The Umno, PKR and PAS internal strife (part 14)

By MT Webmaster Last updated Apr 25, 2015

Sigh…first Pak Lah refused to appoint Najib Tun Razak as his deputy. Then he tried to bring Anwar back into Umno. And when he failed to tell Singapore to go to hell by building the Crooked Bridge, that was a case of three strikes and you are out.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The instructions from Sungai Buloh Prison were very crisp and clear. Our enemy is Dato’ Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad (now Tun), not Umno (or Barisan Nasional). So we are to attack only Dr Mahathir, not Umno. We must not antagonise the Umno leaders and members.

That was not quite the sentiments of PAS, that regarded Umno as the enemy, or DAP, that regarded MCA, MIC and Gerakan as their enemies. But that was certainly the sentiments of PKN (Parti Keadilan Nasional), which later became PKR when a number of PRM leaders and members crossed over to join PKN.

Now, the official history of PKR is that PKN and PRM merged to become PKR. That is actually not true. PKN and PRM did not merge. What happened instead was that those from PRM joined PKN and PKN then changed its name to PKR.

Actually, many from PKN did not agree to the so-called ‘merger’ (they thought it was really a merger rather than a crossover) because they regarded PRM as a Communist party. Furthermore, some from PRM, just like those from PSM, express anti-monarchy, pro-republican sentiments, which the mainly Malay members of PKN cannot accept.

In fact, PSM was very open about their anti-monarchy stand. During the 2007 Bersih rally, where everyone was supposed to wear yellow in the march to the Agong’s palace, PSM did not want to participate because of the Agong factor. PSM did not recognise the Monarchy. Furthermore, they did not agree to wear yellow, which was supposed to be a royal colour.

Finally it was agreed that the PSM people would be allowed wear red instead and it was explained that, according to the Federal Constitution, the Agong is the head of the Federation so it made sense we hand the petition to the Agong — but that does not mean you support a Constitutional Monarchy in favour of a Republic.

And this was what made many of the PKN members uncomfortable about what they viewed as a merger with PRM (which used to be called PSRM or Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia). The word ‘socialism’ or ‘communism’ is associated with anti-religion and Malays are very sensitive about such matters, never mind how liberal they may be.

But Anwar Ibrahim wanted the merger to happen, and we were told by hook or by crook. So we had to pull out every dirty trick in the playbook to make sure that the command from the Sungai Buloh Prison was carried out to the letter. And how did we pull this off?

Well, maybe that should be another story for another time, in case I happen to be in the mood to tell that most interesting story. But the long and short of it all is that many PKR members and leaders left the party because of this merger.

So the VVIP prisoner of the Sungai Buloh Prison very much dictated what is to be done and how it must be done. We, in fact, had a joke for that, which went as follows:

In the past, the prison director would say: banduan-banduan sekelian, dengar pengumuman ini….

Now, the prison director has to say: Yang Mulia-Yang Mulia, Yang Berhormat-Yang Berhormat, Yang Berbahagia-Yang Berbahagia, Tan Seri-Tan Seri, Datuk Seri-Datuk Seri, Datuk-Datuk, Tuan Haji-Tuan Haji, dan banduan-banduan sekelian, dengar pengumuman ini…

Maybe one day the director may also have to add: Tun-Tun, etc., etc. — you will never know, will you?

Anyway, as I said, the instructions from the Sungai Buloh Prison was do not attack Umno. Just attack Dr Mahathir. He and not Umno is the enemy and we do not want to make the Umno leaders and members angry with us.

But why, why not also attack Umno and all the other parties within Barisan Nasional? Why just attack Dr Mahathir? And when Dr Mahathir stepped down as Prime Minister on 1st November 2003 we were told to not attack his successor, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, but to continue attacking Dr Mahathir.

But then Dr Mahathir had already retired and the new Prime Minister was Pak Lah. So why attack Dr Mahathir instead of Pak Lah, plus his son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin?

That mystery was answered on the night of 2nd September 2004, the day Anwar Ibrahim was released from jail.

The other mystery that was never answered until today is the circumstances behind Anwar’s release. The Federal Court released Anwar but in the same breath the judge said that the court is convinced that Anwar is guilty of the charge of sodomy but the prosecution had failed to prove Anwar’s guilt.

Now that was certainly very strange indeed. The court has to rule based on the evidence adduced in court. If the prosecution had failed to prove Anwar’s guilt that would mean it had failed to adduce any evidence of guilt — and that is why the court has to free Anwar. So, if no evidence had been adduced to prove Anwar’s guilt, how does the court know he is guilty?

So here we have the Federal Court saying that it is convinced that Anwar is guilty but it has no choice but to still free Anwar because the prosecution basically failed to show evidence of Anwar’s guilt.

That just does not make sense.

Anyway, Anwar was freed on 2nd September 2004 and at midnight of that same day Khairy Jamaluddin, the Prime Minister’s son-in-law, paid Anwar a visit. So as not to be detected, he sneaked in to Anwar’s house through the backdoor.

A few minutes later I received a phone call and was told that Khairy was in Anwar’s bedroom for a secret meeting. And the man who had sneaked Khairy into Anwar’s bedroom was Ezam Mohd Nor.

I immediately published that story in Malaysia Today, which had been set up just two weeks before that, and the next morning all hell broke loose. Umno demanded an explanation and the Prime Minister came to his son-in-law’s defence and explained that Khairy was just delivering Anwar’s international passport, which he needed to travel overseas for his medical treatment.

That story did not make sense because Khairy was not with the Immigration Department nor was he the Home Minister. So what business is this of his? Two days later, The Star published a picture of Azmin Ali pushing Anwar in a wheelchair as he entered the Immigration office in Damansara to collect his passport.

Now hold on a minute, did Khairy not just deliver Anwar’s passport to him at midnight of 2nd September? So why is Anwar now going to the Immigration office to collect his passport? Or was The Star mistaken?

I then checked with one of the immigration officers and he confirmed that Anwar was there to collect his passport and the passport had, in fact, not yet been issued on 2nd September when Khairy visited Anwar.

So the story as to why Khairy visited Anwar at home and what he was doing in Anwar’s bedroom at midnight was not true. The Prime Minister had lied. What, then, was the reason?

We suspected what the reason was but it was not until Wikileaks leaked the communication from the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to its head office in Washington that the reason was confirmed in writing.

Anwar, through Khairy, was negotiating with Pak Lah to be allowed back into Umno. In principle Pak Lah was agreeable to this but he first had to get Umno’s blessing. And since Anwar had made sure we did not whack Umno but only Dr Mahathir this meant there should not be too much resistance from the party.

But then it was not Umno that Pak Lah had to convince but Dr Mahathir. And there was no way Dr Mahathir would allow Anwar back into Umno and if Pak Lah defied this wish then he would face the wrath of the old man.

Pak Lah chickened out. There was no way he was going to cross swords with Dr Mahathir. And if he brought Anwar back into Umno then Pak Lah would not last till Christmas. Dr Mahathir would cut Pak Lah’s balls off and nail them to the wall.

So Anwar would have to remain in the opposition and try to become Prime Minister through the opposition instead of through Umno. And that is what Anwar had been trying to do over the last decade until he was sent to prison for a second time on yet another sodomy conviction.

And that failed stunt of Pak Lah meant that he, too, was now living on borrowed time. And when he reneged on his promises, Dr Mahathir left no stone unturned in making sure that Pak Lah was sent into early retirement.

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

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)