Najib is the man!

Many people must have underestimated the strength of Najib to stay on as the PM in the face of attacks from so many quarters, from Mahathir, some royalties and also from his own UMNO. And with the 1MDB assuming such a high profile in the politics of Malaysia, most PMs would have crumbled and resigned, but not Najib.

Najib is still hanging on with no signs of throwing in the towel. And he has good reasons for it. Some of the heavy weights in UMNO are staunchly on his side, supporting him and prepared to take on his critics. Ahmad Hamidi, Hishamuddin, Khairy and a few others have spoken up to show support for Najib. The initial signs of a break with Muhyiddin calling for an investigation have fizzled out.

Many would think that with Mahathir taking on the role as cheer leader, there will be a fall out and many UMNO leaders would cross over and take on Najid. For the moment this is not happening. Najib is hanging on and with UMNO appearing to be strongly behind him.

Mahathir must be wondering what is happening. This Najib is turning out to be a tough nut to crack. And Najib has a trumph card in Rosmah. She has not shown what she is capable of doing to protect her husband yet. This is the time when Rosmah would be called upon to prove her mettle against the old fox. She may dig out some dirt about Mahathir or his children to share and divert the attention away from Najib. And Mahathir will have to spend time covering his back.

It is still too early to tell if Najib will survive this crisis. As long as the UMNO leaders are closing ranks to stay with him, it is not easy to dislodge him from office if he does not want to bow out.

This is another big battle to watch. And quite fortunate for Najib that the PKR is also having problems of their own and would not be as formidable as a united front to mount a challenge at Najib.