KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 5 — A general election is only possible as early as the second half of the year as Datuk Seri Najib Razak(right photo) is seeking a bigger win for his mandate, with ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) officials saying the prime minister is only confident of a slim majority if polls are held now. The BN chairman had dismissed talk of dissolving the parliament as early as this week, just days after influential former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had also advised for more time to galvanise support for the ruling coalition.
The Malaysian Insider understands that several internal projections have put BN as likely to repeat winning the same number of parliament seats as in Election 2008 if elections are held soon. The BN only won 140 federal seats in Election 2008, losing its customary two-thirds majority and also four more states. - “Datuk Seri Najib is not taking chances for snap polls. He can wait as the ground is not ready yet,” a government component party, Barisan Nasional (BN) source told The Malaysian Insider. BN has up to April 2013 to call a general election.
- The source added the Najib administration believes it was too risky to call elections now due to the fallout from the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal and the foul-up in salary revisions for the 1.4 million-strong civil service.
- “The NFC scandal is hurting BN badly. There must be a quick resolution soon,” he said.
- Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil has denied any link to the project although her family received a RM250 million soft loan for the ambitious cattle-rearing venture meant to lessen the country’s dependence on beef imports. The Auditor-General’s Report 2010 found the project did not meet its targets, leading to exposes by the opposition that Shahrizat’s family had spent the funds on luxurious properties rather than the project.
- She took leave from her ministerial duties in the Women, Family and Community Development ministry for three weeks last month while anti-graft investigators probed the scandal and if she was linked to any decision regarding the project awarded in 2007.
Another reason for delayed polls is unhappiness among civil servants over their paltry increases under a new salary scheme, which provides more rewards for the management class. Some 2,000 in the management class will get at least a RM5,000 increase but those in the lower levels get as little as RM1.70 monthly increment. Sources said Najib was surprised
that the RM2.7 billion increase in the government wage bill did not satisfy the civil servants until he was told of the mismatch in increments. He has given a special committee up to April 16 to review the pay revisions, which a BN source said meant elections will not happen until the civil servants get a better package.
- “BN needs the support of the civil service. It can’t afford to anger them,” the source added.
- The BN chief is also banking on keeping his “safe deposit” of votes from Sabah and Sarawak while working all out to get back Selangor, the country’s wealthiest state now under Pakatan Rakyat (PR) rule. PR also runs Penang, Kedah and Kelantan after losing Perak when three of their lawmakers threw their support behind BN.
- “There is some hope of taking back Selangor and also keeping Perak. But BN has to work hard for these two states,” said a BN strategist who declined to be named.
- “As it is, BN doesn’t have anyone to put as a possible candidate to be Selangor mentri besar,” he added. Najib is the Selangor Umno chief with Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Datuk Seri Noh Omar his deputy state liaison chief.
- It is also learnt that BN is cautious about its chances in Sarawak as it could lose up to seven federal seats in the country’s largest state. PR’s DAP now holds two of the 31 parliamentary seats in the state.
The BN strategist said however, that the ruling coalition is confident of winning all but two seats in Sabah, which has 25 federal constituencies. “BN can win big if all the big issues are settled. Right now, parliament will sit in March and go through the electoral and some law reforms.
“Once that is settled, they’ll finish up the pay review and hopefully the NFC issue will also be a distant memory,” he aded.
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