Anwar destroyed Bersih

When Anwar launched Bersih 2.0 in July 2011, it was to pressure the government into dropping the ‘sodomy 2’ charge against him. But he made it appear like Bersih 2.0 was an extension of the November 2007 Bersih rally, which is not true. Then, when the prosecution appealed his January 2012 acquittal, Anwar launched Bersih 3.0 in April 2012.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Next month, on 19th November 2016, they are organising the Bersih 5.0 rally. The reason they are calling it Bersih 5.0 is because this is supposed to be the fifth rally since the original Bersih rally that was held nine years ago on 10th November 2007. So they are suggesting that the 10th November 2007 rally was Bersih 1.0 although it was not.

The 10th November 2007 Bersih rally was a standalone event and not Bersih 1.0 or the first rally in a series of five Bersih rallies, as what they are insinuating. The 10th November 2007 rally was never meant to be Bersih 1.0 and never meant to be the first in a series of many rallies to come.

Anwar Ibrahim actually did not support or get involved in the planning of the 2007 Bersih rally (a.k.a. ‘Bersih 1.0’). The whole thing was planned by just a handful of us — politicians from both sides of the political divide plus activists. Sometimes we met in the house of an Umno chap and sometimes in the house of a DAP chap.

When Mukhriz Mahathir did his blood donation drive at the Kampung Baru mosque, a group of DAP Chinese led by Ronnie Liu turned up to donate blood even though it was an Umno Youth event. The purpose was to demonstrate solidarity and improve the relationship between the two groups.

When I did an ‘open house’ at my home, both the Umno boys and DAP boys and girls came. The DAP chaps brought the beer and the Umno boys helped drink it. How better to build a relationship than by sharing your beer. And the Umno boys did not drink the beer just to please the DAP boys and girls but because they really wanted to drink the beer.

Well, President Nixon started the ‘ping pong diplomacy’ between the US and China and I started the beer diplomacy between Umno and DAP. It was slow and hard work to be able to ‘unite’ both sides of the political divide so that we could eventually jointly organise the Bersih rally on 10th November 2007.

The Umno side, which had more funds than us, printed caps and T-shirts, which I distributed free of charge by the carloads. And they were good quality stuff, mind you (the caps were like a navy admiral cap with gold braids and trimming and so on).

It was important we demonstrated that Bersih was not an opposition event but a rakyat event. And the fact that even Umno people were involved in Bersih was proof that it was not an opposition event. If not Umno would not get involved.

The reason this was important is because we wanted His Majesty the Agong to consent to receiving our petition for electoral reforms. We wanted to march to the Agong’s palace, Istana Negara, and unless His Majesty gave his consent the police would not let us through. But since Umno was also involved in Bersih, we were given permission to march to the palace.

The Bersih rally of 10th November 2007 was a roaring success, much to everyone’s surprise, Anwar included — who then quickly turned up to hijack the petition and personally deliver it to the Agong. From nowhere Anwar suddenly appeared and took over and made it appear like he was behind Bersih.

That is the story of the Bersih rally of 10th November 2007.

But what I have never revealed so far, until today, is that those Umno boys who were involved in Bersih were actually Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s boys. Other than the ‘committee’ meetings between both sides of the political divide, we had private meetings with just Mahathir’s boys.

No doubt the opposition was involved in Bersih to seek electoral reforms. Mahathir’s boys, however, were involved in Bersih to hurt Umno and Barisan Nasional so that Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi could be brought down.

The move to oust Abdullah started a year before that in June 2006. But it would not be easy to oust Abdullah unless Umno and Barisan Nasional do badly in the general election in 2008. If Umno and Barisan Nasional do as well in 2008 as they did in 2004 (the best performance in history) then Abdullah is going to remain in office for a long, long time and Khairy Jamaluddin is going to end up as Prime Minister instead of Mukhriz Mahathir.

And it worked. Umno and Barisan Nasional did quite badly in the March 2008 general election, which resulted in Abdullah stepping down a year later in April 2009. It was not entirely because of the 10th November 2007 Bersih rally but that rally was certainly a contributing factor.

So, while the opposition people in Bersih were rallying for electoral reforms, the Umno boys (meaning Mahathir’s boys) in Bersih were rallying to oust Abdullah. And the plan was if the police stop us from marching to the Agong’s palace we would turn Bersih into a ‘Malaysian Spring”.

(There are some things about what was going on behind the scenes that, for security reasons, I cannot reveal. Suffice to say that we were not alone but were backed by heavy firepower. But they stayed hidden and would only surface in the event that the ‘Malaysian Spring’ explodes. Even Anwar did not know this).

Prime Minister Abdullah, however, knew this. That was why he told the IGP to not stand in our way. What really surprised us was that the police, instead of stopping us, stopped the traffic so that we could occupy the entire street. Even my wife, Marina, commented that someone up there is looking out for us.

The rest, as they say, is well documented. After Bersih we had the Hindraf rally that same month, which DAP was behind it. And I know because I spoke to the DAP masterminds who planned Hindraf about the strategy to adopt — such as to ‘occupy’ Batu Caves, which only a handful of people knew about until midnight on the eve of the event.

(It could not have been impromptu, as many think, if the media and cameramen were already waiting at Batu Caves at 3.00am before the marchers arrived at 5.00am).

Then, after all this, we had the now historical March 2008 general election, which sent shock waves through the government. Abdullah, Umno and Barisan Nasional did not know what hit them. When we announced in the weeks leading to the general election that the opposition was going to win five states and 80-90 parliament seats we knew what we were talking about.

Do you remember Tun Daim Zainuddin also announcing the same thing? Actually he announced it just after we did (and not before we did) and he announced it because Mahathir told him to. Mahathir knew Penang was going to fall because he spoke to the Chinese and told them to make sure that Penang falls. Penang is Abdullah’s home base so he needed Penang to fall for Abdullah to fall.

Three months later, on 28th June 2008, Mohammad Saiful Bukhari Azlan lodged a police report alleging that Anwar had forcibly sodomised him.

On 29th June, Anwar took refuge in the Turkish Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and left the following day after the police assured him of his safety.

On 16th July, Anwar was arrested and charged for sodomy (a.k.a. Sodomy 2).

Anwar then launched his ’16 September’ campaign hoping that Abdullah would panic and would tell the police to drop the sodomy charge. The ’16 September’ campaign was supposed to be the day that Barisan Nasional falls due to 30 of their Parliamentarians crossing over to Pakatan Rakyat — whereby Anwar would walk into Putrajaya and take over as Prime Minister.

By then I was already under detention in Kamunting and my wife, Marina, wanted to know whether to wait for the 16th of September 2008 — whereby the new Prime Minister would release me from detention — or whether to look at other options.

So Marina spoke to one of Anwar’s inner circle and he told her that ‘16 September’ is just a ruse and will never happen. Anwar just wants to shake Abdullah to try to get him to drop the sodomy charge.

Marina came to Kamunting to see me and to tell me about her conversation with this Datuk. ’16 September’ is not going to happen, so if I want to get out of Kamunting she will have to take this case to the Shah Alam court. She did and the court ruled my detention illegal and ordered my release.

Not long after that I left the country — based on advise from insiders that they were coming for me again, and this time I was going to be inside for at least six to eight years — just like Yazid Sufaat (who I know personally) and Nik Adli (son of Nik Abdul Aziz, the then PAS Menteri Besar of Kelantan).

I left midnight on Saturday by boat, arrived in Thailand on Sunday, and on Monday, 23rd February 2009, they came to my house to detain me and found the house empty. They camped for three days outside my house and questioned all my neighbours but no one could tell them anything. It was three months later before they found out where I was, but by then they could not touch me.

(Until today Bukit Aman still does not know how I found out they were coming for me and managed to get out just 32 hours before they came for me).

Meanwhile, Anwar was fighting his sodomy charge and the only defence he had was an alibi that he was not at the scene of the crime at the time and date he was alleged to have sodomised Saiful. Anwar was going to call 12 witnesses to support his alibi, his wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, and the condo owner, amongst them.

So it was going to be Saiful’s word against the word of 12 witnesses.

Then the police told Anwar’s defence team that they have a CCTV recording from the security camera where the timeline shows Anwar and Saiful both entering the condo and leaving an hour or so later.

So, as the Malays would say: kantoi. Burn! The 12 witnesses could no longer testify and support Anwar’s alibi. In mid-2010, I spoke to that Datuk (who told Marina regarding the ‘16 September’ ruse) when we met in London and I asked him whether Anwar was going to escape prison. He told me no way Anwar is going to escape. He is guilty as hell and was going to go in.

Later that same year (late-2010), I met Anwar in London. When I told him certain things, which he did not like to hear (don’t ask me what, but one day I might write about it), he was very upset with me. That was when Anwar and I parted company — or rather he was so pissed with me he did not want anything more to do with me.

Anwar refused to accept the reality that he was going to lose his case and was going to be sent to jail. And if you tell him this he goes berserk. I mean, if the doctor diagnoses you with terminal cancer, don’t punch him in the face and call him an idiot. Accept the fact you are going to die and prepare yourself for death.

So, no, I did not turn from Anwar in 2010, as many may believe. He turned from me. And he also turned from many other people, such as that Datuk I spoke about above, plus a few others Datuks who have told me the same thing, one just last month when we met.

Anwar cannot accept the truth. He wants to hear only what he likes to hear, even if it is a lie. And such people can never lead the country. The country will go down the drain.

When Anwar finally accepted the reality that he was going to lose his case and was going to end up in jail, on 9th July 2011 Anwar organised Bersih 2.0. If the July 2011 event was Bersih 2.0, this would mean the November 2007 event was Bersih 1.0.

But this is not the case. Bersih of November 2007 was a standalone event and was only about one thing, electoral reforms. Bersih ‘2.0’ was a desperate attempt by Anwar to pressure the Prime Minister into getting him acquitted or else suffer a ‘Malaysian Spring’. Bersih 2.0 was meant to frighten Najib into saving Anwar from going to jail.

On 9th January 2012, almost two years after the trial started, the judge found Anwar not guilty. So Bersih 2.0 worked, or so Anwar thought. However, on 20th January 2012, the prosecution filed an appeal against Anwar’s acquittal. So Anwar was now back in court and was not home free after all.

On 28th April 2012, Anwar organised Bersih 3.0.

Can you see the pattern here and can you see what Bersih is all about? If you think it is about electoral reforms then you are stupider than you look. It is just about trying to get Anwar out of jail, nothing more and nothing less

But now Bersih has a competitor, the Red Shirts. Is Umno behind the Red Shirts? According to Rafizi Ramli, no! Rafizi said, “He (Jamal) is the biggest clown in Umno and every day, Umno leaders get headaches thinking of how to deal with this clown, who is becoming more irritating.”

Yes, Rafizi said even Umno has a headache regarding how to deal with the Red Shirts. So, according to Rafizi, even Umno is not too happy with them. So how can Umno be behind them? So let’s see who is going to win on 19th November 2016 — the Free Anwar Campaign yellow shirts or the red shirts?