Mahathir’s Kungfu versus Najib’s Taichi

By MT Webmaster Last updated Jul 13, 2015

If Najib can be hit with a sniper shot and no one else gets hurt then many would support Dr Mahathir’s effort to oust the Prime Minister. But if it means bringing down the entire Barisan Nasional then the ballgame changes. And this is precisely what the new ballgame is all about — kill Najib by blowing up the entire plane and everyone in it.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I suppose it all depends on what you want to achieve. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad wants a quick end to all this. He wants Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak brought down as fast as possible.

Earlier it was said that Najib was going to be ousted by May 2015. Then it was changed to June 2015. And now the anti-Najib forces are saying that Najib is going to be out just as soon as Hari Raya is over. I suppose that would mean by or before the end of July 2015.

Basically, Dr Mahathir is using Kungfu to try to bring Najib down. He is screaming, jumping, kicking and punching in his attempt to finish off the Prime Minister. However, while some hits appear to be pretty close, Dr Mahathir is yet to land his killer blow.

Najib, however, is playing Taichi. All he needs to do is to dance and prance and duck and dodge every time a blow comes. While Dr Mahathir is using Muhammad Ali’s strategy of ignore everything else and just keep punching the same spot again and again until it bleeds, Najib is using Muhammad Ali’s strategy of float like a butterfly and sting like a bee (although Najib may not have quite stung Dr Mahathir just yet but is certainly floating all over the place).

Anyway, it is all a matter of why hurry when you have the luxury of time on your side? You need to study the options available and run with the best option. So you can afford to dance, prance, duck and dodge while the attacker screams, jumps, kicks and punches. You then wait for an opening and once one offers itself you move in and with one hit you end it all.

Both Dr Mahathir and Najib have very clear objectives. Dr Mahathir’s objective is to oust Najib while Najib’s objective is to stay in office. Once these objectives are understood you then work towards your objective and do not get distracted by sideshows.

Many ask: why does Najib not just bring down the curtain and end this drama once and for all by showing the details of the bank accounts or show what happened to the money or explain this or prove that?

Why should Najib do all that? If he does not do that can they kick him out? His Majesty the Agong cannot sack a Prime Minister although the Agong appoints that Prime Minister.

If Parliament wants to remove a Prime Minister via a vote a no confidence it will need at least 112 Members of Parliament to do that. Before they can get 112 Members of Parliament to agree to pass a vote of no confidence against Najib they will first need to discuss and agree on who will be taking over from Najib once he is ousted.

Can at least 112 Members of Parliament agree to Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin taking over as the new Prime Minister? Muhyiddin will get the support of Dr Mahathir only if he agrees to become a proxy Prime Minister. So that means Dr Mahathir is going to be the de facto Prime Minister. Will at least 112 Members of Parliament, other than Lim Kit Siang, agree to this?

Some think that Anwar Ibrahim would be able to help swing some of those 112 Members of Parliament. Well, Anwar cannot be the Prime Minister not only because he is in jail but also because you must first be a Member of Parliament to be appointed a Prime Minister. So Anwar will have to support someone else to become that Prime Minister.

Anwar has already told Dr Mahathir that he will support the move to oust Najib (and maybe even support the move to replace him with Muhyiddin) if Dr Mahathir can agree that once Najib is ousted he (Anwar) would be released from jail.

Dr Mahathir told Anwar to go screw himself and he also warned Muhyiddin that one of the terms of his appointment as Prime Minister is that he must not release Anwar from jail. So, will Anwar still support the move to oust Najib since there is no benefit to him? Anwar is never known to have done anything unless there is something in it for him.

Anyway, Anwar could not even swing a single Member of Parliament from the 30 he promised in September 2008. So what makes you think he can swing 112? Let us see whether he can first swing a pardon for himself or make DAP and PAS stop bickering. Then let us talk about the bigger things in life.

Dr Mahathir is in a hurry. Najib is not. Short of a coup d’état, either through a vote of no confidence in Parliament or a military takeover, Najib has three years to get his affairs in order. And three years is a long time. In three years Najib could be ousted either by being challenged in the party elections or by his party being voted out in the general election. Until then he is safe for at least another three years.

Dr Mahathir has shifted the goalpost a number of times. It is no longer about Najib being too accommodating to the Chinese voters (at the risk of losing Malay votes) or too compliant to Singapore (and not building the Crooked Bridge). It is now about RM42 billion of 1MDB’s money disappearing into thin air.

Dr Mahathir is going to keep hammering that point home. And if Najib answers those charges and puts the 1MDB issue to sleep, then all that is going to happen is Dr Mahathir will just look for another issue to hit Najib with. So better Najib just let Dr Mahathir scream, jump, kick and punch while he dances, prances, ducks and dodges and when the time is right he pulls his rabbit out of the hat and face the voters in the general election and his party in the party elections with a very loud, “did I not tell you so?”

The problem with Dr Mahathir’s attacks is it is now no longer just about hurting Najib. It is also hurting Umno and Barisan Nasional. To kill Najib, Dr Mahathir must also bomb Umno and Barisan Nasional. This is akin to blowing up an entire plane of 300 passengers just to kill one person on that plane.

And this is what is unsettling most people. And the RM2.6 billion is a case in point. Did Najib steal that money or was it for the use of Barisan Nasional in the 2013 general election? If Najib did not pocket that money then someone else must have done so. And if Barisan Nasional pocketed that money instead, then it opens up an entirely new can of worms

And this is the very reason why Najib can afford to play Taichi.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK