DPM Zahid leaving Umno to join Mahathir, says Pakatan
Pakatan Harapan is trying to make the murky waters even murkier by spreading the story that Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi is going to leave Umno to join the opposition. And they say he is going to leave Umno just after Parliament is dissolved and before the next general election. And they say this has been agreed in a meeting in London two weeks ago between Zahid and Saifuddin Nasution, Guan Eng’s strategic adviser.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
It is almost impossible to forecast what is going to happen in the coming general election when you cannot even forecast what is going to happen tomorrow. Malaysia’s political situation is extremely fluid and constantly changing that it is difficult to know whether the players are coming or going. The only constant thing in Malaysia’s political situation is uncertainty.
The saying is: one week is a long time in politics. That would make one year almost a lifetime. So many things can happen in one week and the entire world can cease to exist in one year. The saying that Man proposes while God disposes does not ring any truer than in this case. And when we say ‘God’ we do not, of course, mean Lim Kit Siang, although he is considered God to many.
Before we can even comprehend the reason why Ezam Mohd Nor left Umno to join PPBM a.k.a. Pribumi, an announcement is made that Khairuddin Abu Hassan and Ezam are teaming up to form a new party. And why are they forming a new party so soon after their boss, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, formed Pribumi?
After joining Pribumi, Ezam does a U-turn and decides to form his own party
Khairuddin said, “If the Registrar of Societies (RoS) approves this party, then we will make a formal application to PH, to ask them if we can be a component party. We also chose Pekan and Titiwangsa because the MPs for these two constituencies are the two people leading the finance ministry, which is where the country’s financial problems stem from. We want to fix this, we want to stop any form of corruption in this ministry.”
So, according to Khairuddin, they are forming a new party for the sole purpose of contesting two parliament seats, for the sole purpose of getting rid of the Finance Minister and his Deputy, and for the sole purpose of eliminating corruption in the country. What a lame excuse. That is just like that chap who says he married four wives to make sure that unmarried women who cannot get married due to a shortage of men would not resort to the sin of extramarital sex. Hence he is marrying four wives because of Allah and not because of lust or sex.
Yeah, we have heard all those excuses before. Why can’t Khairuddin just ask Pribumi to give him and Ezam those two seats they want? After all, Pribumi currently has only one seat, Pagoh, and even then they are going to lose that seat in the next general election if Muhyiddin Yassin contests in that constituency. So, technically, Pribumi has no seat to talk about considering that Muhyiddin is on the way out and Pagoh is more or less a foregone conclusion.
The reason why ‘Beauty and the Beast’ is facing a controversy in Malaysia
Many ‘Reformists’ (what the supporters of Anwar Ibrahim were called back in 1998-1999) remember when Ezam took his sumpah keramat or sacred oath back in the Reformasi days. Ezam’s mother also swore in the name of Allah that if Ezam ever went back to or rejoined Umno she will ‘tidak mengaku anak’ or disown him. Ezam’s mother’s oath was actually recorded on VCD and distributed throughout Malaysia.
Barely a few years later, all the oaths in the name of Allah were conveniently forgotten. So that is the real value of these people’s word. Even oaths sworn in the name of Allah in front of thousands of people can be discarded. What can you expect from such people who twist, turn and back-paddle every other day of the week?
There is nothing short of utter confusion in the ranks of the opposition. PKR says it still wants to talk to PAS about the possibility of them joining the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan. Mahathir says the same while at the same time condemning PAS. How do you invite PAS to go to bed with you while at the same time you say very nasty things about them?
Kit Siang is not anti-Islam, just anti-everything about Islam
DAP says it is not anti-Islam. It is just anti-Hudud. And DAP says that the Sharia is the same as Hudud and the Sharia Amendment Bill a.k.a. RUU355 is the same as the Hudud Bill. The Sharia is the law, which Muslims believe is Qur’anic laws or Allah’s laws. Hudud is one component or one part of the Sharia. Muslims are taught you cannot cherry-pick or choose just some aspects of Islam and reject the rest that does not suit you.
For example, Muslims cannot say they accept 90% of the Qur’an and reject only 10%. To reject even one word in the Qur’an is to reject the entire Qur’an. The same with Allah’s laws. You cannot say you accept fasting but reject the five-times-a-day prayers. You also cannot say you accept part of the Sharia but not the entire Sharia. This is something DAP does not understand and this is why they have made this huge mistake regarding RUU355.
DAP also says they are not enemies of PAS, they are only enemies of Abdul Hadi Awang. Is DAP also saying they are not enemies of Umno, only enemies of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak? In that case Malays can say they are not enemies of DAP, only enemies of Lim Kit Siang and his family and cronies. If Kit Siang and all his cronies and family resign from DAP then the Malays have no problem supporting DAP. But first Kit Siang and about 100 or so DAP leaders must leave the party.
Pakatan is spreading the story that Zahid is going to leave Umno to join the opposition
The opposition is trying to sidetrack Malaysians from their inter-party and intra-party problems by spreading the story that Najib and his Deputy, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, are at serious odds. The opposition is saying that just before the next general election, and after Parliament is dissolved, Zahid is going to resign from Umno (and as caretaker Deputy Prime Minister) and will cross over to Pakatan Harapan.
The story they are spreading is that two weeks ago Zahid and Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, Lim Guan Eng’s ‘strategic adviser’, met in London to finalise the deal. The deal has already been made and now they are just waiting for Parliament to be dissolved for Zahid to announce his resignation and walk over to the opposition ranks.
Pakatan was hoping that once Mahathir resigned from Umno on 29th February last year there would be an exodus of Umno people leaving the party and crossing over to the opposition. That did not happen, and it did not happen when Mahathir formed his new party as well. So, according to what Pakatan is telling their grassroots, Zahid, who has enormous grassroots support, will trigger this exodus (that has thus far not happened with Mahathir’s resignation) once he leaves Umno and crosses over to the opposition.
Mahathir’s exit from Umno did not cause any ripples and his new party has no members
Funnily enough, this has not caused any ripples in Umno, mainly because no one believes this ridiculous spin, but it has triggered some excitement amongst the PAS grassroots (who seem to be easier to fool never mind how unbelievable the story may be). This is probably because next month PAS will be holding its annual assembly where it is going to discuss its relationship with the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan and whether to enter into any electoral pact with Pakatan in the next general election.
The current mood in PAS is to not cooperate with Pakatan, or even with Pribumi that has now announced it is officially joining the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan. However, if Zahid is going to leave Umno and will cross over to Pakatan just before the general election, then that is another ballgame altogether.
The objective of this spin regarding Zahid is very clear. They want to create uncertainty so that next month the PAS delegates at its annual assembly will defer the decision on whether to talak tiga with Pakatan Harapan. If PAS defers the decision then Pakatan Harapan still has a hope of talking to them. Once talak tiga then they will need to look for a Cina buta first before getting back together again and currently PAS does not trust Cina buta or Cina celek after what DAP did to them.
