Defence Minister Hishammuddin Malaysian’s Top Pick as Next PM

TODAY

12 March 2015

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, a leading member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), is a clear front-runner to replace current Prime Minister Najib Razak. a new survey has found.

The UMNO vice-president was selected by 19.8 per cent, or nearly one in five, of the 1,008 respondents polled by the Merdeka Centre between Jan 21 and 30.

A similar number of respondents (19.4 per cent) wanted Mr Hishammuddin to lead the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and UMNO — Malaysia’s largest political party — after the current leadership of PM Najib and Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin retire.

…Dr Oh Ei Sun, a former political secretary to Mr Najib when Mr Hishammuddin was Home Minister, said the poll result may not mean Mr Hishammuddin is popular.

“It is not so much that he is popular as that the alternatives are comparatively too unpalatable or unacceptable to many members of the public,” said Dr Oh, now a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

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