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(The Malaysian Insider) JOHOR BARU, April 11 — The expected bashing did not take place. Instead Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi received strong backing from Johor Umno to continue to strengthen the party and the endorsement to defend his position as the number one at the December party polls.
The caveat: he has to state a succession plan after the December elections. These points were made by Menteri Besar Datuk Ghani Othman during the three-hour meeting. Replying, Abdullah said that he did not intend to hang to power too long and would pass the baton to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. Several division chiefs who attended the meeting said that 2010 was bandied about but no definite timeframe was set. Abdullah also acknowledged that he had to shoulder blame for Umno’s poor performance in Election 2008 – a mea culpa that the party grassroots have been waiting to hear for some time. The PM is not out of the woods yet but this support from the powerful state of Johor will put some wind into his sails as he attempts to stay in the top job. It also comes a day after some division leaders in Penang and Kedah called for his resignation. He was expected to get roughed up during this meeting but his speech to Umno officials last Sunday at the Putra World Trade Centre where he spoke about succession persuaded many of them that he had no illusions about staying in power too long. Also, there is the sentiment that the Abdullah-Najib tag team deserves support to rebuild the party. The mood during the meeting was quite sober and it kicked off with Ghani outlining the position of Johor Umno with regards to the elections results and the changed political landscape. Abdullah took over after that and sketched the reasons why Umno and Barisan Nasional performed well before expectations. He said he had to carry the blame for Election 2008 as voters were unhappy because he had not carried through reforms which had been promised by him in 2004. Of course, there were other reasons why BN candidates lost and this included sabotage and rejection by Indian and Chinese voters. Abdullah then spoke about the need to rebuild the party, regain the trust of Malaysians and recover the ground lost to the Opposition. At a press conference after the meeting, Abdullah told reporters: "I feel I am the reason for the spoilt votes for the Barisan Nasional. And I feel responsible to do what's best to rehabilitate the BN and Umno." Next up was Dr Puad Zarkashi. He made some barbed comments about the leadership and said that Abdullah had to come up with a succession plan. He also said that Johor Umno should be consulted on the time table for leadership change. The Johor Umno information chief has been one of the more vocal critics of Abdullah and has gone on record asking for his resignation. Datuk Hasni Mohamad cautioned the PM that many members were happy to tell him good stuff in front of his face and then criticise him viciously behind his back. He wanted the PM to understand that there was palpable anger over the election results. Another division chief who spoke up was Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed. He said that the time table for the handover must not be too long and suggested that Abdullah hand over the premiership first to Najib, and the party president’s position later. That, he argued, could stop others like Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah from agitating further in the run-up to the December party polls. Among those who attended today’s meeting was Datuk Khaled Nordin, Datuk Syed Hamid Albar and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin.
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