Mahathir’s new and secret deal with Anwar

Mahathir and Anwar have entered into a secret deal. Mahathir realises that Muhyiddin and Mukhriz are lost causes so he now endorses Anwar for Prime Minister in the event Pakatan Harapan wins the next general election. And in return Wan Azizah must arrange for the Pakatan Harapan MPs to sign the petition to the Conference of Rulers asking Their Highnesses to sack Najib as PM.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

On Saturday, we wrote ‘Mahathir staged the Parliament walkout’ (READ HERE). Since then others have come out to say the same, as reported by the mainstream media (Malay Mail Online and New Straits Times).

“Don’t play games with me. The walkout, I know it was just a matter of timing, it was already planned,” said Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had a hand in the walkout staged by the Opposition MPs during the tabling of Budget 2017 by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman this was because Dr Mahathir has been working with the Opposition to oust Najib.

“We don’t need Raja Petra to tell us that. I can tell you that he is involved either directly or indirectly as he has already been working with the Opposition. How can they (MPs) deny the fact that the walkout was not about protesting the budget but rather against Najib?”

Anyway, while Pandikar and Tajuddin, plus probably tens of thousands of others, know for a fact that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is behind the Parliament walkout and demonstration last Friday, not many know the behind-the-scenes goings-on leading to Friday’s protest.

As I have said many times, Malaysia Today deals with the untold story, not the stories that Rafizi Ramli and Tony Pua and those of their ilk repeat again and again. After all, did not Rafizi say the Kajang Move was NOT about ousting Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim and did not Tony say Khalid is the most best, most hardworking, most clean, most honest, most everything under the sun Menteri Besar in Selangor history and did they not oust him soon after that and called him the worst crook in Selangor history?

So let me tell you the untold story behind last Friday’s walkout and demonstration outside Parliament. We all know that it was not about the budget because the Pakatan Harapan Members of Parliament walked out halfway through and did not stay to hear the budget presentation (or debate the parts of the budget which they may feel they do not like).

Actually, even if you want to disagree with the budget you have to admit that some parts of it were pretty good. So it is silly to oppose the entire budget when not the whole budget can be considered bad (if, in the first place, you want to call it bad just for the sake of disagreeing with the government).

Fitch unit lauds Budget 2017 as ‘balanced’ (READ HERE). 

It is very clear even to the opposition supporters that last Friday’s walkout and demonstration was an anti-Najib protest and not an anti-Budget 2017 protest. The Pakatuns have been opposing the government since their parties were first formed and have been saying that Malaysia is going bankrupt since the 1960s.

If you listen to people like Lim Kit Siang, he has been saying that Malaysia is going bankrupt since before many of you were born. He is like Chicken Little who believes the world is coming to an end  and goes around screaming that the sky is falling.

Anyway, back to my untold story. What is it about last Friday’s walkout and demonstration that has not been told yet (other than it was planned and that Mahathir was behind it)? Well, this is why you need Malaysia Today because we have a fly on the wall that reports back conversations and plots between just two people (such as the lecture that His Majesty the Agong gave Mahathir last month in Alor Setar).

Last Friday’s demonstration was the result of a new and secret deal that Mahathir made with Anwar Ibrahim. Knowing that he has come up against a dead end, Mahathir needs to be what some people would call pragmatic and play the game of realpolitik. From what I learned during my Oxford political philosophy course, realpolitik is a system of politics or principles based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations.

Those who practice realpolitik are normally Machiavellian. And the definition of Machiavellian is cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous, especially in politics. Now, don’t knock that just yet because in his own way Sun Tzu is just like that. And don’t the Chinese (and even non-Chinese like me) have loads of respect for Sun Tzu?

So, as a Machiavellian who plays realpolitik would normally do when he or she is fighting a lost cause and is doomed, you make new alliances and even change sides if necessary. And that is what Mahathir did. He made a new alliance and changed sides. So now he has endorsed Anwar for Prime Minister when earlier he said he wants Muhyiddin Yassin for Prime Minister and then changed his story to ‘it is too early to name who should be Prime Minister’.

But Mahathir is smart, too smart for people like Anwar Ibrahim or Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. Mahathir adopted the deniability and fallback strategy. That is normally how the US President does things. The US President always insulates himself from any fallout. So they play the deniability and fallback strategy so that later you can deny any knowledge or involvement in the whole thing and let someone else take the fall for it. And this fall-guy would go down with the ship with his lips sealed.

And this is the game that Mahathir, too, is playing. When Mahathir went to court on 5th September 2016 we already knew that something was about to happen. That court appearance, which was arranged by Azmin, was merely to test the waters. It was a public show but the real deal would be done behind closed doors, not in full public view.

Then we found out that Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Ali was going to meet up with Wan Azizah. So that is where the real deal is going to be made. However, although we knew about this a couple of weeks ago, we did not want to let the cat out of the bag lest we frighten the prey. And the prey here is Wan Azizah, of course.

What Mahathir wants is basically for Wan Azizah to convince the opposition Members of Parliament, if possible those from PAS as well, to jointly sign a petition to the Conference of Rulers to ask Their Highnesses the Rulers to step in and force Najib to resign. And Mahathir sent Siti Hasmah to talk to Wan Azizah about this.

To be able to enlist Wan Azizah’s support and cooperation, Mahathir now agrees that Anwar will become Prime Minister if Pakatan Harapan wins the next general election. After all, as leaders of a mosquito party like Pribumi that is not a member of the opposition coalition, Muhyiddin and Mukhriz have no hope of becoming Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister anyway. So might as well support Anwar for Prime Minister if he is going to be Prime Minister anyway if Pakatan Harapan gets in to Putrajaya.

Wan Azizah was excited, as were all her children, with this new and very positive development. Finally Mahathir supports Anwar for Prime Minister after almost 20 years saying that Anwar is an immoral person who is not fit to become Prime Minister. Anwar’s family sees this as a ‘if you cannot beat them then join them’ move by Mahathir. And that can only mean Mahathir has accepted defeat and realises that his future, plus that of his children, lies with Anwar.

Anwar’s family hails this as a moral victory after almost 20 years of struggling and not really getting anywhere. Now Mahathir has come crawling and has forgiven Anwar and has endorsed him for Prime Minister. But then beware of Trojans bearing gifts. When an enemy comes to your front gate and drops a very impressive looking present in front of your gate, that could also mean they are about to nail you good and proper.

In her excitement, Wan Azizah did not think to ask that one very crucial question. Why did Mahathir send Siti Hasmah to talk to her? Why did Mahathir not speak to Wan Azizah himself? Well, that is what I mentioned earlier about the deniability and fallback strategy that Mahathir adopted.

Mahathir has insulated himself from any fallout. He never met Wan Azizah and he never made her any promises regarding supporting Anwar for Prime Minister. It was Siti Hasmah who did. So if anything goes wrong or it does not happen then Mahathir’s hands are clean. And can Wan Azizah prove that Siti Hasmah made this promise?

That is the second thing that Wan Azizah overlooked. Siti Hasmah told her that this deal must be kept a secret and no one must be told about it. If anyone finds out they might try to sabotage the deal to deny Anwar the post of Prime Minister. So it is crucial that Wan Azizah tells no one.

Okay, so Wan Azizah keeps this a secret. What happens if by the grace of God Pakatan Harapan does win the next general election and Anwar is not made the Prime Minister? What is Wan Azizah going to do? Is she going to reveal that a year or two earlier she had made a secret deal with Mahathir that Anwar was going to become Prime Minister but she was sworn to secrecy and could not tell anyone?

What proof does Wan Azizah have? And why does she say this only after Pakatan Harapan wins the election? Why not reveal this earlier before Pakatan Harapan walks into Putrajaya? And now Mahathir says he knows nothing about this so-called deal with Anwar and that he never met Wan Azizah to make any promises. He also does not know about the so-called meeting that Siti Hasmah had with Wan Azizah or what they discussed if they did, in fact, meet.

Yes, this is like a chap promising a girl he will marry her if she drops her panties and after a romp in bed he turns round and says, prove it! How many girls have been caught with this trick, the same trick they are now playing on Wan Azizah, and which she seems to have fallen for?

So Wan Azizah will protect this secret deal with her life and will not reveal it to anyone. Meanwhile she will deliver her side of the deal, starting with the Parliament walkout and demonstration last Friday followed by the signatures of the Pakatan Harapan MPs on the petition to Their Highnesses the Rulers asking them to sack Najib.

Once people realise that Wan Azizah is now Mahathir’s ‘secret agent’, many are going to get very pissed with her and will consider her unsuitable to continue leading PKR and/or Pakatan Harapan. There will be a move to remove her and this is what Mahathir and Azmin actually want. Once Wan Azizah is ousted Azmin will take over as the new PKR President. And this has been the plan all along, to replace Wan Azizah with Azmin.

A third point that Wan Azizah seems to have overlooked is that Mahathir has forgiven Anwar for his sins. And Wan Azizah and her children are so excited about that. One is forgiven for one’s sins only if one is guilty of sin. So is Wan Azizah saying that Anwar is guilty of sodomy and of plotting to oust Mahathir after all? Should it not be Anwar who forgives Mahathir if Anwar is innocent as they have been insisting for almost 20 years?

Remember Anwar telling us that he refuses to apply for a pardon from His Majesty the Agong because he is innocent? Only guilty people apply for a pardon, said Anwar. So, if he applies for a pardon, then he is admitting he is guilty. And that is why Anwar would rather sit in jail for five years than apply for a pardon. It is to ‘prove’ he is not guilty of sodomy.

So now Mahathir pardons or forgives Anwar. And his family excitedly accepts Mahathir’s pardon or forgiveness. So is Anwar guilty of sodomy and of the plot to oust Mahathir after all or is he not guilty?

The truth is Mahathir knows that Pakatan Harapan is NOT going to win the next general election. In fact, PAS knows this as well, which is why PAS does not want to waste its time with Pakatan Harapan and instead is focusing on the Syariah Amendment Bill. PAS did not even join the Parliament walkout and demonstration last Friday because they knew it had nothing to do with Budget 2017, which to PAS is more important.

DAP boasts that it has more than 90% Chinese support. That may have been true in 2013 but that support has now dropped to less than 50%. Mahathir knows that 59% of the Chinese voters now support Barisan Nasional. So Pakatan Harapan and Mahathir’s Pribumi are doomed. Najib could call for an election next month and Barisan Nasional might even get a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

That is the reality and Mahathir knows this. And the second reality (which Mahathir has been saying since he first entered politics and which Anwar told his people in 1982 when he told them he was joining Umno) is that the route to the post of Prime Minister is through Umno. And this was precisely why Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah closed his Semangat 46 and rejoined Umno.

So there you have it. The untold (and maybe slightly long, as usual) story of Mahathir’s secret deal with Anwar which Siti Hasmah and Wan Azizah discussed and agreed on. Wan Azizah has been sworn to secrecy and cannot talk about it so Malaysia Today is telling you about it. But what Wan Azizah failed to see is that she has been suckered by Mahathir. And now she is working for Mahathir based on a secret promise that needs not be delivered and which will never be delivered.

Well, as P. T. Barnum was reported to have said, although some say that cannot be proven, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”