Does Najib Tun Razak deserve to be the prime minister of Malaysia? Well let’s ponder...

He graduated from the University of Nottingham, a town known only for the legendary Robin Hood. The university itself is not known for producing achievers, far from the likes of Oxford or Cambridge. At university, he was a mediocre student. If you visit Nottingham University, you wouldn’t find his name crafted on the campus walls or hanging plaques.

He spent most of his teenage life studying in the UK because unlike most of us, his family could afford the luxury.

Najib is not a fighter. He would rather back out of competition than take on his challengers.

Politically, Najib has not ‘earned’ a single post by putting up a good fight. All his political positions were handed to him on a silver platter only because people felt grateful for his father’s contributions to Umno and the nation.

He has never really fought and won a single Umno position. He has always been a fence-sitter, refusing to take sides, until perhaps the very last minute when he is very certain that his position is secured.

This was exactly what he did when Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah mounted a challenge against Dr Mahathir Mohamad for the Umno presidency in 1987. He joined Mahathir’s camp at the11th hour, only after knowing for certain that Mahathir was going to win the election, albeit narrowly.

Najib lacks the backbone to rise to a challenge and take on his challengers, perhaps afraid that the mudslinging would unearth skeletons in the closet. If there was a challenge, he would back out.

The only challenge he faces is the general election where he defends his Pekan constituency once in four or five years.

The Umno Youth position was given to Najib on a silver platter by Anwar Ibrahim when the latter decided to move up and vie for the post of vice-president. Najib took over from Anwar on an acting capacity in 1987 when the latter contested and won the vice-president post. Najib was returned unopposed in 1990. Again there was no contest.

In 1993, Najib teamed up with Rahim Tamby Chik, Muhyiddin Yassin and Muhammad Muhammad Taib to form the ‘Wawasan’ team. He was elected as one of the three vice- presidents. He only vied for the vice-presidency because there was no clear challenge, knowing very well that there were three VP positions available and not just one. If there was only one VP post, he may have backed out too.

His recent decision not to take on Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for the party presidency is again proof that Najib is afraid of challengers. Although there is now a groundswell urging Najib to challenge the Umno president’s post in the December Umno elections, Najib has refused, risking the fact that his long-time supporters may simply give up and isolate him.

The entire Najib political machinery wants him to take on Abdullah, the weakest prime minister and Umno president that Malaysia has ever had, and yet Najib backs out, hoping that Abdullah would retire as promised in 2010.

His decision comes as a disappointment to a vast majority of Umno members who are just waiting for Najib to announce his decision to take on the president. But not everyone is convinced that Abdullah will keep his promise. Two years is more than enough for Najib to be politically-assassinated.

So why doesn’t Najib rise to the occasion at least once in his life and take on his challenger? Does Najib secretly suffer from some form of inferiority complex which makes him feel far inferior to his challenger?

But the question is, can there be anyone less inferior than Abdullah?

So do we really want Najib, a man who does not rise to the occasion, lacking the gumption to face his competition and take challenges in his stride, to become our prime minister?

My vote is a ‘no’. I don’t need a ‘yes man’ like Najib. I want a fighter like Mahathir who, as a political novice in the 60s, had the guts to even go against prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Mahathir took on many challenges in his political career and won. And that is why he became the most successful prime minister the country ever had.

I want a prime minister who has ‘gone through the mill’, so to speak, and not one who gets the post handed to him on a silver platter.