When Nasaruddin discovered that he was not going to replace Nizar as the Perak Menteri Besar after all, he went back to Umno and two State Assemblymen from PKR, Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi and Osman Jailu, and one State Assemblywoman from DAP, Hee Yit Foong, left their respective parties and declared themselves as ‘independents’.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Most are of the opinion that the PAS-PKR-DAP quarrels started when PKR mooted the ‘Kajang Move’ in its attempt to oust Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim, which PAS did not support, and that the quarrel peaked when PAS pushed for the Sharia amendments in the Kelantan State Assembly.

Those two incidences may have been reasons but they were more the straw that broke the camel’s back. The fallout of the three Pakatan Rakyat coalition members actually began — mula retak, as the Malays would say — soon after the March 2008 general election. The retak menjadi belah (crack became a split) happened last year after six years of simmering below the surface.

It only appears like the problems began soon after the 2013 general election. The truth is they began soon after the 2008 general election. Only that it was a closely guarded secret because the mud slinging was not done openly but quietly behind the scenes and for the consumption of only a few people.

Many of my close friends are puzzled as to why in 2010 I suddenly turned hostile towards Anwar Ibrahim and PKR. They suspected that something devious was amiss. I could not, however, explain the details to them because I did not want to implicate and embarrass a certain PAS leader I had (and still have) great respect for.

And this PAS leader was Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat.

Malaysians are too quick to jump to conclusion and do not read properly what I write. Hence they may assume that I am actually criticising Nik Aziz, which is not the case. Hence I chose to remain silent for the last five years, until such a time when Nik Aziz is no longer with us.

And that time is now.

This whole issue started when Pakatan Rakyat won Selangor and Perak, which they never dreamed would happen. Terengganu, Kelantan, Penang, Kedah and Perlis probably yes. But never Selangor and Perak. At best Pakatan Rakyat could probably deny Barisan Nasional its two-thirds majority in the Selangor and Perak State Assemblies.

Everyone was taken aback when Pakatan Rakyat won Selangor and Perak — Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Rakyat and I included. During the 2008 election campaign, I announced that Pakatan Rakyat was going to win five states — Terengganu, Kelantan, Penang, Kedah and Perlis. I then announced that Barisan Nasional would just scrape through in Selangor and Perak with a simple majority of just a few seats.

You can see those videos on Youtube where I announced that.

Lo and behold, what happened instead was totally unexpected. Hence Pakatan Rakyat was not ready to rule Selangor and Perak. That is why it took them one week to finally form the governments of Selangor and Perak. They were totally caught with their pants down and were scrambling to form the governments in these two states.

Selangor may have been a problem but Perak was an even bigger problem.

In Selangor, Barisan Nasional won 20 seats against Pakatan Rakyat’s 36. So it was a clear majority. PAS won eight seats, DAP 13, and PKR 15. So Khalid Ibrahim from PKR was appointed the Menteri Besar.

In Perak, however, Barisan Nasional won 28 seats against Pakatan Rakyat’s 31. So it was a close finish. If two State Assemblypersons from Pakatan Rakyat cross over then it would be 30 for Barisan Nasional against Pakatan Rakyat’s 29, a one seat majority for Barisan Nasional.

To make matters even more complicated, DAP won 18 seats in Perak against just seven for PKR and six for PAS. The problem was, DAP did not have any Malay candidate — all 18 were non-Malays — so DAP could not take the Menteri Besar’s post. PKR, on the other hand, did not have anyone suitable from its seven State Assemblypersons to become the Menteri Besar.

So the job was reluctantly given to PAS although PAS had only six seats versus PKR’s seven and DAP’s 18. And Nizar Jamaluddin from PAS was appointed the new Perak Menteri Besar.

Anwar was terribly unhappy about this. He still wanted the job of Menteri Besar. But PKR did not have any suitable candidate. So Anwar decided to pinch one of the Umno State Assemblymen, Nasaruddin Hashim.

Anwar enticed Nasaruddin to cross over to PKR with the promise that he would be appointed the new Perak Menteri Besar to replace Nizar. So Nasaruddin crossed over.

Nizar knew his days were numbered. But it would be DAP and not PKR who would determine who was going to be the Perak Menteri Besar. So he quickly kowtim the two DAP cousins, Ngeh Koo Ham and Nga Kor Ming, the warlords of DAP Perak.

Nizar then asked Husam Musa, Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Aziz’s protégé and successor-in-waiting, to give the two DAP cousins a piece of timber land in Kelantan. This would certainly secure their support and block Anwar’s move to oust Nizar and replace him with Nasaruddin from Umno.

The Kelantan State Exco, however, rejected the application to give the two DAP cousins the timber concession. Husam then doctored the Minutes of the meeting and gave them the land anyway.

This was brought to the attention of Nik Aziz and Tok Guru was very perturbed. But if he reverses the decision then Husam and the two cousins would be exposed. This would trigger an internal crisis in PAS plus also a crisis between PAS and DAP, and probably with PKR as well once Anwar finds out that PAS has checkmated him by ‘buying off’ DAP.

When Nasaruddin discovered that he was not going to replace Nizar as the Perak Menteri Besar after all, he went back to Umno and two State Assemblymen from PKR, Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi and Osman Jailu, and one State Assemblywoman from DAP, Hee Yit Foong, left their respective parties and declared themselves as ‘independents’.

And that resulted in the fall of the Pakatan Rakyat Perak state government.

After that Nik Aziz distanced himself from Husam. Tok Guru felt extremely hurt that Husam could betray him in such a manner and expose him to great risk by reversing the Exco decision and by doctoring the Minutes of the meeting.

And this is why, today, Husam is not the Kelantan Menteri Besar. And this is why Husam is not even an Exco Member. And this is also why Husam is persona non grata in the Kelantan Palace. And this is why Husam is fiercely opposed to the current Kelantan Menteri Basar as well — someone he views as having taken his job that Nik Aziz had groomed him for.

The Umno, PKR and PAS internal strife (part 1)