Kit Siang’s damage control that created more damage

Kit Siang panicked and reacted to Najib’s expose regarding DAP’s real agenda during last weekend’s Umno assembly by inviting Mahathir to DAP’s convention. This was supposed to be Kit Siang’s damage control but instead it created more damage. Now both the Malays and Chinese are angry and DAP will have to pay a heavy price for this. Najib actually laid a trap and Kit Siang walked right into it. And, unwittingly, Anwar is also a victim and has been rendered no longer relevant in Malaysian politics.

PAKATAN’S GAME OF THRONES

Raja Petra Kamarudin

(Malaysiakini) – While ex-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad received thunderous applause for his historic appearance at the DAP national convention, some party leaders fear it may prove counter-productive, especially for Peninsular Chinese and Kadazan communities. These were expressed by DAP elected representatives, Sim Tong Him and Chan Foong Hin who are from Melaka and Sabah respectively.

(The Sun Daily) – DAP members are free to quit the party if they feel their principles and that of the party is not the same. Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy said members who felt the stand of the party contradicted their own principles can leave. “No one is indispensable, DAP will move on for the betterment of the country,” he said.

Superman Hew: use Malays to screw Malays and use Mahathir to kill Najib so that Chinese can benefit

When Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak played ‘Superman’ Hew Kuan Yau’s ‘use Malays to screw Malays’ and ‘Kit Siang is using Mahathir to kill Najib’ videos during last weekend’s Umno annual assembly it was for a reason. One reason was to show the almost 3,000 Umno delegates in particular, and Malays throughout Malaysia in general, what DAP’s political agenda is and what you will get if you vote Pakatan Harapan. The second reason was to trap Lim Kit Siang into reacting by pushing him into Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s arms.

On both scores Najib succeeded. The Malays now see what they get when they vote Pakatan Harapan — a DAP-led opposition coalition where DAP calls all the shots and decides what happens. Furthermore, they will fulfil DAP’s political agenda, which is to install their proxy Prime Minister who will be beholden to and serve the interest of the Chinese. (SEE: If MCA and CTA want a Chinese PM they have to work with DAP).

Najib laid a trap and Kit Siang and Mahathir walked right into it

Najib knew that two things are going to happen here. First would be that this would anger the Malay voters because many have never forgiven DAP and still do not trust DAP whatever they may say. DAP unilaterally closed down Pakatan Rakyat and formed Pakatan Harapan just so that they could get rid of PAS. Of course, the excuse for doing this is, according to DAP, is because of the Sharia Amendment Bill or RUU355, which DAP mischievously labels as ‘The Hudud Bill’. DAP knows that by calling it ‘The Hudud Bill’ this would demonise PAS and its President, Abdul Hadi Awang.

And with Superman Hew’s video being played during the Umno assembly last weekend, Najib erased whatever little benefit of doubt some Malays may have given DAP. Since that day DAP, Kit Siang and Hew are speechless and cannot utter one word to rebut what was said. How to rebut when the evidence is there for all and sundry to see? Even many liberal and non-racist Chinese are upset with Hew and DAP for doing something that is not only very stupid but very dangerous as well. Race riots have erupted for something even lesser than this.

The second thing that Najib knew would happen is that many Chinese would be very upset that Kit Siang and DAP are now playing footsie with Mahathir. Many Chinese have not forgotten that Mahathir brought race relations in Malaysia down to a worse level than in 1968-1969 and the only reason that blood has so far not flowed on the streets is because the police are brutal towards those who threaten national security and the peace and stability of the country.

The body language says this is just about screwing and not about love

Many in DAP, and many Chinese in general, are upset about last weekend’s DAP convention where Mahathir was treated like a senior DAP leader. And this is after earlier announcing that Mahathir was not going to be invited to attend the convention. Just hours before that Kit Siang did a u-turn and begged a very slighted Mahathir to attend the convention with the promise that he would be given VVIP status and would be seated on stage at the main table.

DAP’s response to these very unhappy DAP members is they can leave the party if they are not happy with the party’s lack of principles, credibility and morals. After all this is politics and in politics principles, credibility and morals have no place. What is important is to win at all costs, either by fair means or foul.

The problem with this, though, is that DAP is not a membership-based party. It does not have a huge membership like Umno and PAS. DAP is a support-based party. In fact, it even depends on Chinese from Barisan Nasional to vote for them. And, if as DAP claims, 90% of the Chinese voters voted for them, that means they get votes not just from their own members but from Barisan Nasional people as well. If not how can a party that has just a handful of registered members garner two million votes? If only DAP members vote for the party then they would probably garner less than 5% of the two million votes.

Ramasamy: telling non-DAP members they can resign from the party if they hate Mahathir

That means all this talk about if the DAP members do not like what DAP is doing they can leave the party is all nonsense. DAP does not have enough members. How can non-members resign as members of the party? So now DAP can claim that no members left the party, which means the members support what DAP is doing. It is like the MACC claiming that Malaysia has zero corruption because not a single person was convicted for corruption.

The reason why DAP does not want to boost its membership is because the more members a party has the more problems it faces. Better you have a very small membership base so that you can keep the party as an exclusive club. Then only your people fill the central committee and no ‘outsiders’ can get in. It is like keeping a family business as a family business because once you go public you need to open up the AGM to members of the public and will then need to answer all sorts of embarrassing questions regarding the accounts and the performance of the company.

So everything ended up the way Najib had planned. Kit Siang went running to a sulking Mahathir and promised him the moon and the sky and now what Najib wanted happened: Mahathir is now a ‘top leader’ of Pakatan Harapan and his ‘alternative to Umno’ party is a confirmed member of the opposition coalition.

This is the worst thing that Kit Siang and DAP could have done. Whatever advantages that Mahathir may have had have now been cancelled by the disadvantage that Kit Siang carries and vice versa. The Malays who hate DAP now hate Mahathir as well, while the Chinese who hate Mahathir hate DAP as well. It is like mixing distill water with sewage. One contaminates the other or the bad cancels out the good leaving nothing good.

Basically, Kit Siang was attempting damage control — to repair the damage that Najib did to DAP during the Umno assembly. Instead, Kit Siang just created even more damage, and this time which no amount of damage control can cure.

In short, Najib almost crushed Kit Siang and DAP last weekend. Kit Siang, however, hoped that the Mahathir factor would neutralise what Najib did. Instead it made things worse and now DAP may not even be able to get the 45-46 parliament seats that it is targeting. If DAP is not careful the seats it wins is going to drop to just ten like back in 1999 when the Chinese voters punished them for tying up with PAS in an opposition coalition called Barisan Alternatif. The Chinese reversal might even affect Penang and Selangor if things really get bad for DAP.

Kit Siang was clearly flustered and Najib’s expose must have shook him up bad, which was why he did not think this through properly before his knee-jerk reaction of inviting Mahathir to the DAP convention. Whether intended or not, in the same process Kit Siang killed off Anwar who suddenly is no longer relevant in Malaysian politics. This was explained in yesterday’s article ‘How Najib sent Mahathir to kill DAP and commit hara-kiri’ (READ HERE).

Mahathir has been pushing for Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali to take on Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail but Anwar had cautioned him that if he does then they would oust him as Menteri Besar. Now Mahathir has effectively neutralised Anwar and has made him a non-entity. So there is now nothing to stop Azmin from taking over as the new President of PKR since Anwar is no longer a threat.

Mahathir regrets putting Istana Negara under the PM’s Department

Anyway, just to close this article, Mahathir lamented that Istana Negara is owned by Najib and Barisan Nasional. Actually, when Mahathir was Prime Minister, he placed Istana Negara under the Prime Minister’s Department so that no one could get access to His Majesty the Agong and the Agong cannot make any statement unless first approved and vetted by the Prime Minister’s Department.

This was exercised in 1999 when Mahathir flew the then Agong to Langkawi and refused to allow anyone, even family members and the Agong’s sons, to meet His Majesty until after the November 1999 general election. Basically Mahathir placed the Agong under house arrest. In short, Mahathir is sore that the weapon he created to strengthen his dictatorship is now being used against him.