Fearing Prime Minister Najib Razak might pull another major U-turn, former premier Mahathir Mohamad has rushed to assure that holding the 13th general election as early as possible - "even now" - was the right decision, as instances of tension and citizens' discontent flare up in the country. Mahathir is now seemingly feeling very nervous, even panicky.It is clear the tide won't turn.There is no salvation for Umno-BN and the longer Najib procrastinates, the better the chances for the Opposition to win,"PKR vice president Chua Jui Meng told Malaysia Chronicle.
- Taking care to praise Najib, who has been slammed for ineptness and poor judgement, Mahathir who had previously said it was alright to delay until the very last day - which would be in March 2013 - now changed his tune as it became clear that the longer Najib sat on the decision, the more difficult it would be for their coalition to win.
- "I think it won't be too long into the future because there isn't much time left; we only have until middle of next year. If we think we can win, we can call the election," Mahathir told reporters on Sunday.
- The corruption-tainted Mahathir is among those who have most to lose should the ruling Umno-BN coalition crash out to the Pakatan Rakyat led by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim in GE-13 - widely forecast to be held by mid-June this year.
The vindictive Mahathir had withdrawn his support for Umno compatriot, former premier Abdullah Badawi, in the 2008 general election. Such a move helped him to best Badawi in Umno's internal power struggle but it also boosted - to an extent - the Pakatan's chances in wresting 5 of the country's 13 states and denying the BN its long-held two-thirds majority.Contrary to expectations, the Pakatan has since grown from strength to strength as Malaysians rejected corruption and plumbed even more for change and reform.
- Conscious of this, the 86-year-old Mahathir is now careful not to rock the BN's boat this time around and has been sending signals in public to the less-astute Najib on when to dissolve Parliament.
- "If the people give us a good support, that's the time to call the election. Even now, it looks good," said Mahathir.
- Since taking over from Abdullah Badawi in 2009, Najib has sent the country on a downtrend economically, socially and politically. Component parties in his Umno-dominated BN coalition have lost further ground, with MCA, Gerakan and MIC facing near-certain annihilation at the ballot boxes.
- Umno itself is widely expected to test its 1999 results where it won only 71 seats in Parliament versus the overall BN tally of 147. In 2008, it won only 79 - a far cry from 2004's 109.
There is fear that the politically-timid Najib might seize on two key events currently in play to dodge holding GE-13 by mid-year, prompting Mahathir to publicly call for polls to be held as soon as possible.The two events are the April 28 Bersih 3.0 rally for free and fair election to be held jointly with Himpunan Hijau 3.0's anti-Lynas rare earth refinery protest, plus a students' demonstration that began on Saturday and which is still continuing.
The youths are refusing to leave their Dataran Merdeka venue despite having their tents dismantled by the authorities.
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