KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 — Putrajaya’s apparent crackdown over the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) controversy risks driving dissatisfaction with the government underground where it could continue to fester ahead of the next general election, according to political observers.

Against the backdrop of a wavering economy and shaky electoral support as evidenced by Barisan Nasional’s loss of the popular vote in Election 2013, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak sought to head off criticism by removing Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as his deputy and culled other critics from his Cabinet.

An ongoing multi-agency special taskforce probing 1MDB has also turned investigators into the investigated following the arrests of key personnel linked to the investigation, ostensibly over actions detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

While the suppression may silence the barrage of criticism aimed at Putrajaya over the scandal, Ibrahim Suffian who heads independent pollster Merdeka Center said the tactic could backfire by driving discontent out of public sphere and make it more difficult to address.

In the space of weeks, the Najib administration has gone from fending off allegations over 1MDB to an apparent offensive. It has suspended two newspapers for publishing what it deemed was “unverified news” over the state-owned firm, while Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail was also unceremoniously removed as Attorney-General to heavy public scepticism.

“Personally I do not think repression and tough rhetoric will go far in cowing the well informed public; worse, it will push the sullen dissent underground which only rears its head on election day in 2018,” Ibrahim told Malay Mail Online.

But newly-appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who oversaw the suspension of the Edge Financial Daily and Edge Weekly, has signalled his intent to continue pursuing those who continue accusing Najib and Putrajaya over 1MDB.

The zeal with which detractors are being pursued was sufficient to move former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad — arguably the most high-profile and trenchant critic of Najib over 1MDB — to last week decline comment on the firm, saying it was now a “crime” to do so.

In his reported speech on Sunday vowing swift and severe action against the manipulation of news reports, Ahmad Zahid also professed to be a “fundamentalist in Islam”, although he did pledge to be fair to Malaysians of all races.

“The confrontational style and absence of policy explanation, not to mention official reining in of inflammatory remarks from the Umno camp, which had been common in the last two years, have to change,” Dr Ooi Kee Beng, deputy director of Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, told Malay Mail Online.

According to Ibrahim, the Najib administration could still mitigate the effects of its apparent crackdown with what he described as “a show of contrition”, and direct some of its new-found determination towards previously pledged reforms in a bid to return to the middle ground.

Among these could be resurrecting the New Economic Model that Najib had sought to introduce soon after he took office to do away with race-based affirmative action, but was later diluted and eventually abandoned following resistance from conservative elements within Umno, including Dr Mahathir.

“Given that he has already thrown the gauntlet, he should really pick up his proposed reforms at the early start of his term and work towards delivering enough of it and hope it changes public perception,” Ibrahim said.

Ooi was also another who touted reforms as a possible avenue for Najib and Umno to contain the fallout over the ongoing 1MDB scandal as well as unpopular policies such as the Goods and Services Tax that have coincided with a sharp decline of the ringgit.

But it is unclear if the existing political climate is conducive to reforms, as the 1MDB controversy and others have taken their toll on Umno’s support both internally and from the outside.

Political analyst Dr Lim Teck Ghee said morale within Umno was currently at its nadir, based on his reading of sentiments among the party’s online presence.

Although Muhyiddin has pledged not to fuel a new crisis within Umno, which last experienced a deep schism in 1998 when Dr Mahathir sacked Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as his deputy, his tone has been far from reconciliatory following his sudden removal.

The former deputy prime minister has traded barbs with party colleagues since his exit, notably mocking Umno information chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan and Umno supreme council member Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi over public rebukes.

One foreign-based analyst did see, however, the potential benefits from the bloodletting within Umno and Putrajaya, saying it has consolidated Najib’s control of the resource-rich party ahead of the next general election not due before 2018.

“You saw over the past few days, many who were wavering before now come out to staunchly support Najib, for example, the Negri Sembilan mentri besar and so on. So I won’t say ‘scare them away’, but indeed, people are forced to choose sides and many of them choose to be with the incumbent,” said Dr Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow of Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.