Mahathir’s Art of War: kill Umno to kill Najib

So Mukhriz was the first child to get sacrificed at the altar of payback. And if Dr Mahathir continues and does not stop then another son is going to get sacrificed as well. One by one Dr Mahathir’s children are going to be reduced to cannon fodder who are paying for the sins of the father.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Around 30 years or so ago, after just six years in office, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad faced the greatest challenge of his political career, even worse than the one he faced 17 years before that.

Dr Mahathir knew he would not survive that challenge to his leadership because he did not have the majority support of his own party. If allowed to be put to a test Dr Mahathir would have been ousted. So he killed Umno just so that he could get rid of those within Umno who opposed him.

When Dr Mahathir wanted to oust Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi he tried another strategy. This time he resigned from Umno since he could no longer control or kill Umno, hoping that that would trigger an exodus. Unfortunately, only one person joined him in exile outside Umno.

So now Dr Mahathir needs to look for a new strategy to oust Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. And he needs to apply pressure on Najib to make him resign (the way he pressured three other Prime Ministers before this to resign). Dr Mahathir hopes if Najib can no longer stand the pressure (like the other Prime Ministers before this) then Najib would throw in the towel.

So Dr Mahathir attacked what he considered were matters that were close to Najib’s heart and which he cherished most. And this would be Najib’s pride in his family name and the Tun Razak Hussein heritage. If Dr Mahathir can drag the Razak family name through the mud then most likely Najib would give up and call it a day.

But what Dr Mahathir did not take into consideration is Najib’s resolve. Before this all the other Prime Ministers would rather give up than prolong the fight. As what Sun Tzu said, “What is essential in war is victory, not prolonged operations.” So, just like all the other Prime Ministers before this, Najib would just resign rather than continue fighting.

And this was Dr Mahathir’s misstep. He ignored the other Sun Tzu doctrine: which is, know your enemy. Dr Mahathir did not really know Najib as well as he thought he did. And the one thing that Dr Mahathir did not know is that Najib was not a quitter (which, by the way, is one of the ‘faults’ of the Bugis).

So Dr Mahathir applied the highest strategy in war: attack that which your enemy cherishes the most. But then this is also the most dangerous strategy because you now elevate the fight to a level beyond politics. And in using such a strategy you must make sure you win and not merely wound your adversary.

And the reason you need to win when using this highest and most dangerous strategy is because if you do not then you would have to face a most outraged enemy who no longer has anything to fear and would retaliate in kind.

It is almost like blackmail. The fear is in being exposed. So you control someone through fear. However, once exposed, the fear factor is removed and there is no longer any value in that blackmail.

Dr Mahathir tried that blackmail approach. He threatened to expose Najib if he refuses to resign. But in blackmail you trade in real secrets. The fear factor is in the truth being revealed. In Najib’s case, however, Dr Mahathir traded in fake scandals and fake allegations.

In short, Dr Mahathir dabbled in perception and not in truth. And most people are naïve enough to accept perception as truth. If not we would not have 80% of the world believing in some religion or another, which are mostly superstition and folklore based.

Dr Mahathir played a high-stakes game, which most people would avoid like the plague. Even Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli would tell you that you must never take everything away from your enemy unless you also take that enemy’s life. If not you would have to sleep with one eye open.

Dr Mahathir openly and repeatedly accused Najib of being a coward, a murderer, corrupt, untrustworthy, dishonourable, and so on. The only thing Dr Mahathir did not include is that Najib is the bastard son of Tun Razak whose real father is unknown. If Dr Mahathir had done that he would most likely find a Bugis keris in his belly.

In Bugis culture we have one golden rule. You can take away a man’s power, property and position, but never touch his honour, dignity and bloodline. To a Bugis, between losing his honour and his life he would choose losing his life. And, to a Bugis, if you touch any member of his family, there is going to be hell to pay.

When Dr Mahathir humiliated Najib during the ‘Nothing to Hide’ dialogue in June last year — which was supposed to be a closed-door meeting organised by the Malaysian Volunteer Lawyers Association (SukaGuam) — Dr Mahathir took this fight beyond politics.

Then Dr Mahathir attacked Najib’s family — his wife and children — and said all sorts of nasty things about them. That brought it to the level that the Malays would call ‘tiada maaf bagi mu’.

Najib’s signal that there is going to be no quarters given and none asked was during the Umno assembly in December last year, which we have already written about. As far as Najib is concerned, there is going to be only one person who is going to walk away from this fight — the other is going to be carried away in a coffin. And Najib is going to make sure that the one in the coffin is not going to be him.

Dr Mahathir attacked Najib where it hurts most. So it is now time for Najib to hit Dr Mahathir back where it hurts most as well. And what is most dear to Dr Mahathir are his children.

So Mukhriz was the first child to get sacrificed at the altar of payback. And if Dr Mahathir continues and does not stop then another son is going to get sacrificed as well, and this time worse than the first one. One by one Dr Mahathir’s children are going to be reduced to cannon fodder who are paying for the sins of the father.

It was Dr Mahathir who laid these new ground rules where family members are collateral damage. So now all his children are collateral damage as well. Dr Mahathir can try to save his family by shutting up. Or he can keep attacking Najib and see his family fall by the wayside.

The ball is really in Dr Mahathir’s court. And even if Najib kesian Dr Mahathir’s children there is still a number of criminal defamation charges that can be brought against the old man, which the Attorney General can easily enough file since all the statements made by Dr Mahathir are on public record.

Najib, being Prime Minister, cannot be seen to be rash. But all he needs to do is to play Taichi and allow Dr Mahathir to make all the moves and then use these moves to hit him back.

Najib has set up some bear traps. It is up to Dr Mahathir whether he wants to avoid these bear traps or walk right into them. Or maybe another of Dr Mahathir’s children may walk into them instead. And I have it on great authority that Najib is not finished with Dr Mahathir and his family.

So let all those in the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) be warned — because when the bombs fall many will end up as collateral damage. So go run for cover before the bombs start falling unless you, too, have a death wish.

Of course, Dr Mahathir can always do what he does best — which is to kill Umno to bring Najib down and allow the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan to take over. After all, Dr Mahathir is already the de facto Opposition Leader.