Azmin Ali’s Damage Control To Get Back Home!
The Malaysian Observer
It was not too long ago that Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali was floating around in the belief that he was heir apparent to the (Pakatan Harapan) throne. There was an air about him which suggested that he did not have to play by Pakatan Harapan rules as he was making his own rules to rule!
The Selangor Menteri Besar seemed to be gradually distancing himself from Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and latching himself onto his new patron, Tun Dr Mahathir.
No doubt Azmin Ali believed, that a political shift would be taking place and he wanted to position himself on what he also believed was the winning (Tun Mahathir) side. As Azmin saw it; Tun Mahathir is a king maker and he (Azmin) we settle on being the prince!
So the Selangor Menteri Besar jumped with both feet into the Save Malaysia campaign symbolically thumbing his nose at Datuk Wan Azizah (who did not join the movement) and her incarcerated husband; Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim!
As was stated in a previous writing; Azmin Ali actions were like Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s when he attempted to exert his independence from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak! The marked difference with Azmin Ali is that he did not verbally go against his leader in the same manner that Muhyiddin Yassin went against the Prime Minister!
Azmin Ali it seems wanted to make sure the water was safe before he plunged right in.
One of his first moves was to be seen front and center in his support for Tun Mahathir. Then he made the infamous open invitation to PAS inviting PAS to rejoin Pakatan Harapan; a move Pakatan Harapan and especially the DAP neither sanctioned nor authorized!
Is such a reconciliation even possible given all that has happened!
One could almost see senior and junior Lim, Azmin Ali and Datuk Wan Azizah seated across from PAS president Hadi Awang while Amanah sits obediently in the corner of the room with tails tucked between their legs. In this scenario how could Azmin Ali ever think it possible for the Lims to say to PAS that they (the Lims) never meant those negative things they have said about PAS before and after the breakup of Pakatan Rakyat!
Of course they (the Lims) meant them! To say otherwise would give credence to possibility that they would say the same thing to Prime Minister Najib Razak, if they (the Lims) thought it was politically expedient or if would keep junior Lim from becoming Anwar Ibrahim’s BFF cellmate!
But all of that did not matter to the Selangor Menteri Besar as he ‘was’ determined to display his independence as eminent leader of the Opposition!
Azmin Ali would have continued with his plan to pull away from de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim leadership had it not been for the jolt of reality that he received following the tallying of the twin by-election votes!
The look on Azmin’s face following both by-election loses was that of a man who had swum too far out in the ocean and suddenly realized that he might drown! In other words; he was in deep trouble with PKR and he knew it!
So Azmin Ali’s only recourse was to start doing damage control.
In a recent discussion, Azmin mentions how ‘PAS’ has forgotten the basic principles of their former coalition. How differences should not destroy an old alliance.
