Crooked bridge: Najib draws battle lines against Dr M

Crooked bridge: Najib draws battle lines against Dr M

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

The plot thickens! Even as Umno accuses the Pakatan Rakyat, especially PKR, of fatal infighting, their very own top leaders are bickering over the spoils of the game – how to haul away as much as possible before the next general elections where chances are high the BN’s power is likely to be cut down even more.

No less than the current prime minister, two of his predecessors and a newly-anointed Sultan have become embroiled in the latest debate over whether a crooked, S-shape bridge should be built to replace the decades-old Johor Causeway.

“The question that many have asked me and I am convinced that this is also being asked by a majority of people, is why Datuk Seri Najib as the powerful prime minister is not willing to continue building this bridge. Is Najib tied in a deal with the fifth prime minister?” Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the 4th prime minister, wrote in his blog earlier this week.

What does Mahathir want

Perhaps, the 85-year old Mahathir was exaggerating, at least as far as public support for the proposal that was mooted by him years ago is concerned. But this would not have been due to any loss of memory because the man who ruled Malaysia with a fist of iron for 22 years is sharper and quicker than many of those much younger than him. Mahathir handed over to Abdullah Badawi in 2003.

If anything, Dr M is deliberately reprising the issue, and this time, it looks like he is not going to let go of the bone without getting some form of appeasement or other from Najib. The manipulative octogenarian has already managed to get the Sultan of Johor and the MCA on his side in this public squabble that is very likely to get even louder if Najib does not fall in line and obey him.

How much face will Najib give him

All eyes are on now how much ‘face’ Najib is prepared to give his mentor? Chances are high if he does not revive the mega project that has been panned by many financial critics and bluntly rejected by the Singapore government, he will go the way of his immediate predecessor, Badawi.

Badawi was ousted in an internal Umno coup led by supporters of Mahathir, paving the way for Najib to take over as the country’s 6th prime minister in 2009. Najib's relationship with Mahathir has always been warm rather than cold and Umno watchers believe there was a tacit agreement between the two men that the current PM would perpetuate and complete the projects begun by Mahathir before he resigned in 2003.

Although their relationship started off well, strains and cracks appear to have widened in past months. By and large, Mahathir has spared the younger man the public tongue-lashings and dressing-downs he used to dole out to the hapless Badawi on a near daily basis.

Floodgates open

But now, the floodgates may open. According to Umno watchers, Mahathir is fed-up, he and his supporters are irritated by Najib’s coteries of advisers. That is Umno doublespeak meaning Dr M’s faction is unhappy with their share of the goodies - the government contracts, deals, positions, etc - that Najib has distributed so far. They now want PhaseTwo of the largesse and are also envious at how busy Najib’s own gang has been in penetrating the four corners of the economy.

Unsurprisingly then, as Najb begins to appreciate and flex his own power, just as Badawi did, his former mentor Mahathir is beginning to appear less and less daunting an object of authority. In a telling sign that heralds greater friction ahead, Najib showed this renewed confidence and wish to choose for himself by delegating the task of telling the older man to shut up to top henchman, Nazri Aziz.

“The decision of the current government administration stands and follows the decision made by the previous administration, under Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The crooked bridge will not be built. There have been no talks to revive the project,” Nazri, the Minister in the PM's Department, was reported as telling Malaysian Insider.

Currently, there are two links to Singapore - the Causeway Bridge that links Johor Baru to Woodlands and the Second Link that connects Nusajaya to Tuas.

Mahathir’s S-shaped bridge seeks to replace the existing Johor Causeway. It requires demolishing a large portion of the existing bridge and Singapore has refused to have anything to do with the project, which many analysts have said disadvantages traffic to its own ports.

Najib has also proposed a new third link, which begins from an eastern point in Johor and connects to the eastern coast of Singapore nearby to Changi. He claims this will help Malaysian firms to tap into the huge traffic at Singapore’s international airport and boost business in Johor.