Pro-UMNO bloggers rebel against Najib? Wishful thinking by some

“What these bloggers write probably reflects the sentiments of some members in Umno, who are asking Najib to resign ...  These bloggers are hired by the pro-Mahathir camp in Umno who want a strong leader like Mahathir that can shut any dissenters by using the Internal Security Act." - Prof James Chin, Sunway Monash U, Pro-Umno bloggers rebel against PM, FMT, 25 Jan 

The problem with people like James Chin is they hardly venture out of their own small minds. Give them space in a portal like FMT and you get skewed views, half-truths and outright lies passed off as intellectual analysis. I fear for the kids at Monash. 

And I feel for Syed Akbar Ali and the blogger Apanama who were mentioned in the article. They may want to sue but that would be a greater embarrassment for them than for Chin or FMT. Insult to injury.

There is no rebellion, Chin. Yes, Syed Akbar Ali's postings have gone from Najib-friendly before the 13th general election to extremely, sometimes overly, critical of the Prime Minister afterwards. But the DNA of the rest of the "self-proclaimed pro-Umno bloggers" (FMT's words, not mine) remains the same: they are critical but supportive of Najib. Okay, some of have become increasingly critical but they are supportive of Najib. Equally important, they are critical of the increasingly comical Pakatan folks.

Big Dog and the prolific yet anonymous Unspinners have been hitting the Najib Administration harder than usual lately but they don't call the PM sewel in their postings like Syed Akbar Ali does, for instance. As for Apanama, I wonder how the FMT came to the conclusion that he was rebelling against Najib. The reporter should have read my posting The Photograph that spooked Annie and some others (I am guessing that FMT didn't know that Syed Akbar Ali brought down the photograph from his posting after Apanama's protest?)  

I have been asked several times where I stand. Believe it or not, even by some nincompoops working for the PM! When I linked some incriminating stuff about the PM's speech writer on my blog, for example, one of those morons asked me through another: "Is Rocky with the PM or not?" Idiot. 

A big time businessman who had not called me for more than a year because my friends criticised his airline too much called me on New Year's Eve. "What's happening ... your blogger friends are all attacking the PM, except you?" Najib's boys should engage them.

On the eve of Thaipusam, a rebel asked me over drinks: "Bro, why are you still defending Najib? He's going down, bro, for sure he's going down."  Wishful thinking, man. If Umno had wanted to take Najib down, they should and would have done that at the Umno general assembly last year, NOT after returning him as their president UNOPPOSED. 

And if you really, really want to bring him down now, you must have a candidate to replace him. One with compelling attributes. I asked my friend, "Do you have someone llke that?" 

"Muhyiddin as a stop-gap measure," he suggested. 

My response: "Abang Din will not go for it, you and I know that. He's loyal". 

Zahid? My friend said: "NO, not that guy". He did not like Zahid's stand on the Shi'a 

Shafie? Oh, he couldn't even tell us the truth about his second marriage, what can we expect from him? Hisham? Uh-uh. Don't tell me we must look to another son of a former Prime Minister or another ex-PM's son-in-law for our next PM or DPM lah. 

Don't forget, when the pro-Umno bloggers rebelled against Abdullah Ahmad Badawi not too long ago, they had a list of potential candidates from the party, They had Najib, they had Muhyiddin, and they had Tengku Razaleigh. They had help from bloggers who non-Umno members, and the pro-Opposition bloggers and politicians.

And, in case anybody forgets, Dr Mahathir was driving the movement hard. The Statesman didn't have to pay us a single sen to do what we did. 

There is no rebellion, but that doesn't mean all is well with Najib's Administration ....

To be cont'd, perhaps