Najib was Blackmailed, while Zainuddin Cooked His Own Goose

Najib would fare better with Anwar as a free man. And Najib, of all people, knows this. Most importantly, so does Zainuddin Maidin, which brings us to the question; why did Zainuddin blackmail Najib?

Raggie Jessy

“Former chief editor of Malay-daily Utusan Melayu has said that if opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is not jailed for sodomy, it could very well spell the last days of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s career.” 

That was how an editorial from Free Malaysia Today (FMT) went. Accordingly, Zainuddin Maidin cautioned Najib against letting Anwar walk free, which he claimed would put the brakes on the UMNO President’s premiership. In simple terms, Zainuddin laid a stack full of Jokers on Najib’s desk, and dared him to pick a spade with a poker face.

But Zainuddin wasn’t playing poker. No. He dealt Najib a Catch-22, or so it seems; “Jail Anwar and we let you remain Prime Minister.” Now this is coming from a guy intimately associated with Mahathir, like a hand is to a glove. Ironically, they do seem to be playing it hand in glove. At least, it appears to be so.

Regardless, it was no caution. It was blackmail. Zainuddin Maidin blackmailed Najib, warning him of dire consequences should he turn his back on a provision likely contrived to twist Najib’s arm, one way or the other.

Mahathir is not one to play it halfway. He will never cease to play cat and mouse with Najib, not until the latter calls it a day. Now, that’s one cat nobody dares to bell, and one known to fidget around with its food with a hell of a poker face. All the same, it’s Zainuddin Maidin we’re talking about. And Zainuddin Maidin seems to have his hand in Mahathir’s glove.

1. What if Anwar Walks Free?

Give Anwar some rope, and he hangs himself. That is to say, set him free, and he’ll find ways to self-destruct. In fact, Anwar has already touched the nadir of a twisted and sordid political vocation, one he tried in vain to wrest control of Putrajaya with. And with the fat lady singing her piece, Anwar has begun rattling on about ‘sacrifices’ and this and that.

The bottom line is this: set Anwar free, and both Hadi and Kit Siang would retain a political liability they’d rather do without. That is to say, they wouldn’t have a cat in hell’s chance of mending fences, with both DAP and PKR dragging PAS by its tail. That said, Hadi, Azmin and Kit Siang are likely to meet halfway on Anwar’s account, but not in the manner you’d think they will; they most certainly prefer Anwar out of the limelight. They do so, given Anwar’s once potent avoirdupois that is now the baggage likely to yank Pakatan Rakyat down the political shithole and into oblivion.

In other words, setting Anwar free would be tantamount to keeping Pakatan Rakyat divided and turbulent. Pakatan Pakatan Rakyat would have seen its better days, posing little threat to BN. Given circumstances, Najib would fare better with Anwar as a free man.

And Najib, of all people, knows this. And so does the better half of his cabinet. Most importantly, so does Zainuddin Maidin, which brings us to the question; why did Zainuddin blackmail Najib?

Regardless, Anwar’s vindication would give Mahathir space to do another Badawi. I’m not saying that he will do a Badawi. But let’s assume, for a moment, that he will.

It’s a long way to GE14, and people have short-term memories. With Pakatan in the doldrums, Mahathir could afford the space to pull Najib to pieces, the way he did Badawi. There would be scathing assaults, biting aphorisms and loads of signature sarcasm to hammer in nail after nail into Najib’s coffin.

So now you know in part why Zainuddin Maidin needed to let Najib know what he let Najib know. And if you still haven’t guessed it all, read on.

2. What if Anwar goes to Jail?

Following Zainuddin’s outburst, Kit Siang is likely to impeach Najib’s credibility should Anwar be put under lock and key. In simple terms, Kit Siang would likely accuse Najib of sticking his oars in the judicial process by forcing a verdict against Anwar. After all, Kit Siang has been pretty loud against both Najib and his father, Tun Razak. In fact, it has been a free for all against every premier since his political debut, and Najib isn’t the exception.

Compound to that the aura of incredulity cast on the judiciary by Anwar and his henchmen since 1998, and we have grounds to the biggest political subterfuge yet, one the opposition is likely to architect in doing Najib in. And they won’t just be hammering nails; they’ll be driving silver stakes right into his chest.

Do you see what I see?

Should Zainuddin have kept his mouth shut, nobody would have blamed Najib for tampering with the judiciary in the event Anwar gets imprisoned. At least, they wouldn’t have done so with the degree of certitude that is likely to follow Zainuddin’s remark.

Nobody can truly bank on any single outcome to the political quotient should Anwar get incarcerated under present circumstances.  We can’t, because we lack the necessary experience to do so. We’ve only had one Anwar to derive our projections from. And while we make educated guesses, we’re really left with nothing but conjectures and suppositions.

With this in mind, one stark possibility starring us right in the face is the prospect for Pakatan Rakyat to emerge stronger following Anwar’s incarceration. With Anwar out of the way and Azmin as Selangor Menteri Besar, Hadi may well mend ties with PKR, while DAP would be left with little choice but to bury the hatchet with PAS.

Thence the possibility; BN would stand a better chance at GE14 with Anwar a free man, than it would, with Anwar behind bars. And nobody can deny this.

But now that Zainuddin has come forth to blackmail Najib, the odds against the premier have been recalibrated to serve up a bleak future, insofar as his leadership goes. One way or the other, Najib will be up against the wall.

You can now see precisely how Zainuddin conjured a stigma towards Najib’s exit, one way or the other. And it has nothing to do with Anwar. Anwar merely became the inconvenient fall guy.

3. Did Zainuddin Cook His Own Goose?

He sure did.

According to FMT, Zainuddin Maidin had hinted of “another candidate waiting on the sidelines and ready to pounce on Najib should the unacceptable happen.” According to the editorial, Zainuddin had written that “If Anwar is not jailed, the president of Umno and the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib will be challenged before his term is up by a candidate that is waiting on the sidelines”.

Now, it seems that Zainuddin knows more of UMNO’s intricacies than most divisional leaders do. In fact, Zainuddin seems to have most of the inside dirt on UMNO. The question remains; is there someone working in cahoots with Zainuddin (and Mahathir) to topple Najib?

Is Zainuddin condoning factional politics within UMNO? Are we to assume that UMNO is now split, with a dissonant faction covertly seeking to usurp Najib’s constitutional right to a leadership platform hinged on referendum, majority representation and within paradigms that includes consensual decision making processes? Is that the faction that is truly responsible for the way UMNO has been blundering forward?

In fact, hasn’t Najib been quite the advocate of consensual politics? And doesn’t Zainuddin’s blackmail work against precepts to politics of consensus, by fostering hatred and sectarianism?

And most importantly, did Zainuddin cook his own goose by affirming a Prime Minister’s prerogative and authority over judicial processes?

The answer to all of the above appears to be a simple yes. And while he was at it, Zainuddin Maidin may have inadvertently cooked UMNO’s goose as well.