Zaid: Is there a second chance for Dr M-Anwar tag team?
(Malay Mail Online) – With Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad refusing to back down from his recent attacks on Datuk Seri Najib Razak, one former Umno minister has proposed a new strategy for the prime minister’s detractors — that the former considers teaming up again with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said, however, that for this to happen, both Dr Mahathir and Anwar, long-time arch rivals, will have to bury the hatchet on a number of issues, key among these being Anwar’s sacking as deputy prime minister nearly two decades ago and his first charge for sodomy.
“Dr Mahathir will have to abandon his dislike for Anwar because that dislike is ultimately personal in nature and should not impair Anwar’s ability to govern the country.
“Anwar too should forgive and forget. He should cease describing his condition as the result of a 20-year ‘political conspiracy’ by Dr Mahathir and others to deprive him of political power,” the former law minister wrote on his blog.
According to Zaid, the Dr Mahathir-Anwar team-up idea was born of talk that a “mother of all meetings” between the two veteran politicians could be in the works, following a meeting between the former prime minister and Anwar’s right-hand man Azmin Ali that purportedly took place in London last month.
“Everyone is now waiting for it to happen — after all, those two personalities shaped Malaysian politics over the past 30 years,” he said.
He said Anwar and Dr Mahathir could be the only two who can unite the country.
A collaboration between the two and Kelantan Umno lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah could “do wonders” for Malaysia if the men agreed to sit down together to draw up a plan on how to save the country, Zaid said.
A combination of the trio, he pointed out, would also quickly ensure Najib is booted from government as cooperation between lawmakers from the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) federal opposition bloc and the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) would be enough to unseat the embattled leader.
“Dr Mahathir and Anwar conceived their tag team in 1989. They now have an opportunity to make it a success with Tengku Razaleigh perhaps as interim prime minister for three years in preparation for the next general election,” Zaid wrote.
Anwar, who is now in jail for a second sodomy charge, should not be resistant to colluding once again with Dr Mahathir and instead, come up with a new plan to improve Malaysia by overcoming systemic corruption, depoliticising the civil service and even abolishing the Sedition Act while maintaining public order, he said.
“He needs a new economic plan to save the country and government agencies. He should leave conspiracies out of the discussion now and forever,” Zaid said.
He added that it would not be a “bad idea” for Anwar to agree to revive the Crooked Bridge project mooted by Dr Mahathir.
“Why not? It’s not a bad idea to remind Singapore once in a while that we are able to decide what we want for ourselves,” Zaid said.
“If you like my proposal, go tell Dr Mahathir, Anwar and Siti Nurhaliza. Then let’s march together on May 1 and show Najib the way out — peacefully, of course,” he added.
