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

themalaysianinsider
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, the 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.

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