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| East Coast's top contender for PM |
In earnest, the scan for candidates begins. Talk is that several senior Umno leaders have been approached to possibly take over in the event that Najib Razak decides - on his own free will, of course - to resign as Prime Minister.
One Sabah politician was said to have "contemplated momentarily" the tempting offer but in the end shook his head and said no. A well respected politician from down South has declined (and not for the first time). A vocal politician not far north of KL has turned down the invitation to treat. Wallahualam.
I don't think Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has been formally approached but former Umno & PKR strongman Zaid Ibrahim is strongly proposing the Kelantan prince's name to be our 7th Prime Minister. (We did anticipate this, though. Refer to my March 20 posting Ku Li for PM (A sequel 9 years in the making). In making his pitch for Ku Li, fellow Kelantanese Zaid, for once, agreed with Tun M about this country being "very corrupt" but didn't say who he meant by "leaders who keep close company with business tycoons and get free rides in their business jets"; read h e r e.
“Corruption has flowed into our national bloodstream to such an extent that it will take generations—if at all—to cleanse the system. Our values must first change. We must first feel that it’s wrong to be corrupt. That’s why, if he truly wants to see some improvements in curbing the systemic corruption, Tun should endorse Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as the one to take over as Prime Minister after Najib.” - Zaid Ibrahim
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| Loyalist Shafie |
Ku Li, 78 last month, is relatively young (compared with Dr M, who celebrates his 90th this year). Muhyiddin Yassin, the DPM, turns 68 next week. Zahid Hamidi is just 62. Hishammuddin Hussein will only be 54 in August, and Shafie Afdal a youthful 58. Khairy Jamaluddin, who has managed to remain seemingly neutral in the spat between his boss and Dr M, turns 40 next January. I don't think they have approached anyone under 40 for the job but I may be wrong, of course ...