The phantom of the ‘Citizen’s Declaration’

The Third Force

This is the untold story of how the ‘Citizen’s Declaration’ really came to be. Believe it if you want to, don’t if you don’t. But let it be known that this article was written taking into account the need to present to people an alternate version of some well circulated ‘truths’ as it was related to me .

In the month of August last year, Mahathir got together with two of his associates and a Chinese Tan Sri to discuss a failed coup attempt that happened the month before. After some back and forth, the meeting agreed to rid the government of Najib by bringing Barisan Nasional down during the next general election. An affirmative plan of action was put together towards the destruction of the ruling coalition.

Many of the ideas floated that day seemed to originate from the Chinese Tan Sri alone, who appeared instrumental in getting Mahathir to agree on many things. Among them were the setting up a new party, the establishment of a Third Force and the launching a year-long ‘save Malaysia’ campaign against Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak. But there was something else that cropped up during the August meeting.

Now, at the time, Mahathir was a very fractured and bitter old man, devastated that the coup attempt against Najib had gone awry. I am told, so devastated was he, he almost was moved to tears in the room where the meeting was held. The former premier had spent so much time meticulously planning the entire coup plot with Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz. When the plan flopped, so did his ego.

Low in spirits, the former premier was all ears when the Chinese Tan Sri (TSX) proposed the yearlong ‘save Malaysia’ campaign. Mahathir was told that the campaign was to prelude a five-month ‘war of an untold proportion’ against the ruling coalition. The former premier was also told that a group of three funders were ready to channel billions towards the cause of destroying Barisan Nasional.

The news immediately lifted Mahathir’s spirits. As the story goes, TSX began charting a trajectory through which the ‘save Malaysia’ campaign would run. The meeting was told that the campaign was to convince Malaysians that Mahathir would ‘fight to free the nation from the clutches of a corrupt and evil administration’.

However, unbeknown to Mahathir, a certain DAP leader had already been in close contact with Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for some eight weeks prior to the August meeting. The DAP leader and Muhyiddin discussed many things, among them being the ‘save Malaysia’ government that Kit Siang had first proposed on the 22^nd of March 2015.

During one such encounter, the DAP leader came up with the idea of a Third Force comprising members of the then existing opposition coalition and breakaway groups from UMNO. He discussed with Muhyiddin the possibility of the latter leaving UMNO to lead the Third Force in place of Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The DAP leader went on to relate plans to get the Third Force to spearhead a ‘Peoples’ Declaration’ against the Prime Minister. If you’re thinking Muhyiddin had disagreed, you’re dead wrong. He agreed to everything, including leaving UMNO and abandoning Mahathir. If what I am told is true, the DAP leader assured Muhyiddin that he knew people who could help the latter sort out a personal problem that afflicted him.

But before that, Muhyiddin had already related to a former PKR leader of plans that were afoot to destroy Najib. I am not sure exactly what was discussed, but am told that Muhyiddin was feeling entrapped and was not happy at being a dog on Mahathir’s leash. Yes, it seems that Muhyiddin was a very distressed man and had confided in the utmost secrecy to the ex-PKR man.

The former PKR leader turned out to be an opportunist who sought to gain something from the information he had just received. Now, what he did or did not gain, I can’t be certain. But of this, I’m sure – everything that Muhyiddin had confided in him was relayed to the DAP leader.

And that is precisely why the DAP leader decided to get in touch with Muhyiddin. However, the DAP leader was also in touch with a certain Chinese taiko, known to be the ‘de facto Chief Minister’ of Penang. Let’s just call this taiko TKP for the moment, shall we? The reason being, I am not at liberty to name all these people due to an agreement I have with my sources. Not, at least, for the moment.

It is highly likely that these names will be exposed at a later date pending circumstances that relate to a completed ‘shopping mall’ project in Penang. Once a discovery by us into the controversy is completed, the taiko’s name and that of the DAP and ex-PKR leaders might just surface.

That said, TKP was instrumental in helping the DAP secure a landslide during the 2008 general election and is someone Lim Kit Siang is said to be indebted to for a multitude of reasons. I am sure that those who are politically savvy would immediately know who I am referring to.

For the record, TKP is known to share a good repo with some tycoons. The outcome of discussions that had taken place between the DAP leader and Muhyiddin is believed to have channelled through TKP to the tycoons, known to share a good repo with Mahathir and Tun Daim Zainuddin. However, the tycoons did not alert the former premier of what they had come to know. Instead, they waited to see if Muhyiddin would quit UMNO or if the planned coup attempt against Najib would materialise.

As you already know, neither did Muhyiddin leave UMNO nor did the coup attempt succeed. Immediately after the coup plot was uncovered by Najib, the tycoons renamed the ‘Peoples’ Declaration’ as a ‘Citizens’ Declaration’ and got TSX to arrange for a post-mortem with Mahathir to funnel the idea into the former premiers head.

It was during this meeting that TSX floated the ‘Citizens’ Declaration’ and the yearlong ‘save Malaysia’ campaign for the first time. TSX emphasised that for the plan to work, Mahathir would need to team up with Lim Kit Siang and Datin Seri Dr. Wan Azizah.

Can you guess why?

The reason is quite simple. Just as Mahathir was concerned with some 70 odd billion the tycoons and several others were said to be holding for him and his proxies in trust, these tycoons were consumed with the idea of protecting those billions from coming under the former premier’s control or that of his son in the event that Najib was toppled.

So the tycoons wanted to make damn sure that any further attempt to topple Najib would fail. As a matter of fact, they want Mahathir finished once and for all. To do that, they ‘agreed’ in December of 2015 to pledge some three billion ringgit to Mahathir’s cause of destroying Barisan Nasional with some strings attached.

One of these strings required Mahathir to work closely with the DAP and PKR. Another required the former premier to launch a ‘year-long save Malaysia’ campaign and a ‘Citizens’ Declaration’ against Najib. The tycoons knew, as did TSX, that the day Mahathir got into bed with Kit Siang and Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim would be the day the name Mahathir would never rise again.

Yes, three of Mahathir’s six funders sabotaged him.