How the ANC alliance changed in just a week

By MT Webmaster Last updated Apr 11, 2016

So we have two things going on here. One is the power play at federal level to oust Najib and replace him with Ku Li, where then Zahid will be replaced with Mukhriz. The next is the power play in Selangor where Azmin needs to secure his position by abandoning Anwar in favour of Mahathir.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Last week I wrote the following articles:

The ANC is now blaming each other for the failure to oust Najib

The ANC, like Pakatan Harapan, is sinking

Mahathir will never let Anwar out

Since then there have been a few new developments. First, Anwar Ibrahim announced that he does not support the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) a.k.a. the Save Malaysia Campaign. Then Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Ku Li) announced that he was never allied to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. And now Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail announces she is not joining the ANC/Save Malaysia Campaign.

And all that within just a few days after the great fanfare of the launch of the ANC-Save Malaysia Campaign.

So what happened? How come the marriage was terminated even before the honeymoon could end? Well, in the first place it was a marriage doomed to fail before it could start. How do so many people tidur satu bantal, mimpi lain-lain? It is like putting a cow, a goat and a pig in the same pen and expecting them to raise a family.

The issue is not so much that they do not support the ouster of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak but more that they do not support Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad leading the move to oust Najib. And that is the reason for the failed marriage. As they say, it is the mother-in-law that comes with the marriage that messes up the marriage.

My surprise is not the fact that the marriage ended so fast. My surprise is that they even imagined in the first place that a marriage could happen. These people really need to do a reality check. They must be living in Lalaland or something. If I ever write a book on this I can probably call it ‘Malice in Wonderland’.

Anyway, A. Kadir Jasin is now in the line of fire. In the article, ‘The reason for the hurry to finish off Najib’, we spoke about him revealing the secret plan on how they are going to finish Najib off this month. Basically, Najib is not going to see May 2016 as the Prime Minister. Who is going to replace him, however, has not been revealed.

But then Kadir Jasin spoke at length about Ku Li. So the impression we are being given is that Ku Li is going to take over as Prime Minister some time this month. And messages are going viral on the Internet, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc., saying that Najib is going to bring Ku Li for an audience with His Majesty the Agong to propose to His Majesty that Ku Li takes over as Malaysia’s new Prime Minister.

But why would Najib want to do this? Ku Li already said he is not interested in taking over as the Prime Minister and that he is too old anyway. Well, that is like saying that a cat would not want to eat the fish because it has now turned vegetarian. Do these people think we are as stupid as we look or what?

According to the ANC, Bank Negara is about to make its move on Najib for illegally bringing RM2.6 billion into Malaysia. And Najib is going to spend a long time in jail for this crime. However, the ANC is prepared to ‘pardon’ Najib on condition he resigns and hands power to Ku Li.

This is more or less an exit strategy that is being proposed to Najib. They will give him safe passage and a ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card if he agrees to resign. Then he can go quietly into retirement like Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah) did and he will not face any criminal charges — like what happened to Pak Lah as well.

I suppose they thought if it could work on Pak Lah (resign and enjoy your retirement and no criminal indictment) then it can work on Najib as well. Then Ku Li will become Malaysia’s Goh Chok Tong and then Mahfuz Omar will resign his Pokok Sena parliament seat in Kedah for a handsome reward and Mukhriz will contest that by-election and then replace Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as the new Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia.

But this must all be done in the next one month before 5th May 2016. If not then the SPR need not call for a by-election and can leave Mahfuz’s seat empty until the next general election in 2018. Furthermore, the Bank Negara Governor will be retiring in a month as well. So they are in an extreme hurry and are trying to wrap all this up in the next one month.

But then Kadir Jasin got too excited and went and let the cat out of the bag with his Blog posting (See: The reason for the hurry to finish off Najib). So now we all know the game plan as well as the endgame. And Ku Li’s people also got too excited and went and viralled the message of Najib bringing Ku Li to see the Agong to propose that Ku Li take over as the new Prime Minister (with safe passage and a ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card as Najib’s exit strategy).

This is just like the chicken crowing about the egg it just laid for the whole kampung to hear, thinking that it is soon going to hatch into a chick. However, because of all that noise, someone just picks up that egg and makes an omelette with it and that is the end of the story of the egg hatching into a chick.

Malays have a better saying than letting the cat out of the bag. Malays call it pecah tembelang, which literally translates to breaking the rotten egg, meaning revealing a secret. And Kadir Jasin broke his rotten egg with his “I have a secret about Ku Li that I am not going to share with you” story — and now he is being whacked kau-kau. I heard Mahathir called him up and gave Kadir a piece of his mind.

On the PKR side, things are not that honky-dory as well. When Anwar sent Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali to London to meet Mahathir on 22nd February 2015, it was as his (Anwar’s) emissary. The reason to meet Mahathir was to discuss PKR supporting the ANC on condition that once Najib is ousted then Anwar would be given a pardon and would be released from jail (as Nurul Izzah said, they do not want a parole, they want a pardon).

However, Mokhzani advised Azmin to not raise the issue of Anwar and to just talk about ousting Najib. And this was what Azmin did. So, ousting Najib does not include freeing Anwar from jail with a pardon thrown in. Basically, Azmin threw Anwar under the bus, as they say in England.

Anwar now realises that Azmin is not playing a straight game with him. Anwar’s confidantes and close advisers are now very suspicious of Azmin. One chap even offered to give me a file regarding Azmin’s corrupt deals in Selangor so that I can expose him and try to bring him down. They feel that Azmin is no longer interested in toppling Umno and Barisan Nasional and replacing the federal government with Pakatan Harapan. All Azmin wants is to remain the Selangor Menteri Besar.

But Azmin knows that remaining the Menteri Besar with Anwar’s and/or Wan Azizah’s support is very risky. The ouster of Khalid Ibrahim has proven this. Azmin needs to cut his dependence on Anwar, Anwar’s family and Anwar’s cronies and instead get his support from PAS Selangor, DAP Selangor and PKR Selangor (or at least half of PKR Selangor).

To be able to do that, Azmin needs to change alliances. And, to do that, he needs to play an important role in the ANC. And that is why Azmin is now a die-hard Mahathir supporter. With Mahathir’s support Azmin can build a bridge with Lim Kit Siang. With the new Mahathir-Kit Siang alliance, and with Azmin being part of that alliance, he can be assured of staying the Menteri Besar for some time to come.

DAP is very crucial in this whole arrangement. If you can remember, DAP did not want Azmin as the Selangor Menteri Besar. It was PAS who wanted Azmin while DAP wanted Wan Azizah. And it was because PAS supported Azmin as Menteri Besar that DAP turned on PAS, resulting in the creation of Amanah and Pakatan Harapan.

Azmin cannot survive as Menteri Besar if he has to depend on just PKR. Wan Azizah and Nurul Izzah hate Azmin so much that they even refuse to step into the car that Azmin gave Anwar as a gift. And the fact that Azmin ‘stole’ the Selangor Menteri Besar post from Wan Azizah does not help either.

It is actually a very good plan, only if Raja Petra Kamarudin had not found out and revealed it here in Malaysia Today, which spoiled everything.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK