Anyway, that was when I realised how good a politician Dr Mahathir is and I actually became pro-Mahathir at that time. He ousted the First Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman. The Second Prime Minister, Tun Razak, died before Dr Mahathir could finish him off. And he ousted the Third Prime Minister, Hussein Onn, as well.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Harun Idris, more popularly known as Datuk Harun, was the Head of Umno Youth and a Supreme Council member from 1970 to 1976 plus the Menteri Besar of Selangor from 1964 to 1976.

Datuk Harun was ousted by the then Prime Minister, Tun Hussein Onn, who became Malaysia’s Third Prime Minister in 1976, and, in 1977, Datuk Harun was found guilty of corruption and was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.

In 1981, Datuk Harun was released from jail after receiving a pardon from the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong on the advice of the new Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, after serving only three years of his sentence.

So, one Prime Minister jailed Datuk Harun while the next one freed him again, both after just taking over as the new Prime Minister.

Datuk Harun joined Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Ku Li) in opposition to Dr Mahathir when Semangat 46 was formed in 1988. However, in 2000 Datuk Harun rejoined Umno. Semangat 46, in fact, had earlier been dissolved (in 1996) and Ku Li himself rejoined Umno.

But that is another story for another time.

Such is politics where comrades become adversaries and friends become enemies, or vice versa, as may suit the political ambitions of those who seek power.

Hussein Onn can be said to have been the reluctant politician. His father, Onn Jaafar, was the founder or one of the founders of Umno, depending on whom you speak to, and the reason he became Prime Minister was because Tun Razak Hussein died in office.

But Hussein Onn was more a military man rather than a politician and was certainly no match for the likes of Dr Mahathir. Hussein Onn was meticulous to a fault and extremely disciplined because of his military background. Hence he could not tolerate corruption and hence, also, why he ousted Datuk Harun.

But was Datuk Harun ousted because he was corrupt or because he plotted to become the next Prime Minister? According to Datuk Harun, if corruption is really the issue then 90% of the Cabinet members would have to join him in jail.

Datuk Harun’s supporters say he was not guilty of the crime he was charged for. What Datuk Harun did was what Umno normally does, they argue — which is to collect donations for the party. Datuk Harun did not personally receive the money nor did he benefit from it. The money was paid to the party and was for the use of the party.

Therefore, say his supporters, this is not about corruption but about getting rid of a threat to the Prime Minister. Datuk Harun wanted to become the Prime Minister of Malaysia and he was already making his move. Hence he needed to be neutralised.

The first thing that Hussein Onn did when he took over was to get rid of this threat called Datuk Harun. Well, that was the second thing, actually. The first thing he did was to appoint his Deputy Prime Minister.

Hussein Onn wanted Tun Muhammad Ghazali Shafie as his number two. But Ghazali was not one of the three Umno Vice Presidents. Ku Li, Dr Mahathir, and Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba were. So Hussein Onn was pressured to choose from one of the three instead.

Ghafar, because of his educational background, was not acceptable so it had to be either Ku Li or Dr Mahathir. Ku Li did not want the job yet because he had some unfinished business and, according to Ku Li, he asked Hussein Onn to take Dr Mahathir instead.

Ku Li said that once Dr Mahathir takes over as the new Prime Minister then he would become the Deputy Prime Minister, deputy to Dr Mahathir.

So Dr Mahathir became Malaysia’s new Deputy Prime Minister. He then campaigned for Datuk Harun’s release from prison and he told Hussein Onn that the majority of Umno members want Datuk Harun pardoned and released.

Hussein Onn could not agree to this and he told Dr Mahathir that Umno would have to choose between him (Husssein) and Datuk Harun. Dr Mahathir replied that Umno has chosen Datuk Harun so Hussein Onn resigned as Prime Minister and handed power to Dr Mahathir.

Dr Mahathir knew that, being the highly principled man that he was, Hussein Onn would never agree to a pardon for Datuk Harun. Hussein Onn would rather resign than agree to release Datuk Harun from jail. So Dr Mahathir used this to force Hussein Onn’s resignation and took over as Prime Minister, after which he released Datuk Harun from jail.

Anyway, that was when I realised how good a politician Dr Mahathir is and I actually became pro-Mahathir at that time. He ousted the First Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman. The Second Prime Minister, Tun Razak, died before Dr Mahathir could finish him off. And he ousted the Third Prime Minister, Hussein Onn, as well.

And what did Dr Mahathir do after he took over as the new Prime Minister? Well, that is a story for the next episode because there are still many tales I need to tell about Dr Mahathir’s victims along the way over the last 34 years.

The Umno, PKR and PAS internal strife (part 3)

The Umno, PKR and PAS internal strife (part 2)

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