Anwar’s multiple betrayals

Many see Anwar as Gandhi and Mandela two-in-one. What they do not know is that Anwar is partly responsible for the mess that the country is facing plus the even bigger mess that the opposition is currently in. Many are hoping that Anwar will be the solution when he is actually the problem. Let me tell you why I wrote Anwar off six years ago in 2010.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

An old friend who I had not met for at least fifteen years since 2001 suddenly, out of the blues, got in touch with me. After exchanging pleasantries, we got down to the serious stuff and spoke about why I am ‘no longer with Anwar Ibrahim’ and oppose not only Anwar but orang-orang yang sewaktu dengannya.

That was actually why he called me — to hear from my own mouth what he had been suspecting for some time

Actually, I did not suddenly ‘turn’ from Anwar, as what most people think. It is like a marriage or love affair. You do not suddenly fall out off love. It is a process you go through that builds up over time until it reaches breaking point. Then, one day, you get hit by the last straw, the straw that breaks the camel’s back, and then the hate takes over.

When Anwar was first kicked out from Umno (and as Deputy Prime Minister) in September 1998, we were already no longer with him. We had, in fact, broken away from him five years before that in 1993 when he stabbed Tun Ghafar Baba in the back. We felt Anwar should not have treated the old man the way he did. After all, Ghafar was an Umno veteran and one of those from the Merdeka generation.

We felt that the way Anwar treated Ghafar was exactly the same way that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad treated Tunku Abdul Rahman 24 years before that in 1969. In fact, what added to this unhappiness was when Anwar gave a talk in Kuala Terengganu (which we sponsored, by the way) and he whacked Tunku Abdul Rahman in his speech. Some of the audience were very unhappy and walked out in protest and we told Anwar later that that was a big mistake. You never whack Tunku Abdul Rahman in the East Coast.

Anyway, by 1993 we felt that Anwar was already getting too much (melampau) so we broke away from him. Five year later, when he got shafted by Mahathir, we just had a good laugh about it and said, “Padan muka (serves you right).” But when we found out that the IGP had beaten Anwar up and had left him unconscious overnight on the lockup floor, we got very angry and came out to protest. We felt we could never tolerate that and keep quiet about it.

So, in late-1998, we inevitably got ‘sucked into’ the Reformasi Movement, not out of loyalty to Anwar, but out of disgust on what they did to Anwar and then lied to us about it on top of that. Mahathir even had the gall to say that Anwar beat himself up to frame the police. But how Anwar could do that after he was unconscious was never explained.

Anyway, before we knew it, one thing led to another and Parti Keadilan Nasional (now PKR) was launched on 4th April 1999 and the general election was held in November that same year.

Then, in June 2000, Dr Rahim Ghouse (who I had never met before) phoned me from Perth, Australia, and asked me to head the Free Anwar Campaign (FAC). He invited me to Perth for a discussion and we spent a week talking about what he wanted me to do. I then came back to Malaysia and the FAC sprang into action.

I ran the FAC for four years until 2nd September 2004, the day Anwar was released from jail. Dr Rahim promised me a salary of RM7,500 a month but paid me for only the first month and did not pay me anything more for the rest of the four years from September 2000 till September 2004. Nevertheless, I continued to run the FAC in spite of it.

On 13th August 2004, I launched Malaysia Today (MT). Around that same time, one of Anwar’s lawyers, Pawanchik Merican (SEE MORE HERE), spoke to me and asked me how much ‘they’ are paying me (Pawanchik knows who ‘they’ are). I told Pawanchik ‘they’ are not paying me anything and he got very angry. He said ‘they’ are collecting millions in donations in the name of the FAC. So how come they are not paying me a salary?

Pawanchik said he had already spoken to Anwar about it but Anwar just kept quiet and did not say anything. That made Pawanchik suspicious, which was the reason he asked me. I told Pawanchik that I was aware of it and I even know that Dr Rahim arranged for Azmin and three others to go to Washington to negotiate money under the name of the FAC (I know because the people in the US told me about it) plus Elizabeth Wong arranged for Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to meet George Soros to arrange a couple of million dollars, which was channeled to Hong Kong.

I told Pawanchik that I knew all along about the millions they had been collecting in the name of the FAC. But with God as my witness, I told Pawanchik, I did not receive a single sen. Pawanchik was furious because he thought that over those last four years I was being paid a salary. He did not know that my wife, Marina, had to sell cakes and curry puffs to feed the family while I was unemployed and working for Anwar free-of-charge.

Anyway, two weeks later, on 2nd September 2004, Anwar was released from jail and I stopped my work with the FAC and focused full time on MT. That was 12 years ago.

Then, two years later, in June 2006, we joined Mahathir to oust Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (which took three years). In 2007, we launched Bersih (to fight for electoral reforms) and in 2008 we faced the general election (where we won five states and 82 Parliaments seats — not bad considering we got massacred just four years before that in 2004).

Announcing ’16 September’ when Barisan Nasional was going to fall

The rest of my escapades of 2008 I have written about so many times before this so let me just cut to the chase, to 2010, about a year after I left Malaysia and came to the UK. I was still in touch with many of Anwar’s people, one Chinese Datuk included, and the news from Malaysia was very depressing. First I found out that the ‘16 September’ (2008) so-called takeover of the federal government with 30 Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament crossing over was a big con job.

It seems there were no 30 BN MPs about to cross over. It was all bullshit. Anwar just wanted to frighten Abdullah (which actually worked) so that he would resign from office. The plan was for Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to take over once Abdullah resigns. But then Najib Tun Razak was the Deputy Prime Minister. So how can Tengku Razaleigh, who was not even an Umno Supreme Council Member, let alone the Umno Deputy President or Vice President, take over as Prime Minister?

So that is where I came in. Anwar’s and Tengku Razaleigh’s people got me to sign a Statutory Declaration (they insisted it must be in the form of an SD and not just an article) to implicate Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder. This is so that Najib can be disqualified and Tengku Razaleigh can take over as Prime Minister instead.

Later, of course, everyone (Nik Azmi a.k.a. ‘Bul’, Din Merican and John Pang included) all denied involvement when the police recorded their statement. So I was left alone to hang whereas they had promised me earlier they would back me up if anything happens to me.

When the Pakatan Rakyat Perak state government fell, I whacked His Highness the Perak Sultan and this got me into trouble with my family. My family was outraged, His Highness the Sultan of Selangor included, for what they considered an act of treason by one of the members of the Selangor Royal family.

After defending Pakatan Rakyat at the expense of strained ties with my family, I later discovered that the Perak state government fell not because of His Highness the Perak Sultan but because of Anwar. Anwar was not happy that Nizar Jamaluddin of PAS was the Perak Menteri Besar. He wanted someone from PKR. So Anwar convinced Umno’s Nasaruddin Hashim to cross over to PKR with the promise that he would replace Nizar as the Perak Menteri Besar.

DAP, however, did not agree. They wanted to retain Nizar who was very loyal to DAP and was more or less DAP’s proxy. When Anwar could not deliver his promise, Nasaruddin went back to Umno bringing PKR’s Jamaluddin Mohd. Radzi and Osman Jailu with him. Soon after that, one of Mahathir’s Chinese Datuk (I had dinner with him) paid DAP’s Hee Yit Foong RM25 million for her to resign from her party and the Perak government fell.

(I actually told Anwar this was going to happen and he replied that he had spoken to Lim Kit Siang who told him that the problem had been settled and Perak was safe. Less than a month later Perak fell).

I was shocked when I later found out that Perak fell because of Anwar and not because of His Highness the Sultan. And based on the wrong reason I quarrelled with my family, plus with His Highness the Sultan of Selangor, over my treason against His Highness the Sultan of Perak.

Yolanda and me in London

When my relationship with Anwar began to turn very bad, Yolanda Augustin, a very close friend of Nurul Izzah, arranged for Anwar and me to have a ‘table-talk’. Anwar and I discussed why I was quite pissed with him and he made certain promises.

Later that day, we both attended a forum with Tian Chua of PKR and Tunku Aziz Tunku Ibrahim of DAP as guest speakers as well. At that forum, in front of probably more the 100 people, I warned Anwar to not take us for granted and that just because we supported Pakatan Rakyat in 2008 this does not mean we will continue to support them in the next general election if he messes around with us. Tunku Aziz, who was there, can testify to this (he can probably also remember me mentioning that Tian Chua’s bite is worse than his bark).

The London forum in 2010 when I told Anwar I am divorcing him if he does not change

So fair and ample warning had been given. And this warning was given in front of 100 people or so. Since 1993 Anwar had been letting us down. Even then when he was in trouble in 1998 we came back to assist him. And even when we were not paid the salary that was promised we still did not run away and continued working for him for four years.

But then Anwar has been playing us for a sucker once too often and for too damn long (more than 20 years already). And we have been warning him time and again that he does this at his own peril. However, Anwar refuses to change so we, just like 23 years ago in 1993, have no choice but to turn our backs on him.

And that is what I did six years ago back in 2010. So why are the Anwarinas so angry? We owe Anwar nothing. Zero! Zilch! In fact, it is Anwar who owes us so much. In 1976, I supported PAS. Forty years later, in 2016, I still support PAS. But that does not mean I also support Pakatan Harapan who betrayed PAS and declared war on Islam and the Shariah/Hudud.

Let me put it another way. I have principles. The DAP, PKR, PAN and Pakatan Harapan people are devoid of principles. It was Mahathir who threw Anwar in jail and now they support Mahathir. It was Anwar together with Mahathir who practically destroyed race relations and left this serious religious divide in Malaysia as their legacy. And yet they want Anwar and Mahathir as their leader.

If DAP, PKR, PAN and Pakatan Harapan call this principles then I am definitely still a virgin.