How Mat Sabu destroyed Pakatan Rakyat

By MT Webmaster Last updated Jan 9, 2016

It was utter chaos. Meanwhile, Hadi was accused of going against his own party plus against Pakatan Rakyat by proposing two names when it was agreed that it was going to be only one name. And no one realised that the two names idea came from Mustafa and that it was Mat Sabu who deviously changed it to one name. And because of that Pakatan Rakyat perished.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

“DAP and Pakatan Harapan are prepared to work and co-operate with disaffected UMNO leaders, branches and members in a new political realignment to ‘Save Malaysia’ from rampant corruption, widespread socio-economic injustices and nation-building failures,” said Lim Kit Siang in his speech in Kluang yesterday.

This is certainly a most interesting development. PAS, too, has indicated that it is prepared to sit down and work with the government in finding a solution to Malaysia’s problems and to see how to put Malaysia on track, especially against the backdrop of a most difficult year ahead of us in light of the drop in oil prices.

So it looks like the opposition is becoming more mature and is not playing politics for the sake of politics but is prepared to set politics aside in the interest of a better Malaysia. Let us see how this is going to play out over the next two years or so and whether they really mean what they say.

However, while PAS is prepared to work with the government in finding solutions for the country, DAP only wants to work out with the ‘Team B’ in Umno and not with the government. So it looks like DAP is more interested in perpetuating the split in Umno rather than work with the government for the betterment of the country.

And this is where PAS and DAP differ.

DAP can no longer accept PAS as a comrade because, according to DAP, PAS betrayed Pakatan Rakyat (which no longer exists) in the ‘Kajang Move’ matter. Of course, DAP also says that PAS can no longer be part of the opposition coalition because of the Kelantan Sharia Amendment Bill matter.

But the Kelantan Sharia Amendment Bill was something that was passed by the state government 23 years ago back in 1993, long before Barisan Alternatif was formed in 1999 or Pakatan Rakyat was formed in 2008. Back in 1999 and 2008 this was not an issue. Today it is. Hence it does not appear like this is the real issue and that the real issue is regarding the appointment of the new Selangor Menteri Besar, Azmin Ali.

Actually, what Lim Kit Siang and DAP either do not know or are not telling us is that their partner in Pakatan Harapan, PAN, were the ones who screwed up this whole thing. And it was Mat Sabu, the PAN leader, who was behind this entire screw up.

After the Kajang by-election, which was won by PKR President Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Pakatan Rakyat wanted to replace Khalid Ibrahim as Menteri Besar and their candidate was Dr Wan Azizah.

The Selangor Palace, however, wanted more than two candidates to choose from, which means three or more. Pakatan Rakyat, however, wanted to submit only one name, Dr Wan Azizah.

Mustafa Ali from PAS, knowing that HRH the Sultan would not be pleased if just one name was submitted, proposed two names, Dr Wan Azizah and Azmin Ali. He then prepared the letter.

A Pakatan Rakyat presidential council meeting was called when Azmin happened to be overseas doing his umrah. The PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang was not able to attend the meeting so Mat Sabu attended instead.

Mat Sabu then deleted Azmin’s name and submitted only Dr Wan Azizah’s name. The presidential council then approved Dr Wan Azizah’s name and announced that Pakatan Rakyat had unanimously agreed on Dr Wan Azizah as the new Menteri Besar to replace Khalid.

Azmin was asked whether he agrees with this and he said that he abides by the decision of the presidential council. Azmin’s contacts in the palace then asked him why he is declining the post of Menteri Besar and he replied that it is not that he is declining the post but he was never asked if he wanted the post.

Mustafa Ali was taken aback. He had signed a letter proposing two names but the presidential council ‘unanimously’ approved the only name that was proposed. But it could not have been unanimous if PAS had proposed two names and not one.

Meanwhile, Hadi had prepared a letter proposing three names, as the Palace had requested, but since the presidential council had already unanimously agreed on Dr Wan Azizah the letter was filed and was not submitted to the Palace.

Mustafa then told Hadi that the Palace wanted two names and that one of these names has to be Azmin. Hadi took Mustafa’s word for it and a second letter was prepared which included Azmin’s name. Hadi, of course, could not call up the palace to confirm this and since Mustafa said the Palace wanted two names and that one of them must be Azmin he went along with it.

The Palace received the letter from all three parties. DAP and PKR proposed one name while PAS proposed two. So the Palace agreed on the second name, Azmin. And that was how Azmin became Menteri Besar.

DAP and PKR then accused Hadi of betraying Pakatan Rakyat. The presidential council had unanimously agreed on only one name so why did Hadi submit two names? What the presidential council did not know is that Mustafa had submitted two names but Mat Sabu changed it to one name without informing Mustafa. And Hadi thought that Azmin’s name had to be included on the instructions of the Palace.

It appears like Mustafa misinformed Hadi about the two names and that one of them must be Azmin while Mat Sabu deleted Azmin’s name and misinformed the presidential council that PAS also agrees to just one name.

The Sultan was told that PAS wants two names, while DAP and PKR want only one name. Hadi was told that the two names, which must include Azmin, was what HRH the Sultan wanted. Mustafa proposed two names for the presidential council’s consideration but Mat Sabu changed it to one name and told the presidential council that this is what PAS wanted.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK