Penang Umno now backs Najib
Now that Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has made known his decision to quit in March next year, Penang Umno has decided to back Najib Abdul Razak for the Umno presidency.
Now that Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has made known his decision to quit in March next year, Penang Umno has decided to back Najib Abdul Razak for the Umno presidency.
State Umno secretary Azhar Ibrahim said today that all 13 divisions in Penang will be informed to nominate Najib for the presidency when they hold their annual general meetings in the coming weeks.
However, the state Umno liaison committee, also headed by out-going party president Abdullah, will leave it to the divisions to choose their own candidates for deputy president.
“Let the grassroots choose their deputy president and other nominees for the supreme council,” Azhar said, adding that Penang Umno hopes the divisions will choose wisely.
On the decision to nominate Najib, he said the deputy premier was the obvious choice as he has the backing of the majority in Umno.
Expressing surprise over the prime minister’s decision yesterday not to seek re-election for the party presidency, Azhar said Penang Umno had hoped Abdullah would defend his position.
He said Umno leaders in the state had encouraged Abdullah in numerous formal and informal meetings to defend his post because they were confident of a win for the incumbent even if he has to face a tough adversary.
"We would not have encouraged him to contest if we were not confident of victory," Azhar, the state opposition leader, told Malaysiakini.
Big loss to Penang
Early last month, all divisions in Penang had pledged their full support to Abdullah to continue as party president and prime minister.
They also called on other Umno divisions in the country to observe the earlier 2010 power transition plan and nominate Abdullah for the presidency and Najib for deputy.
"We were prepared to work hard to secure a massive victory for him in the event of a challenge. However, it is all academic now since he had decided to quit for reasons best known to him,” said Azhar, the assemblyperson for Penaga.
He said he was unaware what transpired at the highest Umno level that caused Abdullah to quit, adding that the decision was a big loss to Penang.
"It will take a long time before Penang Umno could have a prime minister again," lamented Azhar, a close aide of Abdullah.
Penang Umno divisional AGMs will take place from Oct 12 to Nov 9.
