Zaid Ibrahim’s Save-the-ANC gathering

By MT Webmaster Last updated Mar 31, 2016

And Mahathir should wise up to the fact that today’s — whatever it is they are trying to do — gathering organised by Zaid Ibrahim is not, I repeat, NOT going to help make Mukhriz the Prime Minister in 2020. And the faster Mahathir accepts this the better for everyone and maybe he can then die in peace.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

In 1994, the Melaka Chief Minister, Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik, was forced to resign from his post because he was implicated in the crime of sex with an underage girl, or statutory rape. The court, however, acquitted Rahim due to lack of evidence.

Earlier, Rahim was summoned by then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to his office where he told the old man that he did not know that the girl was underage. She looked far bigger than her age, especially around the chest area, Rahim explained (and I can personally vouch for that — but don’t ask me how).

Mahathir told Rahim that it was Anwar Ibrahim who was all out to get him and he sighed as he said, “I don’t know why Anwar is doing this. I know he wants to get rid of you but there should be a limit. This is beyond politics.”

Mahathir then made a deal with Rahim. Rahim would resign, he can pick his successor (Mohd Zin Abdul Ghani), and Mahathir will make sure that Rahim does not go to jail due to ‘lack of evidence.’

(And that was why Rahim fixed Anwar up regarding the missing Omega watch and the sex with a Chinese prostitute video case not too long ago.)

In 1997, the Selangor Menteri Besar, Muhammad Muhammad Taib, was forced to resign from his post when he was caught smuggling about RM3 million into Australia. The Australian court, however, acquitted Muhammad son of Muhammad because he did not speak English.

In his defence, the man with two Muhammads in his name said that his daughter filled in the declaration form because he did not speak English and he just signed the form without knowing what he was signing.

(Muhammad later resigned from Umno and joined the opposition because the party would not give his daughter a seat to contest the general election.)

And now we have Lim Guan Eng, the Penang Chief Minister, who has also been caught with his pants down. Mahathir, however, says that Guan Eng need not resign from his post like Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik and Muhammad Muhammad Taib when they, too, were caught with their pants down.

Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik and Muhammad Muhammad Taib had to resign because they were from Umno. Lim Guan Eng is not from Umno. He is from DAP. And DAP supports Mahathir in the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) effort to oust Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

What is even more interesting is that Rahim’s defence was that he did not know (that the girl was underage because she did not give her age). Muhammad’s defence was that he did not know (that it was against the law to bring large sums of money into Australia because he did not speak English and it was his daughter who filled in the declaration form). Guan Eng’s defence is also he did not know (the market value of his house because he is not a property agent or valuer and that it was his wife who negotiated the deal — maybe because Betty no longer trusts Guan Eng around other women after that earlier reported episode).

In all three cases the defence was ‘I did not know’. But in the first two cases the Prime Minister then, Mahathir, asked them to resign. In Guan Eng’s case, Mahathir says the Chief Minister needs not resign because ousting Najib is more important than CAT or whatever the shit it is DAP calls it.

Mahathir is even prepared to work with Lim Kit Siang, Anwar Ibrahim, Mat Sabu, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Azmin Ali, and anyone at all, even though all these people have called him foul names and have said very nasty things about him in the past. In fact, Mahathir is even prepared to work with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah until Ku Li turned on him and stabbed him in the back a few days ago.

Mahathir is very sore that his son, Mukhriz, was removed as the Menteri Besar earlier this year. But then that has always been the case when the Menteri Besar no longer sees eye-to-eye with the Prime Minister or the Palace.

Since Merdeka, many Menteri Besar and/or Chief Ministers were forced to resign due to one reason or another. So what makes Mukhriz so special that he can openly oppose the Prime Minister and still keep his job?

Remember Ibrahim Fikri Mohammad, the Menteri Besar of Terengganu in 1961? In 1969 he was forced to resign because of differences with the then Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, and Finance Minister, Tun Tan Siew Sin, regarding the state’s economic strategy plus other issues.

Remember, Ajib Ahmad, the Menteri Besar of Johor in 1982. In 1986 he, too, was forced to resign because of differences with Mahathir. He was then replaced with Muhyiddin Yassin who ripped off the state and made many Singaporean Chinese extremely rich. Mahathir even had the cheek to call Muhyiddin ‘my richest Minister’.

There is not a single state where the Chief Minister or Menteri Besar has not had to resign due to differences with either the Prime Minister or the Palace. The other and more ‘famous’ ones were Mohamed Ghazali Jawi of Perak, Nik Hassan Wan Abdul Rahman of Terengganu, Abdul Rahim Abu Bakar of Pahang, Harun Idris of Selangor, Othman Aroff of Kedah, Shahidan Kassim of Perlis, Idris Jusoh of Terengganu, etc.

So, as I said, what makes Mukhriz so special? He is just one more in a long list of dozens of Chief Ministers or Menteri Besar who have been forced to resign when they are no longer on the same page with the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Ruler, or Regent/Raja Muda.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK