Poison pen letter campaign launched against Prime Minister, targets 3 million Umno members

KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 – All signs point to the Umno party elections being postponed till early next year but this is unlikely to blunt moves by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s critics to force him out of office.
Leaning heavily on tactics which worked well for the Opposition in Election 2008, the critics are taking their case and campaign to discredit the President of Umno and Prime Minister directly to the rank-and-file of the party in a direct mail campaign.
They want the 3.2 million Umno party members to flood the PM’s office with letters and telegrams telling him they have lost confidence in him. This avalanche of correspondence, thehttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.photo.gif
Add Image critics hope, will persuade him to step down.
The Malaysian Insider has learnt that a 4-page anonymous letter in Malay has been posted to Umno members across the country. In it, the critics reach for the buttons which they believe will ignite hate against Abdullah, namely:
• The role played by his son-in-law Khairy Jamaludin and other members of his family in the administration of Umno.
• The role of the “fourth floor”, the moniker used to describe the PM’s aides, linked to Khairy, in the administration of the country.
• Abdullah’s alleged willingness to dance to the tune set by Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew.
• Rising crime in the country and the fact that many criminals managed to escape conviction because of poor morale among police personnel. The morale problem was caused by constant criticism by the government, said the letter writer.
Fact and fiction are intertwined neatly in the letter but the sting is evident in each sentence. The letter accuses Abdullah of lying to Umno members by covering up his weaknesses and deluding himself about Barisan Nasional’s prospects in Election 2008.
“Leaders and members of Umno who love our race, religion, country and party must accept the reality that what was rejected by the people was Abdullah and his family, and not Umno and BN,‘’ said the letter, adding that as long as Abdullah was in charge of the party, Umno would be on the road to ruin.
The letter urged members to write letters and send telegrams to Abdullah and also urged them to make known their feelings to supreme council members and the head of each state liaison committee. Umno members were also asked to make known the contents of the letter to Malays across the country and to boycott party events.
Abdullah’s critics know that the important politicians in the power structure from deputy president Datuk Seri Najib Razak to heads of all the wings are solidly behind Abdullah and will not want to cause more damage to a party still reeling from Election 2008.
They also suspect that the voice of dissent from the ground is being generated by several Umno veterans who may only be interested in sharing the spoils of victory.
As long as this group of warlords are on the same page with Abdullah, he is safe and should be able to survive attempts to pull him down. But if the groundswell causes any of them to break ranks, it could point to a long few months for the PM.
MalaysiaInsider


tunku : my personal view is that it's not worthwhile writing to pak lah as for sure he will not get the letter, if he gets,he will not read it.how many people protested during the election(result), still he's saying he got BIG mandate.the only way is the umno branch and division must be brave enough to demand it.