The letter that needs to be publicised because signals in private fell on deaf ears
Umar Mukhtar
It was a typical PKR KETUM, Anwar Ibrahim’s tirade out of boredom. Nine pages that could have been written in nine paragraphs ostensibly to run down Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. So what’s new? Except that this time it could not be taken seriously because just days before Deklarasi Rakyat’s signing, Anwar had urged support for the old man. Which is which?
Mahathir was a convenient target but the objective of Anwar writing the letter was not him — it’s tiring to hear the usual stuff from a bitter man. It’s something the Malays call ‘Pukul anak sindir menantu’. Beating the child just so you can get at the son-in-law or daughter-in-law. The real target, which is to everybody’s knowledge, is Azmin Ali, the PKR deputy president.
Obviously, Azmin’s behaviour has not been guided by words from beyond the steel doors of Sungai Buloh Prison. It almost seemed like Azmin is paddling his own canoe. Why shouldn’t he? The man in Sungai Buloh is out of touch with the reality outside and he hears stuff only from his family and subordinates who are eager to please him, and salivating at his approvals.
To be fair to Azmin, he would not mind humouring his old boss if he can afford to but that’s not the case! Azmin can’t sit still and do nothing. He has to make a choice between PAS and DAP to ensure his continuing as Selangor MB. But both parties are getting to be more and more demanding. The resulting shuffling involves Azmin dancing with Mahathir.
This is because lately Azmin has been leaning towards PAS and away from DAP. And if push comes to shove, he may need the UMNO ADUNs’ support to form the state government, if he and his loyalists are expelled from PKR for breaching the Pakatan Harapan agreement of which PAS is not a member. So he is not burning his bridges, at least not with UMNO’s Team B.
And that’s what Anwar is pissed off about? Not actually just only that. It’s the overall Azmin’s thinking behind Azmin’s apparent support of ‘the serpent’ whom Anwar needed nine pages to bitch about and demonise, and Azmin’s wayward ways of not ‘layaning’ Wan Azizah Ismail, the president. There is a rift in PKR, no question about that. ‘Bangkai gajah bukan boleh ditutup dengan nyiru.‘ You can’t hide an elephant’s carcass with a winnowing tray.
That’s in spite of Azmin’s preference that it shouldn’t be on everyone’s wagging tongue. He even had one of his ‘macais’ to issue a statement that the nine pages were fraudulent. From the impression of the handwringing in the letter, the verbose Bahasa Malaysia of a Malay studies graduate, the subject matter and its overall tenor reflecting the impatience of a man now bored in jail, it was genuine alright. But why does Azmin want to hide things away?
That’s vintage Azmin, always pretending he’s the ever obedient subordinate but with ambitions even up to assassinating the boss. Remember his statements and public docility the days before he was appointed MB instead of Wan Azizah? While behind the scenes he was frantically lobbying PAS and the corporate tycoons and whosoever he could to send a favourable message to the palace.
Azmin needs to continue as an MB. He is now in a situation where if he takes a wrong step, he could be just an ordinary political has-been, or if his stars are in favourable orbit, he could even be a prime minister. That’s more than can be said of Anwar or his wife. In the medium term Anwar is expected to stay in Sungai Buloh and his wife Wan Azizah forever standing as his proxy and playing ‘victim’. But making the step, Azmin must, in order to save himself and if possible PKR.
If there are three-cornered fights in the two coming by-elections, it would be entertaining to see which party Azmin favours; PAS or fellow PH, PAN, which for sure will be DAP’s mount. If there’s any time which Azmin prefers to be sequestered away with Anwar in Sungai Buloh so that he doesn’t need to make a decision, it is now. Anwar is just simply pissed. That’s it.
But Anwar has no experience in this kind of situation either except to bullshit his way through, as always. It is his bullshit that eventually led to PR breaking up. Azmin is trying hard to be like Anwar — to be able to postpone decisions. But no one can stop the chickens from coming home to roost. Azmin just has to make the best of it his way or get consumed by it, courtesy of Anwar.
Anwar is rallying his troops from right under his prison wardens’ noses because he can’t rely on his wife. His lieutenants pathetic attempts to coax Ezam Mohd Nor back into PKR to help destroy Azmin because they couldn’t do it by themselves were just that; pathetic.
Wasn’t it Anwar’s choice of a secretary-general who went to town to say the letter was genuine? But his president now says it for private consumption only! Which is which, again? And meanwhile Barisan Nasional is laughing its head off on the way to the bank with donation proceeds!
