The Umno, PKR and PAS internal strife (part 13)

By MT Webmaster Last updated Apr 24, 2015

When Tengku Razaleigh told us that Dr Mahathir was going to make Najib the Prime Minister instead because he (Tengku Razaleigh) did not agree to the old man’s terms, we told him: why so stupid? Just agree first and later when you become the Prime Minister you can just ignore the old man.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Those who know Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad well enough will say you should listen to what he does not say rather than to what he says. That may be true to a certain extent but the problem is people tend to also not listen to what he says. And this is the folly that most of his victims suffer from.

When Dr Mahathir took two months leave and appointed Anwar Ibrahim the Acting Prime Minister around 17 years ago, he basically said nothing. Many of us were wondering what the old man’s game plan was. One thing we do know about Dr Mahathir by now is that he does not do something for no reason. There is always a strategy behind his every action and statement, especially when that statement is the opposite of what he is thinking or believes in.

It was not until much later we found out that the strategy was to see what Anwar would do as Acting Prime Minister. This would be a good indication of whether Anwar can be trusted as Prime Minister or whether he should be kicked out instead.

Anwar proved he would be dangerous as the new Prime Minister, dangerous to Dr Mahathir, of course. Anwar should have been clever enough to not show his hand yet, not until he had actually taken over. Instead, he showed Dr Mahathir what type of Prime Minister he was going to be and that closed the door for good. Anwar actually hammered the nails into his own coffin.

Dr Mahathir also uses spokesmen, at least unofficially, to fire the shots. It is like playing sepak takraw. Someone else will lambung the ball into the air so that you can smash the ball to your opponent. And this is a game that Dr Mahathir is a master of.

For example, Shahidan Kassim, the then Chairman of the Backbenchers Club or BBC, once raised in Parliament the issue of a certain person who was plotting to topple the Deputy Prime Minister and a number of Cabinet Ministers. He did this when Dr Mahathir happened to be out of the country (which only appears like a coincidence).

This really shook things up because Shahidan did not identify that person behind the plot or who from amongst the Cabinet Ministers were the target. The Deputy Prime Minister at that time was Tun Ghafar Baba, of course.

When Dr Mahathir returned from his overseas trip, the press rushed to get his statement. Everyone wanted to know whom this person was, the man behind the plot to topple the Deputy Prime Minister and a number of Cabinet Ministers.

When asked whether this story is true of not, Dr Mahathir very coolly said he had just returned from an overseas trip and had not read the newspapers yet (actually that is not true because he receives daily briefings even when he is overseas).

“Who said this?” Dr Mahathir asked. And when they told him that Shahidan had said it, Dr Mahathir replied, “Well, since Shahidan was the one who said it then you should go and ask him.”

Anyway, said Dr Mahathir, he will call Shahidan as soon as possible and ask him for the details. Until then he cannot comment. As expected, we heard nothing further of the matter.

Most of us knew that Shahidan would not have done this unless he had been instructed to do so. Shahidan’s job is merely to shake the tree and see what falls out. And Shahidan had done his job and the tree had been shaken. What happened from thereon happened behind the scenes and not for the consumption of all and sundry.

In another incident, Shahidan announced in Parliament that all but two Umno Members of Parliament were behind Anwar and supported him as the new Deputy Prime Minister. Again, Ghafar was the Deputy Prime Minister at that time so what game was Shahidan playing?

I asked Shahidan what he was up to and he just smiled. Is this not a dangerous game that can have negative repercussions on your political career? Shahidan replied, “Do you think I am so stupid to make a statement like that unless the Prime Minister asked me to do it?”

From then on we knew that Anwar was going to replace Ghafar as the Deputy Prime Minister. And when Anwar took on Ghafar, Dr Mahathir just remained silent and did not utter a word. That was more or less Dr Mahathir’s tacit approval and Ghafar eventually stepped down and allowed Anwar a walkover.

Even though Dr Mahathir did not openly endorse Anwar’s bid to oust Ghafar, the silent or unspoken message was very loud and clear. Dr Mahathir wanted Ghafar out and for Anwar to take over as the new number two.

You may say that someone’s bark is worse than his bite. In Dr Mahathir’s case, his silence is even worse than his bite. It is safer if he were to bark, like now. At least you know what’s coming. It is when he smiles and pats you on the back and announces to the entire world, live on primetime TV, that you are his successor is when it becomes dangerous. Two days later you might be out in the cold, as Anwar discovered on 2nd September 1998.

He did this in the Musa Hitam versus Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah episode. He refused to endorse any of these two candidates for Deputy Prime Minister. He said he would leave it to the party to choose. Most people were convinced that Tengku Razaleigh had the edge over Musa. But when the press asked him who he preferred and when Dr Mahathir replied he is not getting involved but if he had to make a personal choice he would choose Musa, the contest more or less swung in Musa’s favour.

In 2006-2007, Dr Mahathir attacked Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah). Did he really want Pak Lah to step down? Not in the beginning. This was just sabre-rattling. In the beginning he just wanted Pak Lah to toe the line. And toe the line means to listen to what Dr Mahathir wants.

But then Pak Lah resisted. He fought back. So Dr Mahathir knew he could no longer control Pak Lah. Only then did Dr Mahathir make his move to remove Pak Lah.

But he did not remove Pak Lah immediately because there was still the matter of who should take over as the new Prime Minister, and who should become the new Deputy Prime Minister.

So Dr Mahathir started talking to three people: Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Tun Razak and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. One was going to be the new Prime Minister and the other the new Deputy Prime Minister. And the third one was going to get nothing.

Most assumed that if Pak Lah goes then Najib would automatically take over since he was the number two. That is what most of us assumed. But that is not what Dr Mahathir had planned. The one who eventually gets the job will be the person who agrees to play ball.

Muhyiddin played neutral. He wavered, like he is doing now, as to which side to support. So he was invariably removed from the list. And that may be his current fate as well if he does not quickly decide which side he is on in the ongoing Dr Mahathir-Najib tussle for power.

Tengku Razaleigh did not agree to abide to the rules if he becomes the new Prime Minister. Najib went all out to impress Dr Mahathir that he would become the old man’s loyal servant. So Tengku Razaleigh was also dropped and Najib became Prime Minister.

But now this servant is out of control. As Dr Mahathir said, Najib went against every agreement they had made, just like Pak Lah did before this. And when Dr Mahathir chided Najib for it during one dinner meeting, the Prime Minister did not tegur him for six months — at least this is what Dr Mahathir alleges. So now Dr Mahathir wants Najib out as well.

It looks like this is what Najib did. And it also looks like it is not that clever a strategy after all. We thought you can agree first and after you become the Prime Minister you can turn your back on all your promises and ignore the old man. But when it comes to Dr Mahathir he will never allow you to get away with that, as we are now discovering. Hence if Tengku Razaleigh had become the Prime Minister it would be he instead of Najib who will now be under attack.

The Umno, PKR and PAS internal strife (part 12)

The Umno, PKR and PAS internal strife (part 11)

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

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)