequences.
But the DPM may find it takes a while to recover from such negative publicity, considering the distrust many Malaysians have for the authorities and local newspapers, which is matched sometimes by the near-blind faith they have in unfounded speculations circulating on the Internet.
Such is the power of the Internet that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has taken to it to launch daily volleys against his successor as Prime Minister.
Dr Mahathir diligently puts out at least one post a day since he launched his chedet.com blog barely two months ago, and is already by far the most popular Malaysian blogger.
Reading his blog, Dr Mahathir appears to be building up his case for removing Pak Lah as PM, providing fodder for and consolidating the support of those in BN who are opposed to Abdullah’s leadership.
But Dr Mahathir aside, the Prime Minister faced the first major test of his support in Parliament this week.
A widely anticipated vote of no-confidence against him in Parliament did not materialise.
And the BN’s ability to fend off an opposition challenge by pushing through a government motion was trumpeted as a show of strength in support of the PM.
But opposition to the PM from within Umno is far from over.
The support of Umno delegates from Sabah appears to be still up for grabs, while there are still significant voices of dissent in the peninsular states which will grow louder as the party polls get nearer.
The DPM has said publicly he will not challenge the party president despite widespread speculation and growing chatter among the Umno grassroots that there are many members who want Najib to take over as PM sooner rather than later.
For now, Najib has to be patient in suffering the discomfort of scurrilous allegations and will continue presenting a united front with Abdullah.
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