9 BN-Linked Leaders Who Have Openly Told Najib To Quit As Prime Minister
Tun Dr. Mahathir is not the only one who wants to see Najib give up the Prime Minister's seat.
1. Tun Dr. Mahathir, former Prime Minister
"I think if that bangsat leaves, we won't be bangsatlah." That's what Tun Dr. Mahathir said when he attended the Bersih 4 rally rally because he had "no choice" as he felt there was no other way to oust Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
He added that every other avenue to challenge the prime minister according to the law and the constitution had been closed by Najib. Only the voice of the people and a no-confidence vote in the Dewan Rakyat can save the country, he said.
“That is why I had no choice but to participate in the Bersih rally ... I plead to the UMNO and BN parliamentarians to support a no confidence vote against Najib. BN will not fall once he is ousted. BN is still the majority,” he said.
2. Anina Saaduddin, former Langkawi Wanita UMNO leader
Anina Saaduddin first went under the spotlight after she rebuked Najib's claim that 3 million UMNO members are supporting his leadership and suggested that he "be sent for medical treatment".
Yesterday (1 September), she was sacked from the party after she sued Najib for the love of UMNO.
Anina declined to comment when asked if she was upset over her sacking from UMNO, and instead recited a poem about how it was the will of God that she was born a Malay and a Malaysian.
"As long as Allah wills me to live, until then I will remain fighting for my beloved country," she said in her poem.
"I believe he (Najib) has committed breach of trust and gone against the party constitution by accepting and spending the RM2.6 billion," she was quoted as saying.
3. Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin, former Information Minister
Zainuddin Maidin reckons that it’s too late for Najib to play the politics of race and win back Malay support in order to hang onto power amidst Tunku Abdul Aziz pushing the line, too late, that the DAP was the real enemy of the Malays.
“However, it’s not too late for Najib to withdraw as Prime Minister so that UMNO and the government headed by it in Putrajaya can be saved.”
Zainuddin pointed out that no Prime Minister has showed himself as having so little dignity and this he added was evident in the RM2.6 billion donation which in Najib’s own words was from a foreign power. “He has admitted in his own words to being a tool of foreigners.”
“At the same time, he has humiliated government servants and dragged them down through transfers and removals, arrests and investigations.”
4. Gan Ping Sieu, Kluang MCA division chief
"Najib should be first given the opportunity to go on leave and allow an independent probe to be carried out into the 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion found in his private accounts," he said, referring to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.
Gan said the people would be able to judge their MPs if a vote on Najib was taken in Parliament.
5. Abdul Karim Ali, Kedah UMNO branch leader
Kampung Kuala Sin branch deputy chairman Abd Karim Ali said the issues facing the party were no longer secret.
"The people, 15 million of them, will vote at the next general election."
"We (UMNO members) are only three million. So, I beg the president to please step down," he told.
6. Tan Foong Luen, Negeri Sembilan MCA leader
He told The Malaysian Insider that Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers must consider doing the right thing – removing Najib but keeping the BN in power – to serve the people and the nation.
Tan, who is a lawyer and a central delegate member, was responding to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's call on BN parliamentarians to support a motion of no-confidence against Najib's leadership.
Saying Najib's continued leadership had created a lot of controversy in the eyes of the international community, Tan said MCA leaders must take stock whether it was appropriate to allow the prime minister to continue leading the country.
7. Datuk Khairuddin Abu Hassan, former UMNO Batu Kawan deputy division chief
"There is no other security reason (on referring to why Najib did not attend the event called "Nothing to Hide"), Najib is a coward and is not qualified to be PM," said Khairuddin, who was sacked from UMNO earlier this year for being a bankrupt.
He has said that his sacking was due to his criticism of Najib and 1MDB.
He also lodged several police reports in Hong Kong on August 30 against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Penangite and businessman Jho Low.
He lamented that he had lost faith in investigations conducted in Malaysia by the police, Bank Negara and the Attorney- General. “Ghostly hands, by remote control, have interfered with these investigations.”
8. Anuar Abdul Hamid, UMNO division member and branch chief
Anuar said the motion (to ask Najib to step down) was unanimously accepted, and urged Najib to quit in order to save UMNO.
"It was unanimously accepted. After a thunderous applause for the delegate, we went for vote and it was accepted unanimously," he said.
Anuar, 64, a branch chief for more than a decade, also urged that the issue on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) be resolved quickly.
9. Asrul Esreen Mohd Salleh, former Tenggara UMNO youth committee member
"UMNO members still love UMNO, but UMNO members no longer love Najib," he said.
Asrul was one of the grassroots leaders who quit his post over unhappiness with Najib, and blamed the prime minister as one of the reasons why the people are losing their trust in the Malay ruling party.
"We do not want to see a situation whereby because of Datuk Seri, the people lose their trust in UMNO," he said in referring to Najib's honorific title.