How Taman Manggis may force the MACC into conspiracy – a true story
The Third Force
A new conspiracy is brewing, and to fuel it up, the team of saboteurs that tried to get the Prime Minister (PM) arrested last July have tied the nuptials with the least suspected of bedfellows – Tengku Tan Sri Razaleigh Hamzah.
Surprised? So was I.
Ever since the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gua Musang shared a bench with fractured ex-premier Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad last October, he has been smothered in foggy terrain – nobody is really sure if he is with team Mahathir or team Najib.
The Mahathir hypothesis is that Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak could be brought down by evoking a breach of banking laws. Najib apologists that I know have amounted that to anti-democratic thievery, saying the PM was no less innocent than investigators have proven him to be.
So off I went to those willing to talk – and believe me, one or two of Razaleigh’s former aides have been doing a lot of it. It seems that the man they call the Kelantan Prince is all for the downfall of Najib and somehow sees himself stepping into the role of PM. How he plans to do that, I really haven’t the faintest idea.
But of this, I’m sure – it would take no less than a miracle for Razaleigh to team up with Mahathir, as his own aides have revealed how the mere mention of the latter turns him off. Which is why, a deal was said to have been reached when it was whispered to the Tengku that a new plot to topple Najib was on the anvil.
The terms to this deal is yet unknown to me. But somehow braided into this new conspiracy are the usual suspects – no less than 20 persons, split into five political parties, the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
And not to mention, the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC), whose former head was complicit with ex-deputy premier Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and current MACC head Tan Sri Abu Kassim to fabricate a charge sheet against the PM. Needless to say, that plan fell flat on its face.
But this is where things take a turn for the unthinkable – to this newly-hatched conspiracy, they have added a recruit – Lim Guan Eng. The problem is, none of those in Mahathir’s ecosphere have an inkling of an idea that he’s been recruited, let alone why. As a matter of fact, I’m not even certain if Guan Eng himself knows it. But his father has some answers.
Some time between the 21st and the 26th of last month, Lim Kit Siang met Mahathir and was said to have solicited a truce in terms of reciprocity. Mahathir was to twist Abu Kassim’s arm into punting the bungalow-for-land scam controversy – or the Taman Manggis conspiracy, whatever you choose to call it – into the abyss. In return, Kit Siang would help shift the direction of the RM 2.6 billion controversy, the grounds being that the source of the fund was a foregone conclusion, and it wouldn’t pay to keep harping on old platitudes.
As the story goes, both Mahathir and Kit Siang agreed that the goal would be to have Najib charged for moral and financial impropriety, and whatever the outcome, DAP would continue to accuse the current AG of being a dog on Najib’s leash.
A well placed source from DAP, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed that the senior Lim was fear stricken that party insiders had plotted to have him and his son flushed from their positions before July. Fearing the worst, the senior Lim turned to Mahathir and pleaded that something be done to prevent the inevitable – that his son gets imprisoned on charges of criminal malfeasance.
In short, Kit Siang was desperate. Question is, can Mahathir afford to twist Abu Kassim’s arm, and assuming he could, what would he possibly stand to gain from it?
To the second question, Mahathir is determined to use the bungalow-for-land scam as leverage to force both the Lim’s to fully support Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali as the new opposition leader. He has nothing to lose – after all, both he and lawyer Matthias Chang are determined that Penang stays a DAP-run state past the 14th general elections.
Which is also why, Mahathir cannot afford Chow Kon Yeow (of DAP) to rein as Penang CM in the event that Guan Eng tumbles. Sources in the know seem to think that having Chow is just as good as having Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon – the former, as in the case of the latter, would be accused by the Chinese of being a toothless tiger, risking a return to BN rule in Penang.
With that in mind, the former premier relinquished key positions he held in several government linked establishments on the 31st of March 2015, confirming what many had suspected all along – that he was positioning himself as de facto opposition leader by having Azmin front that role.
To the first question – he can.
It’s a game akin to that played by the Mafia. Mahathir appears to think that he has the upper hand, having documents to prove that Abu Kassim had colluded with Muhyiddin and Gani to topple the PM. And he’s right – Abu Kassim has zilch on him, which does give him the upper hand.
It’s just like the time the MACC contested as suicide the murder of Teoh Beng Hock– back then, a furious Kit Siang tried to pin Abu Kassim’s balls to the wall, but backed out when the whole idea began to appeal to him as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to assert his influence on the anti-graft agency. A deal was stuck, and Abu Kassim was left beholden to the senior Lim’s fancies and put the latter and his son off the agency’s radar.
The cut and dry evidence pertaining to the bungalow-for-land scam has since been presented in media, and some of it has ended with authorities. The MACC is in the know, but the direction its probe would take is left to be seen. Abu Kassim has a lot to lose, which is why, he has his sights set on Zeti.
And by later this evening, you’ll know exactly why that is.
