The Umno, PKR and PAS internal strife (part 7)

By MT Webmaster Last updated Apr 15, 2015

But the even bigger issue is: if Ku Li could not agree to the Council running the country with a puppet as a Prime Minister back in 2006-2007, will he agree to it now? If he had agreed to it back in 2006-2007, today we would be talking about ousting Ku Li instead of ousting Najib because Ku Li is even more pig-headed than Najib by far.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Tengku Tan Sri Razaleigh Hamzah, a.k.a. Ku Li, is being touted as the man who can play the role of saviour of Umno (and of Barisan Nasional, of course) in the event that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is forced into retirement. And the person who appears bent on forcing Najib into retirement is Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who had pushed other Prime Ministers and Deputy Prime Ministers before this into retirement.

Of course, there is always the other possibility: that the voters in the next general election will kick Umno and Barisan Nasional out, which means Najib will be forced into retirement anyway. But that would involve a change of government rather than a change of leadership in Umno and Barisan Nasional.

And this would raise an even more crucial question: who from Pakatan Rakyat is going to be the new Prime Minister and will Pakatan Rakyat in its present form even exist come the next general election? And assuming Pakatan Rakyat collapses before the general election and/or Barisan Nasional is kicked out, will we see a new coalition emerge made up of the remnants and fragments of both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat?

Yes, this would resurrect the Unity-Government issue all over again, which is not far-fetched when both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat are in shambles.

Anyway, the crucial factor to Ku Li taking over from Najib would be whether Dr Mahathir wants him as the successor. Ku Li’s supporters are campaigning hard in trying to convince people to support the idea of Ku Li as the next Prime Minister because, according to Ku Li’s campaign team, Dr Mahathir is backing him.

That may be true or it may not be. And that is because Dr Mahathir has the knack of sending out vibrations that he is backing one person while he actually backs the other, or he backs two people and allows them to compete and see who wins in the end.

Ku Li’s relationship with Dr Mahathir has never been good for more than 30 years. They can meet and smile but in their hearts they still carry an old grudge and the wounds have never healed. Ku Li has never forgiven Dr Mahathir for denying him the post of Deputy Prime Minister in 1981 while Dr Mahathir has never forgiven Ku Li for trying to oust him six years later.

In fact, the split and eventual dissolution of Umno and the creation of two splinter parties, Umno Baru and Umno Malaysia (which was called Semangat 46 when the RoS rejected the name ‘Umno Malaysia’), was the result of the Dr Mahathir-Ku Li (Team A-Team B) tussle for power.

What was even more interesting is that Umno Malaysia applied for registration three days before Umno Baru. Hence if the RoS would not allow two parties to use the ‘Umno’ name then Umno Baru rather than Umno Malaysia should have been rejected. And that would mean Ku Li’s party should have been Umno Malaysia while Dr Mahathir’s party should have been called something else and not Umno Baru.

Anyway, when Tun Hussein Onn took over as Prime Minister after the death of Tun Razak Hussein in 1976, he did not want any of the three Umno Vice Presidents as his deputy. However, the three VPs confronted Tun Hussein and forced him to choose from one of them.

Tun Hussein wanted Ku Li but he declined the post and, according to Ku LI, he told Tun Hussein to appoint Dr Mahathir instead. Ku Li had a lot of unfinished business, which he wanted to focus on, and once Dr Mahathir takes over as Prime Minister he would become the Deputy Prime Minister.

Ku Li was Tun Razak’s protégé and blue-eyed boy. May 13 had just happened one year before Tun Razak took over in 1970 and they were about to launch the New Economic Policy. The NEP was supposed to restructure society and Ku Li was basically put in charge of this.

So Ku Li had so much to do and was just too busy to take on the job of Deputy Prime Minister. His very impressive CV can be testimony to this fact. Amongst some of Ku Li’s very important portfolios were:

Executive Director, Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Berhad, 1965-1970

Executive Chairman, Perbadanan Nasional Berhad (Pernas), 1970-1974

Chairman and Managing Director, Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Berhad, 1970-1976

President of the Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry Malaysia, 1973-1976

Umno Treasurer, 1973-1984

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS), 1974-1976

President of ASEAN Chambers of Commerce, 1975-1976

Chairman of Asian Development Bank, 1976-1977

Minister of Finance, 1976–1984

Chairman, Board of Governors, World Bank and International Monetary Fund, 1977-1978

Chairman of Islamic Development Bank, 1978-1979

It is no wonder Ku Li has been dubbed the ‘Father of Malaysia’s Economy’.

In 1972, Ku Li was also instrumental in setting up the News Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd whereby the Malaysian operations of the Straits Times, the Sunday Times, the Malay Mail, the Sunday Mail, Berita Harian and Berita Minggu were transferred to this new company.

In 1981, when Dr Mahathir took over from Tun Hussein, Ku Li was now ready to become Malaysia’s new Deputy Prime Minister. And, as agreed, Dr Mahathir was supposed to appoint Ku Li as his deputy.

However, Dr Mahathir refused. He said he would leave it to Umno to decide. So if Ku Li wanted the job then he would have to fight for it in an open contest. But Tun Musa Hitam also wanted the job. So Tun Musa threw his hat into the ring and took on Ku Li.

May the best man win!

What upset Ku Li was not only the fact that he would not be appointed the Deputy Prime Minister as what, according to Ku Li, was promised and agreed. The more upsetting thing was while Dr Mahathir said he would leave it to Umno to decide and would not get involved, when asked between Ku Li and Tun Musa who he prefers, Dr Mahathir said if he was asked to choose he would choose Tun Musa.

That swung the votes over to Tun Musa and Ku Li lost (plus the smear campaign that Ku Li was a Chinese-lover, the same strategy used against Tunku Abdul Rahman). When Ku Li took on Tun Musa the second time around, and lost again, Dr Mahathir removed Ku Li as the Finance Minister and demoted him to Trade Minister.

The rest of the story everyone already knows.

This history is very difficult to erase. In fact, Dr Mahathir had negotiated with Ku Li back in 2006-2007 to take over from Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi a.k.a. Pak Lah. Dr Mahathir felt uncomfortable with Najib mainly because of the issue of his wife, Rosmah Mansor. So he was considering Ku Li instead.

The problem was that while Dr Mahathir is able and prepared to work with his enemies, or any devil for that matter just as long as the end justify the means, Ku Li is not cut from that same cloth.

Dr Mahathir’s terms is that the next Prime Minster after Pak Lah must take ‘guidance’ from the new Presidential Council that will be set up. The details of this Council are not known or whether it is a formal or informal body and who are its members and who is heading it.

Nevertheless, Ku Li replied that if he becomes Prime Minister then he is not going to be a puppet Prime Minister with a de facto Prime Minister calling the shots from behind the scenes. So Ku Li did not get the job and Najib became Prime Minister instead.

But the problem is, while Najib may have agreed to take guidance from the Council, like Pak Lah also agreed before him but did not do, it appears like now Najib is breaching the terms of the agreement by becoming too independent. And this is why Najib has to go.