Many battles in the 1MDB war

This whole strategy rests on just one fact: that RM2.6 billion of 1MDB’s money was transferred into Najib’s personal bank account. But was it 1MDB’s money? And was it Najib’s personal bank account? Or was it not 1MDB’s money but some other money? And was it not Najib’s personal bank account but a trustee account?

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

There are wars. And there are many battles that make up the war. And sometimes you win many of the battles but you lose the war. And sometimes you lose many of the battles but you win the war. Such is the nature of battles and wars that it is very difficult to predict the outcome until the dust finally settles.

Most look at the 1MDB issue from a certain angle, or from just one angle. I look at it as the battleground in the war between Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and the man who made him Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Yes, that is what it is about. The lord giveth, the lord can taketh away. I make you, so I can break you. I made you Prime Minister, I can unmake you Prime Minister. It all boils down to just that.

Cheated once and you can be forgiven. Cheated twice and that makes you a fool. And Tun Dr Mahathir cannot stand being cheated twice.

First he made Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Prime Minister. He spent 15 months talking to Abdullah about what he must do once he becomes Prime Minister before actually handing over the reins to him on 1st November 2003.

The dos and don’ts were agreed. Abdullah must do certain things when he takes over and there are certain things he must not do. However, after he took over, he did all those things he was not supposed to do and did not do all those things he was supposed to do.

Dr Mahathir was pissed big time. He publicly chided Abdullah like he is now doing to Najib. And Abdullah replied that he, and not Dr Mahathir, is Prime Minister. So, as Prime Minister, he will do what he wants and not what Dr Mahathir wants.

That was it. Abdullah had signed his own death warrant. So, just three years after Abdullah took over as Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir made his move to oust him. And three years later Abdullah stepped down when he could no longer take the harassment.

Before Abdullah stepped down, Dr Mahathir talked to two possible successors, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, his first choice, and Najib, his second choice.

In a public meeting in front of 1,000 Umno members in 2008, Dr Mahathir announced that the next Prime Minister after Abdullah would have to rule by proxy. A Presidential Council was going to be formed to act as de facto Prime Minister and which will ‘guide’ the Prime Minister.

Dr Mahathir was not going to make a second mistake after his first mistake with Abdullah.

Tengku Razaleigh rejected the idea. He told Dr Mahathir that if he became Prime Minister he, and not a de facto Prime Minister or a Presidential Council, was going to run the country. As Prime Minister he would make his own decisions. No one was going to dictate what he can and cannot do.

Dr Mahathir dropped Tengku Razaleigh like a hot potato and turned to Najib. To Dr Mahathir’s relief, Najib agreed to the terms so Dr Mahathir made him Prime Minister.

Then, to Dr Mahathir’s dismay, Najib reneged on his agreement and turned out just like Abdullah. Dr Mahathir realised he could not oust yet another Prime Minister, especially one that he appointed, so he harassed Najib and tried to make him toe the line.

When Najib could no longer take the harassment, just like Abdullah couldn’t, instead of resigning, like what Abdullah did, Najib ignored Dr Mahathir and refused to meet him or talk to him for six months.

This really upset Dr Mahathir and he complained to anyone that would listen about how Najib was now ignoring him and for six months had refused to meet him or talk to him.

After that six months silent treatment, Dr Mahathir decided that enough was enough and he made up his mind to oust Najib. But he needed a damn good excuse that could rally the people and the Umno members behind him. He could not use the same excuse he used to oust Abdullah or else he would look silly. And that was when he decided that the 1MDB issue could be that good excuse that everyone would buy and would not have any problems with.

The 1MDB issue was basically that RM42 billion has disappeared into thin air. But now that no longer seems plausible because RM42 billion has not disappeared into thin air. So Dr Mahathir had to modify his strategy and change it to RM2.6 billion of 1MDB’s money had been siphoned into Najib’s personal bank accounts.

This sounds better and would be harder for Najib to deny compared to the RM42 billion disappearing into thin air allegation.

This whole strategy rests on just one fact: that RM2.6 billion of 1MDB’s money was transferred into Najib’s personal bank account. But was it 1MDB’s money? And was it Najib’s personal bank account? Or was it not 1MDB’s money but some other money? And was it not Najib’s personal bank account but a trustee account?

Yes, this is what the coming battle is going to be about. And if the facts presented to the public by Najib’s accusers prove fiction and not fact in the end, then Najib would have won that battle and the war would be far from ended.

So, back to the drawing board for those who are plotting to oust Najib. They will have to come up with yet another issue to throw against Najib while hoping that this time it will stick.