Finally, what we had been waiting for, number 2 shoots number 1

And, judging by the developments last night, Muhyiddin has agreed to these terms and conditions. And that signal of his agreement was when Muhyiddin fired his first shot at Najib. So, over the next week or so, we should be seeing Dr Mahathir remove the suspense by openly endorsing Muhyiddin as Najib’s successor.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

It was not a matter of if but more a matter of when Muhyiddin would start shooting. If Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin wants to take over as Prime Minister when Najib Tun Razak is ousted — if he is successfully ousted, that is — then he has to earn that job. It is not going to be served to him on a silver platter.

That was basically the same term and condition that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad gave both Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Najib when the Grand Old Man of Malaysian politics made his move to oust Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi nine years ago.

Dr Mahathir wanted Najib to make his move on Abdullah and openly challenge the Prime Minister. But Najib would not. Instead, Najib openly pledged his support for the Prime Minister and this pissed Dr Mahathir off big time.

Since Najib would not earn the job by taking on Abdullah, then he was not going to become Prime Minister. Dr Mahathir was not going to serve Najib the post of Prime Minister on a silver platter. Najib must work for it if he wanted that job.

So Dr Mahathir decided to by-pass Najib and talk to Tengku Razaleigh instead. But there was just too much history between Dr Mahathir and Tengku Razaleigh that it was not easy to wash away all that bad blood. Hence Tengku Razaleigh, too, would have to earn that job.

And the way Tengku Razaleigh would have to earn the job of Prime Minister would be he would have to agree to the setting up of a presidential council that would ‘guide’ him on how the country would be run.

Tengku Razaleigh saw this as a move to make him a proxy prime minister with a de facto prime minister that would pull all the strings behind the scenes. In short, he would be a nominee or puppet of Dr Mahathir. So he said no. If he were to become the prime minister then he would call the shots and decide what to do. No one was going to make him a puppet prime minister.

With Tengku Razaleigh’s rejection, Dr Mahathir dumped him and went back to Najib. But Najib would have to agree to proceed with the Crooked Bridge to Singapore plus a few other terms and conditions that involved his son, Mukhriz, and Proton — making sure the government continues to support the ailing national car and not allow it to die.

But Najib did not do what Dr Mahathir made him promise to do. And, to add insult to injury, Najib went and appointed Khairy Jamaluddin a cabinet minister — instead of killing off his political career — thus putting an obstacle in Mukhriz’s way.

So, while everyone knows that Dr Mahathir wants Najib ousted — that is not a secret because Dr Mahathir has openly said so — he did not make it clear who is going to be the one who is going to take over as prime minister. He left the matter of the successor in suspense.

It could be Muhyiddin or it could be someone else. However, if Muhyiddin wants the job, then he has to earn it. It is not going to be given to him free-of-charge. And to earn it Muhyiddin must openly challenge Najib. And then he must agree to become a proxy prime minister with a de facto prime minister behind him running the country.

And, judging by the developments last night, Muhyiddin has agreed to these terms and conditions. And that signal of his agreement was when Muhyiddin fired his first shot at Najib. So, over the next week or so, we should be seeing Dr Mahathir remove the suspense by openly endorsing Muhyiddin as Najib’s successor.