Kit Siang prefers Boboi to Anwar as PM
Mahathir and Kit Siang have agreed to Boboi as Pakatan’s choice of PM but the rest of the opposition has not yet agreed to this. Some in Pribumi want Muhyiddin while PKR and many in DAP still want Anwar. Also, many in PKR and DAP are not happy about Kit Siang playing footsie with Mahathir. But the shit is really going to hit the fan regarding the plan to abolish the monarchy and to turn Malaysia into a republic.
PAKATAN’S GAME OF THRONES
Raja Petra Kamarudin
It is ironical how fortunes come and go and how most times fortunes are lost due to your own doing. Take Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s fortunes as one example. In December 2014 it looked like the beginning of the end for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak when Mahathir asked Khairuddin Abu Hassan to lodge a police report against 1MDB. Over six months the attacks continued with the help of the mainstream media and bloggers, both domestic and foreign (from the UK and the US in particular).
By mid-2015 many people were convinced that Najib was about to fall and that there was no way he could hold on to power. Then Najib struck back and in one swoop all the conspirators hit the dirt and expired. Others who had weaker hearts quickly did a u-turn and squealed on the main plotters. That was the end of the coup that Mahathir had planned as early as 2013 after his Boboi lost the bid for an Umno Vice-President’s post.
But Mahathir has this very stubborn streak in him so he refused to accept the July 2015 defeat. He still tried for a vote of no confidence in Parliament in October and another vote of no confidence in the Umno assembly in December, both which failed. In early 2016, Najib struck again and Mukhriz was removed as the Kedah Menteri Besar.
It was not really that crucial whether Mukhriz remains as Menteri Besar or not. But Najib knew that if his precious Boboi was sacked that would upset Mahathir big time and he will merajuk and resign from Umno. That is how predictable Mahathir is and, as expected, Mahathir did sulk and resign.
Mahathir and Kit Siang agree to Mukhriz instead of Anwar or Muhyiddin as PM
Najib could have sacked Mahathir but that would have just turned him into a hero. If, however, Mahathir remains in Umno, then Lim Kit Siang and DAP would not touch him with a ten-foot pole. So Mahathir needed to leave Umno before Kit Siang would agree to make a deal with him. And Najib planned it in such a way that Mahathir would leave instead of getting sacked whereby he would saunter into the waiting arms of Kit Siang. And the plan worked like clockwork.
Twenty-four months on from December 2014 and you can see that everything is falling apart — not only for Mahathir but for the entire Pakatan Harapan as well. Pakatan Harapan is now in total disarray. Even DAP, which is supposed to be the strongest and most stable partner in Pakatan Harapan — in fact, DAP is supposed to be the leader of the opposition coalition while the PKR, PAN and Pribumi are merely DAP stooges — is also facing problems.
Mahathir and Kit Siang made a deal on behalf of the entire opposition
For example, only 31% of eligible delegates attended DAP’s convention last weekend. It was the same on 6th November 2016 when only 328 out of 1,027 delegates attended the convention at Hotel Vistana — and after lunch the figure dropped to just 50. Kit Siang and DAP are very worried that there appears to be a lack of interest in the party and many Chinese now feel that DAP is no longer the party it used to be.
The opposition is trying to distract Malaysians from the problems they are facing by embarking on a disinformation campaign. Yesterday they circulated fake documents saying that Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has asked Najib to resign as Prime Minister. Najib denied that and today they are circulating fake documents saying that Najib has instead asked Zahid to resign as Deputy Prime Minister.
They did this back in 2015 when they circulated fake documents saying that Najib was going to be arrested and that Najib had stolen RM42 billion of 1MDB’s money and so on — all which has been proven false and the fabrication of certain Mat Salleh bloggers and journalists who were paid millions to do this. Basically they are hoping to trigger chaos with talk that the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister are trying to kill each other like what happened back in mid-1998 when Anwar Ibrahim tried to kill Mahathir and got killed instead.
Mahathir’s main agenda is to make Boboi the next Prime Minister and secure the RM100 billion that he has parked under trustees, nominees, proxies and cronies. And he will do anything just to see this happen even if he needs to burn down the whole country and see thousands dying on the streets. After all, he did cause hundreds of deaths from cholera just to punish the Kelantanese for voting for PAS-Semangat 46 in 1990. So what is a few hundred more dead Malaysians in this game of thrones?
Where you sit shows who you are in the bigger scheme of things
When Kit Siang phoned him on Saturday begging him to attend DAP’s convention, Mahathir saw this as an opportunity. Kit Siang needed Mahathir more than Mahathir needed Kit Siang because Najib had just delivered a death blow to DAP earlier that day. DAP had earlier announced that Mahathir was not invited to DAP’s convention so if they now want him to attend they would have to pay a dear price indeed for Mahathir to say yes.
Mahathir told Kit Siang he would attend on condition the latter agrees to Boboi instead of Anwar as the Prime Minister in the event the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan wins the next general election. Kit Siang is, after all, the real leader of the opposition so it is within his power to say yes or no. PKR and PAN would have no choice but to just go along with it or else get wiped out totally in the next general election.
Kit Siang thought about it for awhile and saw the potential in Boboi rather than Anwar as Prime Minister. Anwar is very slimy and dangerous to be put in charge. He is always scheming and trying to get the better of you and does and say opposite things. Anwar can say one thing to the Muslims in the Middle East and the opposite to the Jews in America. Basically he has many faces and you never know which is his real face.
Muhyiddin no longer the DAP-led Pakatan’s choice for Prime Minister
Boboi, however, is a bit more slow in the head. Boboi’s only strength is that he is Mahathir’s son. Mahathir may be around till the next general election in 2017-2018 but for sure he would not still be around for the 2022-2023 general election. Once Mahathir is dead Boboi would become a non-entity. So it is better to have a dull-witted Boboi rather than a slimy Anwar as the Prime Minister. Kit Siang can easily makan Boboi whereas Anwar may makan Kit Siang instead.
So Kit Siang agreed that in the event the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan wins the next general election Mukhriz and not Anwar will become the Prime Minister. Anyway, you need to be a Member of Parliament before you can become Prime Minister and Anwar will not be able to contest the general election until 2028 or so, which is 12 years from now. And there is very little hope that His Majesty the Agong will grant Anwar a pardon considering it was Anwar who ordered the Customs Department to confiscate his father’s Lamborghini Diablo on the allegation that DYMM the Sultan is a smuggler.
A couple of years ago not a single Malaysian would have said we would see this happen
The reward to agreeing that Boboi is made the Prime Minister is that Mahathir, in turn, agreed that Kit Siang would be made the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, which effectively makes him more powerful than the Prime Minister. Anwar has also agreed that if he becomes Prime Minister, Kit Siang would be the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.
So it really does to matter whether Anwar or Mukhriz becomes Prime Minister. Either way Kit Siang would still be the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister. So both ways Kit Siang wins. Anwar, Mukhriz and Muhyiddin Yassin can, therefore, go ahead and fight over who should be the Prime Minister. Whoever wins Kit Siang’s post as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister is not affected.
This actually works well for the Chinese Trade Associations (CTA) and the Chinese business community. It has been a long time since the days of Tan Siew Sin that the Chinese had real power in the government. For more than 40 years the Chinese have played a mere supporting role and since 2008 even that no longer exists when the Chinese shifted their support to DAP. If the Chinese want back power this has to happen through DAP and the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan.
MCA lost the plot some time ago. They thought it is better that they do not upset the Chinese voters by attacking DAP. The Chinese, however, saw MCA’s lack of action as a sign it lacks courage. So better the Chinese abandon the eunuch MCA and shift support to a braver and vocal DAP instead. It was a very bad miscalculation that MCA is paying dearly for.
Mahathir, on the other hand, thought he was uniting Pakatan Harapan and at the same time destabilising Umno when in truth the opposite is what happened. Umno is now more united while Pakatan Harapan is headed for a major breakdown. PKR does not agree to Boboi as Prime Minister. They still want Anwar. Many in Pribumi supported the party thinking that Muhyiddin was going to be Prime Minister with Mukhriz as his number two. They never thought Mukhriz would become Prime Minister with Kit Siang as his number two and Finance Minister on top of that.
In fact, many in PKR and DAP do not even agree to Kit Siang making a deal with Mahathir. And the real explosion has not happened yet. What you are seeing is a mere simmering about to boil over. Mahathir and Kit Siang have mutually agreed to Boboi as Prime Minister but this is only two people and not the rest of Pakatan Harapan. And many in Pribumi, PKR and PAN will never agree to Mahathir’s and Kit Siang’s plan of abolishing the monarchy and turning Malaysia into a republic. And Anwar and Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail have thus far not said a word about this. They know once they open their mouths and disagree the shit is going to hit the fan in a big way.
