Mahathir has to step down like David Cameron did

David Cameron lost his Referendum and resigns. Mahathir lost his Referendum and blames the voters for ‘makan dedak’ and refuses to resign. Mahathir then says he no longer has any hard feelings for Anwar in the hope that his mortal enemy will do a U-turn and support his ANC.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I just watched the live BBC broadcast (just after 3.00pm Malaysian time) from 10 Downing Street where the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced his resignation effective three months from now after the Conservative party conference in October this year (I hope Boris Johnson takes over).

The British PM led a campaign for the UK to remain in the UE and a Referendum was held yesterday as to whether the British people want to remain in the EU or leave. 52% voted to leave and 48% voted to remain. So that means the UK will be leaving the EU while Scotland and Ireland, who voted to remain, might hold their own referendums to leave the UK and then rejoin the EU as independent nations.

So that will translate to a double disaster for the UK, say those who are dismayed by the result. The Pound Sterling also took a dive, the largest drop in 30 years, which many of us had already expected. But at least David Cameron did not scold the voters and say that they ‘makan dedak’ or have been bought and so on, like what Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad would do.

Basically the issue is simple. David Cameron lost his Referendum. So he is doing the noble thing and is leaving. Last weekend, Mahathir also held his Referendum and lost. So Mahathir, too, should resign from the leadership of the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) and from the leadership of Pakatan Harapan where he holds the post of de facto Opposition Leader.

It was Mahathir himself who declared that the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections were actually Referendums for the people to declare whether they still want Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to remain in office. The people not only voted in favour of Najib but they gave Najib a most impressive victory and a majority far larger than the previous general election.

In short, it was a double-blow for Mahathir. He not only lost but he lost with a much larger majority. (READ: The two tight slaps the voters gave Mahathir). Mahathir threw the voters a challenge (choose either me or Najib) and the people accepted that challenge and chose Najib.

David Cameron accepted the British people’s decision to reject his remain campaign and resigned from office. Mahathir should also accept the people’s decision to reject his oust-Najib campaign and resign as well.

However, instead of doing what David Cameron did, Mahathir does a U-turn and says that he no longer has any hard feelings for Anwar Ibrahim while Azmi Ali says that he was always loyal to Anwar and refused to meet Mahathir since 1998 until just last year in February 2015.

But then during the meeting between Mahathir and Azmin 17 months or so ago in London, Mahathir refused to talk about Anwar and would not agree for Anwar’s freedom to be one of the agendas of the ANC. Mahathir also refused to consider Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as a potential prime minister because, according to Mahathir, he is too close to Anwar.

And that was why Azmin went and made a deal with Mahathir to help oust Najib but without including Anwar’s freedom from jail as one of the agendas of the ANC. Anwar, in turn, took this as Azmin throwing him under the bus and sacrificing him in favour of Mahathir and that was why Anwar wrote those two letters from prison.

The letters from prison appeared like Anwar was attacking Mahathir but in reality he was attacking Azmin by using Azmin’s deal with Mahathir as the excuse to whack all those making a deal with Mahathir, which would include Azmin in particular. (READ: Azmin Ali’s Damage Control To Get Back Home!)

The clincher was supposed to be the two by-elections. Mahathir had hoped that Barisan Nasional would lose and he thought that the voters would listen to him when he told them to vote opposition. But the voters did not. So that plan, just like so many other plans before that over the last 20 months, failed as well.

Mahathir now knows that the possibility of ousting Najib looks very bleak. He tried through a Cabinet ‘revolt’ in July 2015. He tried though a vote of no confidence in Parliament in October 2015. He tried through the Umno annual general assembly in December 2015. And then he tried through a Referendum last weekend. All failed. (READ: Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar: Mahathir’s Waterloo).

But Mahathir refuses to accept the reality of his defeat in spite of losing every battle (probably at least ten so far) over the last 20 months or so since December 2014. Somehow Mahathir feels he can still oust Najib. So he is trying to get Anwar to support him by saying that he no longer has any hard feelings for Anwar. Mahathir is hoping that Anwar will send a third letter from prison but this time asking PKR to support and work with him.

Mahathir even tried to blame Najib for Anwar’s incarceration whereas it was during Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s time that Anwar was arrested for Sodomy 2 (and during Mahathir’s time for Sodomy 1). In fact, Najib allowed Anwar to drag this case for seven years and did not interfere with the court process.

Meanwhile, the Chinese media is trying to shift the blame of the opposition disaster from DAP to PAS (READ: Hadi ruins Pakatan Harapan’s route to Putrajaya). DAP refuses to accept the fact that they screwed up big-time by creating PAN and then presenting it as an anti-Syariah party.

Azmin, however, sees that he cannot continue as Menteri Besar if PAS and Umno unite to bring down the Pakatan Harapan government in Selangor. So Azmin is making deals with PAS, DAP, PAN and Mahathir all at the same time. (READ: PAS blames Azmin for loss in by-elections)

The problem with this, though, is like trying to get the many Afghan tribes who have been fighting each other for more than 1,000 years to unite. In the end what you get is the Taliban who kill more of its own people than Russians. And after the Russians go home they fight each other again and kill even more of their own people.