The real reason Waytha's resigning

Updated: fz.com, quoting PMO sources, reports h e r e that Waytha Moorthy is no more. He was said to have handed in his resignation letter after 5, addressed to the PM but it was not stated if he had given the letter to Najib personally. We also don't know if Waytha had thanked the Prime Minister for the squandered opportunity.

Original Posting

 

Money, Money, Money?  Hindraf says its chairman P. Waytha Moorthy is resigning  after 8 months as Deputy Minister because he's convinced that PM Najib Razak isn't going to keep his end of a bargain they made just before PRU13 last May.  

That's what Hindraf said, h e r  e. 

Someone said Waytha would have to resign because he hasn't been performing at all. "The bugger's report card is all red." But I've checked with Pemandu and they said they don't monitor the peformance of Deputy Ministers. "(We) only have KPI for Ministers with portfolio." That doesn't mean he's been performing, though.

Yesterday someone close to the powers-that-be told me money is the real reason why Waythamoorthy is threatening to quit. "He wanted a Budget, an allocation. The MoF, for example, gets a budget to implement programs and events, money they can dish out, so Waytha thinks he should have his own purse, too, y'know. But Najib says no."  

Is that right? 

The lawyer hasn't uttered a word about the his resignation, to be fair to him. The longer he keeps silent and let Hindraf speaks on his behalf, the more people will speculate. Already, the blogger Helen Ang thinks Waytha has timed his resignation with the Kajang by-election. Maybe, maybe not, but it looks like the same old, tired political game to many.

The lesson for the learning is the Prime Minister's. A lot of people want something out of nothing. You have to tell them to fly kite, Sir. If Waytha doesn't hand in that resignation letter today, you should promptly and unceremoniously sack him! 

After that you can then start looking at several other Ministers and Deputy Ministers who, like Waytha, shouldn't be there in the first place ... 

Taib Mahmud, too?

Whoa! Ok, you've probably heard it too. There's talk of a big PBB meeting this weekend, B I G because this meeting's where Sarawak Chief Minister, Taib Mahmud, is supposed to announce his plans to step down. Or so say the pundits.

Well, before you jump out of the building or raise your hopes, take a deep breath and calm down. The Pehin Seri will quit one day but he won't do it until his succession plans are a-OK. One thing for sure, Taib doesn't wish to do the same mistake his ex-boss Tun Dr Mahathir did when he stepped down as Prime Minister of Malaysia in Oct 2003. 

Taib engages bloggers

 

The journo-blogger Apanama, who is believed by some circles to be right-hand close to the "grand old man" (see pic above, he's the one on Taib's right), cautions anyone who thinks/believes that he knows what the Sarawak Chief Minister would do. 

"Who in the right frame of mind would think or/and believe that Taib would let you dictate his next move or course of action?" he writes h e r e.

The photo that spoils it for the conspirators

Basking in the sun

Najib's Running Mate? The Sun's Page 2 pic yesterday of the PM and Mukhriz Mahathir in Langkawi is such a spoiler for those who are trying so hard to pit Najib Razak and his ex-boss Mahathir Mohamad. The conspiracy theory is that Dr M wants the Deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yasin, to help him bring down Najib so that his son Mukhriz can move up to the No 2 spot while Muhyddin warms up the No 1 position ...  

The actual selfie taken by Mukhriz of him and the PM (courtesy of Mukhriz)

Bollocks. I've said it and I will say it again: if Dr M had wanted one of his sons to succeed him as PM, he would have done a Lee Kuan Yew (guess who is the Prime Minister of Singapore today, eh?). What did Mahathir do, instead? When he was PM and Umno President, he barred his sons from contesting any of the top posts within the party.  

In any case, the picture in the Sun and the selfie sent to me by a close aide of Mukhriz remind me of an old article I wrote for a Lee Kuan Yew newspaper days before the 12th General Election in 2008. You remember this?

March 4, 2008: Najib was not yet PM

Muhyiddin to call it a day?

With some amendments

The DPM does seem rather distant and lethargic lately ...

Any conspiracy to drive a wedge between the PM and his ex boss [The people who want a Najib-Mahathir clash, Jan 30} won't be fun without throwing in the Muhyiddin factor (or spectre, some would prefer calling it). In this context, talk about the DPM quitting has begun in earnest. According to the Buletin Rakyat (Feb 1 edition), there's a certain discontent within Abang Din's camp, hence the No 2's eloquent silence in the face of relentless attacks against the No 1 by people unhappy with the PM and/or the consultants. 

I was shaking my head reading the article Desas-desus Muhyiddin letak jawatan kencang? but Muhyiddin's consultants and advisers mustn't continue shaking their legs after reading this, I hope. TIme to get cracking before this talk gets viral, especially in the face of the Kajang by-election. They would be wise to take note there's been greater frequency in terms of pot shots being take at their boss lately, and you can't blame those usual suspects entirely for doing it. 

For eg, this one about the worst dressed Umno politician posted by a former aide of Ghani Othman, the man who replaced Muhyiddin as Johor MB. Things like this tend to take a life of its own ...

This piece drew over 60 comments as of this morning, not all against the DPM