Dr Mahathir is distancing himself from the conspiracy

By MT Webmaster Last updated Jul 25, 2015

Now that Dr Mahathir has denied involvement in a conspiracy maybe he can also confirm that Sufi Yusof met Justo but not to pass any information to him while Lim Kit Siang can confirm that Tony Pua met Justo but not to pass any information to him — just like Sarawak Report met that ex-MACC adviser in London last week but not to obtain any information.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he is openly asking for Najib Tun Razak to step down as Prime Minister, so that means it is not a conspiracy. Only if it were an underground movement would it be a conspiracy.

“Is there a conspiracy? Is there someone or some group conspiring i.e. moving in secret in the underground to overthrow Najib? There could have been before but apart from people complaining privately about their dissatisfaction with Najib’s administration, no one was planning his overthrow. That is not to say that they did welcome the idea of his resigning or vacating his post. But active underground planning and action there was none,” said Dr Mahathir.

Dr Mahathir argues that if it were a secret or cladenstine movement then you can call it a conspiracy. But if it is above ground or open, then it is not a conspiracy. Actually, a conspiracy means plot, scheme, stratagem, collusion, and so on, and normally involves more than one person or a body of persons.

The Royal Thai Police has identified ten people who were said to be involved in the Justogate affair. That would make it a conspiracy. And if there is something illegal involved, which the Thai police seem to think so, then it becomes a criminal conspiracy.

The fact that many opposition leaders are not only working with Dr Mahathir but also said that the ‘three Tuns’ must oust Najib and take over (Tun Dr Mahathir, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Tun Musa Hitam) makes it a conspiracy. And the fact that they not only want Najib ousted but also want three unelected people to take charge of the country, when the Constitution does not provide for such a thing, makes it illegal.

That is what would be called a coup d’etat — ousting an elected government and replacing it with an unelected government. And, therefore, it becomes a criminal conspiracy. Can we also suggest that the monarchs gang up, all ten of them, and get the military to oust the civil government and turn Malaysia into a monarchy ruled by a committee of rulers?

Are you going to call this treason? And why should it be called treason when the monarchs are doing it for the good of the country and to save Malaysia, the same reason they say they want to oust Najib and replace him with a committee of three Tuns?

There are legal and constitutional ways to replace a government. One would be through the general election and another via a vote of no confidence in Parliament. Once we introduce a culture of ousting a government then we would be opening the floodgates that can never be closed again.

Countries that resort to coup d’etats to change governments always see one coup d’etat after another, sometimes less than one year apart. It is a very dangerous way to change governments. And if in the next general election Barisan Nasional does not win enough seats to form the government they can always deny the opposition the government by applying the same methods they used to oust Najib.

Be very careful about changing governments by ousting the leader outside the constitutional and legal process. You may not like the new culture that, once adopted, can never be removed again.

Dr Mahathir probably realises the very thin line that separates politics and criminal conspiracies with intent to oust a government outside the constitutional and legal process. And this is probably why he is trying to establish that he is not involved in a conspiracy to oust the Prime Minister.

At the end of the day it is all a matter of semantics. You do not deny what you are doing but you protest the labelling of what you are doing and try to give it a different label.

On another subject, Sarawak Report does not deny meeting a certain prominent Tan Sri, who used to be an adviser to MACC, in London, but denies that the purpose was to obtain information from this person. Sarawak Report explains that the real purpose for meeting this person was to spring a trap.

Well, whether the purpose of the meeting was to obtain information or to spring a trap, at least they confess to that meeting. The meeting was not denied, only the purpose is.

That, of course, is very interesting because this person would know who is Sarawak Report since the 1MDB issue has been going on for some time and has practically rocked the country. So it is not like he is ignorant of who or what Sarawak Report is.

Yet he met them, whether it was to pass information or to work hand-in-hand with Sarawak Report to spring a trap. Would it be safe to say that this chap conspired with Sarawak Report to spring a trap? Or was this chap not aware that Sarawak Report was setting up a trap?

Whatever it may be, whether it was to pass information or to set a trap, he did meet Sarawak Report for reasons best known to him. So I will leave it to him to explain the purpose of the meeting if it was not to pass information to Sarawak Report.

Anyway, whatever it may be, there is one thing that no one will dispute. And that one thing is there is a conspiracy involving a number of people to subject the Prime Minister to trial by media in a court of public opinion with intent to force his resignation and replace him with someone who is not recalcitrant and will listen to Dr Mahathir’s advice and take guidance on how the country should be run.

And whether this is being done through fake or doctored evidence does not really matter because, genuine or otherwise, no one denies that the documents were stolen and hence this involves data theft, which is still a crime even if the documents are genuine and were not doctored.

So the bottom line is there were meetings involving a number of people but it is not a conspiracy. And the documents were only stolen but were not doctored. I suppose that is more or less the long and short of it all.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK