The Umno, PKR and PAS internal strife (part 10)

By MT Webmaster Last updated Apr 20, 2015

Dr Mahathir said, prior to 1st November 2003, he spent 15 months discussing with Pak Lah what must be done once Pak Lah takes over. Everything was agreed. But when Pak Lah took over he reneged on all these promises. Pak Lah even had the audacity to say that he and not Dr Mahathir was the Prime Minister so he will run the country the way he wants to.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

After Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s sudden and most unexpected resignation in June 2002 — which his inner circle say even they did not expect and were stunned by it — he spent the next 15 months grooming and preparing his successor, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah).

In fact, when Dr Mahathir announced his resignation on 22nd June 2002, he had meant then and there itself he wanted to go. The Umno Chairman, however, Tun Sulaiman Ninam Shah, stood down the AGM for 45 minutes to allow Dr Mahathir, who was in tears, to be brought backstage where he could be calmed and persuaded to reconsider his decision.

Finally Dr Mahathir was successfully persuaded to delay his resignation for 15 months until 31st October 2003, after which Pak Lah would take over. Over that 15-month transition period, Dr Mahathir spent many sessions discussing with Pak Lah what he can and cannot do after he takes over.

Pak Lah agreed that he would continue with the Mahathirist policies and maintain Mahathirism. He would continue the projects that Dr Mahathir had started, in particular the Crooked Bridge and the double-tracking railway. Basically, Pak Lah would not dismantle Dr Mahathir’s legacies and monuments and would continue with those already started and yet to be completed.

In short, Dr Mahathir may have retired on 31st October 2002 but he still wanted to be the de facto Prime Minister and run the country through Pak Lah from behind the scenes.

Why did Dr Mahathir want to retire then? Why not just stay on as Prime Minister?

He could not stay on, as much as he may have wanted to, because the 1999 general election just two and a half years before that signalled the end of the era of Mahathirism.

No doubt the sacking and subsequent jailing of Anwar Ibrahim followed by the birth of the Reformasi movement was one factor. Even Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew felt so. But the bigger factor was that Dr Mahathir had been too long in office and the people wanted a change. The Anwar crisis was just the trigger and if it had not been the Anwar crisis it would have been something else.

As Dr Mahathir said: Melayu mudah lupa. And what many forgot was that the judiciary went downhill because of Dr Mahathir. The Constitutional Crisis was because of Dr Mahathir. The elevation of the Sharia court to become par with the common law court (which today is giving Malaysia a lot of problems) was because of Dr Mahathir. Operasi Lalang was because of Dr Mahathir. The transformation of Umno into a money-driven party was because of Dr Mahathir. And we are not yet even talking about the many financial scandals involving tons of money.

So they needed just one more issue, the straw to break the camel’s back so to speak, and the Anwar crisis offered itself as that straw. If Dr Mahathir had stayed on and had led Umno and Barisan Nasional in the 2004 general election, then what we saw in 2008 would have happened in 2004.

Instead, Dr Mahathir let go in 2003 and allowed Pak Lah to lead Umno and Barisan Nasional just over four months later in the March 2004 general election and the opposition practically got wiped out and Barisan Nasional performed its best ever in history.

So Dr Mahathir knew that he was the problem. And if he eliminated that problem then Umno and Barisan Nasional could be saved. And that strategy was proven right. Dr Mahathir handed power to Pak Lah and Umno and Barisan Nasional charted a new Malaysian election record.

Incidentally, this is the same reason Dr Mahathir is giving as to why Najib Tun Razak must be removed before the next general election expected around 2018 or so — to save Umno and Barisan Nasional. It worked in 2004 so it can work again in 2018, or at least Dr Mahathir thinks so.

But is that the real reason why Dr Mahathir wants Najib out — to save Umno and Barisan Nasional? Or does he want Najib out for the same reason that he had wanted Pak Lah out back in 2006? And why, in the first place, did he want Pak Lah out after just about three years in office?

Dr Mahathir made no secret as to why he wanted Pak Lah out. He campaigned the length and breadth of Malaysia explaining why. He even resigned from Umno and said he would never rejoin Umno until Pak Lah goes. And, as Dr Mahathir himself told the world, he wanted Pak Lah out because Pak Lah broke his promises and did not do what they had agreed he would do.

That is durhaka of the highest degree and someone who durhaka must be executed, as is customary in Malay feudal tradition.

The first betrayal was in the appointment of the Deputy Prime Minister. Pak Lah took over on 1st November 2003 but he refused to appoint Najib as his deputy. For more than two months until 7th January 2004 Malaysia did not have a Deputy Prime Minister.

Of course, under the Constitution, it is not mandatory for the Prime Minister to have a deputy. He does not need to appoint one or he can appoint five Deputy Prime Ministers if he wants to. But Pak Lah had promised Dr Mahathir that he would appoint Najib. So why isn’t he doing this?

Well, it is because Pak Lah did not want Najib as his deputy. He wanted Muhyiddin Yassin. But he was not sure how to appoint Muhyiddin without rubbing Dr Mahathir the wrong way. So Pak Lah did nothing while he slept on it — and he sure did a lot of sleeping on it throughout his term as Prime Minister.

So how did Najib end up as the Deputy Prime Minister two months later on 7th January 2004 then?

Ah, that is a most interesting story and stuff that Hollywood movies are made of. But we will talk about that in the next episode, whenever I may feel like writing that episode.

The Umno, PKR and PAS internal strife (part 9)

The Umno, PKR and PAS internal strife (part 8)

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

The Umno, PKR and PAS internal strife (part 6)

The Umno, PKR and PAS internal strife (part 5)

The Umno, PKR and PAS internal strife (part 4)

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)