The coup d’etat that almost succeeded

By MT Webmaster Last updated Aug 8, 2015

And that was what Najib did last week. He counter-attacked just when the enemy thought they had him cornered and was on the verge of finishing him off. Najib swiftly removed the key players in the enemy camp and crippled them. In fact, he is still doing that because many still remain. So now Najib is back in control of the ball. And September 16 Version 2 failed just as dramatically as September 16 Version 1 did in 2008.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

So now it is finally confirmed. What Malaysia Today said over the past few weeks has all happened. The ten senior officers from the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), have all been brought in for questioning and their statements recorded. Some were even remanded for 24 hours.

Many are asking why are the hunters being hunted? Why are the investigators being investigated? Should not what has been revealed be pursued instead of pursuing the whistleblower?

Yes, those would be valid questions if this were a straightforward abuse of power, misappropriation of funds, or corruption case. But this was not about that at all. It was just made to appear like it was about all that. It was actually about something totally different.

What most Malaysians do not know is that this was just another ‘September 16’ all over again. The first one in 2008 failed miserably and fell flat. Anwar Ibrahim failed to get the 30 Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament that he said he already had in his pocket to cross over and pass a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

They even chased the Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament all the way to Taiwan but it was still a no go. Not a single Barisan Nasional Member of Parliament crossed over to join the 82 Pakatan Rakyat Members of Parliament to pass a vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister. If they had then they would have had 112 in total, a two-seat majority against the 110 from the other side.

September 16 was reduced to a joke. Anwar was so confident he was going to take over as Prime Minister and very few from the opposition doubted him. But it was all smoke and mirrors and those in his inner circle, many who have since left him in disgust, say they never really believed it was going to happen. Anwar needed to do a reality check, they said, because he was beginning to believe his own lies.

The 2008 September 16 failed because Anwar talked too much and announced to the world what was going to happen not only before it happened but also even before he started anything. The next time they plan something like that they would need to work in more secrecy so as to not tip off the Prime Minister.

Then they planned the second September 16. Only this time it would not be called September 16 because it was going to happen on August 1st. That was the new date that the Prime Minister was going to be ousted, 1st August 2015. And this time it was not going to be Abdullah that will be ousted but Najib Tun Razak.

So Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali, and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng sat down to plan their strategy. The plan was for Muhyiddin to ensure that 30 to 40 Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament would move for a vote of no confidence against Najib. Then, combined with the Pakatan Rakyat Members of Parliament, they would have at least 115 to 125 voting against Najib. For sure Najib would be ousted because all they need is 112.

But to be able to get the 30 to 40 Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament to agree to the vote of no confidence, Najib must be seen as terribly tainted and that if he remains as Prime Minister then the ruling party is going to lose the next general election.

And that was when they started playing up the issue of 1MDB, and after that the issue of the RM2.6 billion of 1MDB’s money that Najib allegedly transferred to his personal bank account and which has since disappeared.

Something like this would be dynamite. Many would be turned and would agree that with a scandal as massive as this there was no way Najib can be allowed to remain in power.

As Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today, many Umno and Barisan Nasional people went to see him to complain about Najib regarding what he was doing with 1MDB and regarding RM2.6 billion of 1MDB’s money that Najib ‘stole’. This got Dr Mahathir really ‘hot’ so he decided to also press for Najib’s removal.

The mainstream and social media plus the Blogs were used to play up the issue. They formed a Special Task Force without Cabinet approval and even before the issue blew up comprising of various agencies and branches of government that included PDRM, MACC, BNM, AGC, and so on.

So now it looked like this is very serious and the allegation is 100% true for such a high-powered investigation to be launched and headed by the heads of the most important and powerful government agencies.

But there was one thing they did not take into consideration. They thought that just like in the case of Abdullah, once the heat builds up, Najib would negotiate handing power to his Deputy or else face a no confidence vote in Parliament. Najib, however, did not do that. Najib fought back. And this took them by surprise because they had always thought that Najib is weak and would rather run away than fight.

But any student of Sun Tzu would tell you that when the enemy attacks you retreat. And you never engage the enemy in his battleground. You draw him into your battleground. Then, when he pauses, you counter-attack.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK