There has not been a prime minister’s wife who has courted equal amounts of flak as her husband apart from Rosmah Mansor.

She has been targetted for her expensive handbags, extravagant lifestyle and for supposedly keeping Najib Abdul Razak on a tight leash.

She has even been called the de facto prime minister of Malaysia.

And now veteran newsman A Kadir Jasin ( photo ) believes that Rosmah would be a major stumbling block with regard to dislodging Najib from power.

"The problem is we now have Najib as our PM, who does want to resign because he believes he has the support of the majority.

"He will never be allowed to give in by the people around him, starting with his wife," he wrote in his blog.

Kadir was responding to former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah who suggested direct elections for prime ministers.

He pointed out that Najib was unlike his predecessors, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman  and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who resigned amicably after realising that they no longer enjoyed the support of their party.

"Our problem is not with the constitution. It is not even with the post of PM," he added.

Kadir said Tengku Razaleigh, who is fondly known as Ku Li, does not mean that Malaysia should be a republic.

"Warning. Be very careful. This enters the realm of sedition," he added.

Tengku Razaleigh suggested that Malaysians should vote for their own prime minister, instead of having a party to decide for them, in order for the government to perform better.

The Gua Musang MP said this was because the Westminster system of government, currently practised by Malaysia, may no longer be suitable for the country.

Under the present system that the ruling BN practises, the post of prime minister is assigned to the incumbent Umno president.