Would Pakatan throw it all away for Anwar’s image?
Pauline Wong, The Ant Daily
Amidst the “bets and guesses” on why the Kajang by-election is being forced down the throats of its constituents, a Barisan Nasional lawmaker has thrown his lot in by saying that it is all a deflection tactic by opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is embroiled in a sodomy trial.
Umno’s Pulai MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed claimed that the Kajang by-election was being used to gain public sympathy, turn Umno into the enemy and divert attention from the pressing issue of Pakatan Rakyat’s turmoil in Selangor and Anwar’s ongoing “Sodomy II” hearing.
“Selangor is falling apart because of the power struggle (between PKR deputy president Azmin Ali and Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim) and the greed in PKR and PAS. PAS wants an MB in their ranks,” he said in an interview.
The by-election, triggered by the resignation of PKR’s Lee Chin Cheh, is a while away still — it falls on March 23 — but the run-up to it has been fast and furious.
It is no secret that Khalid and Azmin have long been at loggerheads, and it was, initially, heavily speculated that Kajang’s by-election was simply concocted to cool the tension between the two — a fact that has not gone down well with critics and even some supporters.
Even as the uproar continued, PKR’s strategic director Rafizi Ramli rushed in for some “damage control”, claiming that the move was to give Anwar “political legitimacy” in fighting BN’s (or rather Umno’s) attacks against the Pakatan-led Selangor government.
His argument, made over the news and in a forum last week, was compelling — he said Umno had used race and religion as a weapon to drive a wedge into Pakatan’s fortress in Selangor and to form a government ruled by one majority race: the Malays.
By installing Anwar as part of the Selangor government, argued Rafizi, it would give Pakatan the necessary clout to defend against such attacks and to nip the one-race government in the bud.
His argument seemed sound, as in recent times racial and religious tensions have heightened beyond what many can remember. With the issue over the use of the word “Allah” and the so-called “attacks” by non-Muslims on the sanctity of Islam, Rafizi claims Umno had orchestrated an offensive that “can only be defended by Anwar’s political presence in Selangor”.
If Anwar’s presence happens to solve the ongoing feud between Khalid and Azmin, well, all the better, Rafizi said.
But Nur Jazlan could not be more sceptical, and when asked for his thoughts on the argument by Rafizi, the former dripped sarcasm.
“They are using such arguments to deflect attention from Selangor’s problems. If that (race and religious issues) indeed is Umno’s strategy, then it has failed in Selangor, and even if we use it again it will still fail,” he said.
“Umno cannot influence other Malays outside our members; the argument of one-race government is invalid,” he added.
