The 15th General Election (GE15) may be used as a platform to replace Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s Pekan Parliamentary seat with another face for the future of UMNO itself.

Political analyst of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Prof. Dr Muhammad Fuad Othman, however, said it was up to the party leadership to replace him with other individuals, including Najib's own son, if it felt appropriate.

According to him, the UMNO president has the power to ensure that the offer continues to be given to Najib or otherwise.

"I think logically Najib will continue to contest in Pekan but this may be the time to give way to a new face to be placed there.

"There are also those in UMNO who want Najib to continue as a Member of Parliament. There are old leaders who want Najib to continue to be the people's representative, but that depends entirely on the party president himself.

"However, it should also be seen from various factors including the final decision of his case when brought to the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court," he said when contacted on Thursday.

Previously, Merdeka Center research body revealed that six out of 10 Malay voters agreed with the guilty verdict handed down by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Najib.

Referring to the court decision in the case of SRC International Sdn Bhd, as many as 61 per cent of respondents agreed and 18 per cent disagreed with the decision, with 57 per cent of Malay respondents agreeing to it.

Meanwhile, 74 per cent of Chinese respondents agreed with the court's decision while 63 per cent of Indian respondents also gave the same perception on the matter.

The High Court had earlier found Najib guilty of three counts of money laundering, three counts of breach of trust and one count of abuse of power.

Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali later sentenced him to 12 years in prison for abuse of power, and 10 years each for six other offences; all of which will be carried out concurrently, making the actual period for all offences 12 years.

The judge also fined the Pekan MP RM210 million for abuse of power.

In the meantime, said Dr Muhammad Fuad, the support received by Najib on social media may be a reflection the former Prime Minister was still needed by the people in the country's political arena.

"There is definitely a factor in Najib's election (becoming a Member of Parliament) depending on his own popularity (on social media).

"UMNO needs to be relevant and rethink whatever effect it may have if it takes back the 'old people' in the party," he said.

The Merdeka Center study also found that 69 per cent of respondents were satisfied with Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's performance as Prime Minister.

According to the survey, nine out of 10 Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak praised Muhyiddin while 65 per cent of Indians and 33 per cent of Chinese were satisfied with his performance.

The study also found that there was a similar tendency in public evaluation of the Federal government with 58 per cent of voters happy with the performance of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government while 28 per cent were dissatisfied.

-- BERNAMA