Malaysia’s Game of thrones: the Najib-Mahathir-Razaleigh three-corner fight

Mahathir thought it was a straight or two-corner fight of Najib versus all the rest. Ku Li, however, had actually planned a three-corner fight where he would finish off Mahathir once Mahathir finishes off Najib. And the Boffin Boys in Najib’s office knew all along that the ANC was a divided and not a united force. They knew Ku Li long enough to understand his political gambit even if it was unstated.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I can imagine many of you being very confused about political developments in Malaysia over the last three years since 2013. I suppose it is just like watching the popular TV series ‘The Game of Thrones’. You do not know who is ally to whom and who is enemy to whom. Then allies suddenly and unexpectedly turn enemy and enemies unite against a third and common enemy. Then, once that third and common enemy falls, the two allies of convenience turn enemies again.

Well, if you think ‘The Game of Thrones’ has a most complicated plot, then you do not know Malaysian politics yet. Malaysian politics can be even more complicated than a Hollywood script. In fact, even a Hollywood scriptwriter would not have been able to figure out the end game of Malaysian politics.

I mean if we were to look at Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Plan 2015 and compare it to Plan 2016, you can see that Mahathir’s Plan 2015 was to oust Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to ‘save Umno from getting defeated in the elections’, while Mahathir’s Plan 2016 is to oust Umno-Barisan Nasional so that Pakatan Harapan can take over the government.

The news item below explains clearly what Plan 2016 is compared to what Plan 2015 was. In 2015, the plan was to oust Najib so that his son can become the Deputy Prime Minister and then the Prime Minister later on. Now, Plan 2016 is to defeat Umno and Barisan Nasional in the two coming by-elections so that Umno and Barisan Nasional can be defeated in the next general election.

How will this help Mukhriz Mahathir become the next Deputy Prime Minister? Well, Mahathir is hoping that if Umno panics they might just try to cut a deal with him to save the party and part of that deal would be to make way for Mukhriz. At least this is what he had hoped earlier but then he has dug the hole even deeper that it may now be impossible to climb out.

So that was Mahathir’s Plan 2015 and the changed Plan 2016 when Plan 2015 failed. You can see the way Mahathir talked one year ago compared to how he is taking today. In 2015 it was about saving Umno and now it is about killing Umno. Unfortunately, either way Mukhriz is not going to become the Deputy Prime Minister and even less likely the Prime Minister.

Now, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah a.k.a. Ku Li also had his Plan 2015 and now his Plan 2016. And Ku Li appears to have been even more devious than Mahathir. Initially, Ku Li just waited on the sidelines to see whether Mahathir would be successful in ousting Najib. Ku Li remained silent and tried to give the impression that he was neutral.

Ku Li was not sure whether Mahathir would be able to oust Najib but if he could then Mahathir would need a new Prime Minister to take over. And since Mahathir merely said he wants Najib out but did not actually declare who will take over once Najib is ousted that meant the door was still open for Ku Li to take over from Najib.

To make Mahathir comfortable, Ku Li made it known that he is just interested in one term. In fact, this would be his last term and after that he would retire, Ku Li told everyone. Hence it would be quite safe to make Ku Li the interim Prime Minister to hold the seat ‘under trust’ and then the Deputy Prime Minister can take over.

And that Deputy Prime Minister would be Mukhriz — so he would not have long to wait and by 2020 or so he could take over as Prime Minister, as how Mahathir had planned it. So, between appointing Muhyiddin Yassin and Ku Li, the latter was a safer bet — or at least Ku Li was trying to give that impression to Mahathir.

So there were rumours flying around town that Mahathir and Ku Li were making a deal and Ku Li’s boys were excitedly telling everyone that their boss is about to take over as Prime Minister. The impression they were giving is that it was a united force. But then the Boffin Boys in Najib’s office knew that it was not a united force but a divided force.

The impression being given is that this was a straight fight between Najib and ‘all the rest’. And ‘all the rest’ here meant the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) being led by Mahathir and Pakatan Harapan being led by Anwar Ibrahim. And therefore it would be impossible for Najib to survive beyond mid-2015.

But then the Boffin Boys in Najib’s office knew that this was not a straight fight with everyone united against Najib. They knew that it was actually a three-corner fight. And they did not mean a three-corner fight between Najib, the ANC and Pakatan. They meant it was a three-corner fight involving Najib, Mahathir and Ku Li.

Yes, Ku Li was not in Mahathir’s team. He never planned to be in Mahathir’s team. In fact, Ku Li hates Mahathir and can’t stand the old man. If you were to have a private conversation with Ku Li you will know that Ku Li has nothing nice to say about Mahathir.

And very early in the day Najib’s Boffin Boys already realised that they really do not have much to fear regarding the ANC because Mahathir and Ku Li are actually working against one another, or at least Ku Li is working against Mahathir, so they are going to fail to oust Najib.

Of course, Ku Li was hoping that Mahathir would succeed but when in July last year it was proven that Mahathir had failed, that was when Ku Li ‘took over’ and launched his own version of Plan 2016.

Mahathir’s Plan 2016 was to use the six Tan Sri that included the Deputy Prime Minister, Bank Negara, the MACC, the Special Branch, the AG’s office, etc., to bring Najib down. But then that list comes to only five Tan Sri and there were supposed to be six. So who was the sixth Tan Sri?

Was it the IGP? The IGP says no although he admits that he was approached to join the conspiracy but then he declined. Was it Ku Li (who is also a Tan Sri)? Ku Li also says no although he, too, admits that he was approached to join the conspiracy but then he declined as well.

So there you have it. Five Tan Sri fingered and one still unidentified. So who is the sixth? Even I was confused one year ago.

Then Ku Li did one very clever thing. When he knew that Mahathir had failed and will now not be able to bring Najib down, Ku Li revealed that a conspiracy to bring down Najib does exist and that he was approached about it and that he had refused to join the conspiracy.

Can you see how Ku Li’s plot worked? When Mahathir was hammering away at Najib, Ku Li kept quiet. He did not say anything. He just prepared himself to take over if and when Najib falls. Ku Li felt that Mahathir will never succeed unless he also gets the support of Pakatan Harapan and the only way Pakatan Harapan will support Mahathir would be if a neutral or compromise candidate like Ku Li takes over as Prime Minister.

And that was what Anwar meant in his recent letter from prison when he said that Ku Li was supposed to be the ‘calun kompromi’.

However, in July last year, when it was clear that Mahathir had failed, Ku Li launched his own Plan 2015. And Ku Li’s Plan 2015 was to get at least 112 Members of Parliament to sign Statutory Declarations to pass a vote of no confidence against Najib in Parliament.

And that was what Anwar said in his letter from prison. Basically, Anwar was sore that Ku Li had used Pakatan to try to oust Najib with a hidden agenda of his own. And when the plot to get not less than 112 MPs to sign the SDs was revealed, Ku Li denied any involvement whereas he was not only involved but he was actually the person who mooted the idea (as DAP’s Anthony Loke revealed).

And even Mahathir said the same thing: that he was not behind the SDs or the planned vote of no confidence in Parliament but that the people behind that move had approached him and asked him to join the club. In short, what made Mahathir, Anwar and Anthony Loke very sore was that Ku Li was the one throwing the stone while hiding his hand.

So, Mahathir’s Plan 2015 failed, as did Ku Li’s Plan 2015. So they have both now launched a new Plan 2016. Mahathir’s Plan 2016 is to try to defeat Umno-Barisan Nasional in the elections. And Ku Li’s Plan 2016 is to try to become the new Deputy Prime Minister.

In the previous article (Ku Li the sixth Tan Sri finally exposed) we have already explained how this is going to be done. Free Malaysia Today has also reported that same thing (Ku Li aiming to be DPM, says RPK).

The long and short of it is currently Ku Li is an outsider and it would be impossible for an outsider to straight away go up to become the Deputy Prime Minister. So Ku Li must first have to get in to the Cabinet.

Ku Li wanted to become the Petronas Adviser but that post was given to Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. So Ku Li wants to be compensated with the post of Finance Minister. And Ku Li has someone inside Najib’s office that is helping him in this effort. And Ku Li has promised this inside man that he will be handsomely rewarded once he becomes the new Deputy Prime Minister.

Earlier this week Ku Li asked that the PAC report on 1MDB be declassified. Ku Li’s inside man told him that he will slow talk Najib into appointing Ku Li the Finance Minister just to shut him up and stop him from pushing the 1MDB issue.

Once Ku Li becomes a Cabinet Minister he would have to trigger a conflict between the two Umno Vice Presidents, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Hishammuddin Hussein. To solve this conflict and restore peace, Najib will need a new and neutral Deputy Prime Minister as a calun kompromi, as Anwar revealed in his letter from prison.

And all that has already started, even the masuk jarum to trigger a conflict between Zahid and Hishammuddin. But this plot was discovered last month. Certain Bloggers were being used to hentam Zahid and the story being spread was that Hishammuddin was the one paying them to hentam Zahid.

And the inside man in Najib’s office knew all this. But now he has been discovered. And what is on everyone’s lips is he has benefitted a lot from his association with Najib so why does he take risks by doing this? Well, I suppose this is normal human greed. They are never satisfied and always want more and Ku Li has promised him more.

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(Malay Mail Online) – The opposition parties will likely never be able to unseat the Barisan Nasional (BN) government as they can never stand united, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.

He pointed to the seat clashes among opposition parties during the May 7 Sarawak polls and said it was likely that BN would win the coming two by-elections in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar.

“They can never unite. That is the only reason why BN has been winning in elections. It is because opposition parties have never been united.”

“They can never be brought together and hence, they will always lose, while BN will continue to win,” he was quoted as saying today in the New Straits Times.

Dr Mahathir has become the face of the bipartisan Citizens’ Declaration movement, which is lobbying for the resignation of prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

However questions were raised after a letter purportedly from jailed PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was made public on Monday, advising party leaders to be wary of their alliance with Dr Mahathir as his Citizens’ Declaration was “defective and incoherent viewed in the context of reform.”

Umno leaders accused Dr Mahathir of seeking Najib’s ouster in order to make his son, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, the prime minister.