Kit Siang and his ‘Anwar PM KE-7’ fiasco
Wan Azizah’s Aljazeera interview was a total disaster and the PKR Youth chief’s statement that Wan Azizah will be the interim Prime Minister while they wait for Anwar to be released from jail worsened the damage. So Kit Siang saw this as an opportunity to deflect attention from the fact that he will become the Prime Minister if Pakatan Harapan wins the next general election by asking Saifuddin to organise the ‘Anwar PM KE7’ placard-raising stunt during the PKR Congress.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
PKR’s Congress over the weekend raised more questions than it provided answers. You would expect seeing that this is probably the last Congress before the coming general election PKR would have wanted to lay the many questions to rest. Instead, the opposite happened — even more questions were raised and more uncertainties created. And the one question they avoided is what is the new coalition going to be called since they can no longer use ‘Harapan’ because that name had already been taken?
The one issue amongst many is the question of who is going to become Prime Minister if Pakatan Harapan marches into Putrajaya and forms the next federal government. Pakatan Harapan is saying that the next general election is about ousting Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. Hence, if this is about ousting Najib, then the voters need to know if Najib is ousted who will be taking over?
Pakatan Harapan’s mistake was in turning the next general election into a United States-type presidential election. In the US presidential election it is about one man and his number two versus another man and his number two (or woman as the case may be).
So, in Malaysia’s case, it is Najib-Zahid (leaders of the largest party) versus Kit Siang-Guan Eng (leaders of the largest party on the others side). That is the crux of the whole matter.
On Barisan Nasional’s side it is very clear — Najib-Zahid — and not a single person/party from the other Barisan Nasional members have disputed this or disagreed with it. On Pakatan Harapan’s side, however, there is utter confusion and mixed signals because they are attempting to hide the fact it is going to be Kit Siang-Guan Eng.
GE14 is about whether Najib-Zahid or Kit Siang-Guan Eng are going to be the PM-DPM of Malaysia
Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail’s Aljazeera interview recently caused a lot of damage because she made the waters even murkier (SEE VIDEO HERE). Wan Azizah said Anwar is going to be the Prime Minister while she would be the interim or temporary Prime Minister until Anwar is able to get out of jail and take over.
Back in 2014 — during the infamous ‘Kajang Move’ that destroyed Pakatan Rakyat and triggered its collapse — Wan Azizah had already said she does not mind being a puppet. And the recent Aljazeera interview just reinforced her ‘I don’t mind being a puppet’ declaration.
What this scatter-brain does not understand is Malaysians do not want an interim or temporary Prime Minister. They want someone who is going to run the country and not someone who is going to sit there and do nothing other than just warm the seat. Malaysia is currently a RM1.3 trillion economy and by 2025 it is going to exceed RM2 trillion.
How is Wan Azizah going to turn Malaysia into a RM2 trillion economy by 2025 if all she is doing is warming the seat for Anwar?
Wan Azizah, however, much to everyone’s horror, did not have single plan on what she will do for the country if she takes over as Prime Minister — other than just warm the seat for her husband. The fact is, Wan Azizah cannot even handle Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali, let alone try to run the country as Prime Minister.
PKR Youth Chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad’s statement announcing their support for Wan Azizah to become the ‘interim prime minister’ pending the release of her husband from jail further damaged the party and Pakatan Harapan (READ HERE). How could Nik Nazmi have been so stupid as to say something like that?
Lim Kit Siang realised the damage that PKR’s party President and Youth Chief had done. But he also saw this as an opportunity that he could exploit. So he told Lim Guan Eng’s ‘strategic adviser’, Saifuddin Nasution, to organise the ‘Anwar PM KE7’ placard-raising stunt. With all the Pakatan Harapan leaders sitting in one hall, this would send the ‘right’ message to Malaysians, which is Pakatan Harapan is solidly behind Anwar for Prime Minister.
Kit Siang’s move backfired and created more damage when Mahathir, Muhyiddin Yassin, Mukhriz and Mat Sabu did not join the euphoria of the childish ‘Anwar PM KE7’ placard-raising stunt
This would have successfully deflected the allegation that Kit Siang will become the Prime Minister if Pakatan Harapan happens to win the next general election. Kit Siang can use the ‘Anwar PM KE7’ placard-raising stunt as ‘evidence’ that Pakatan Harapan ‘sebulat suara’ has decided on Anwar for Prime Minister (without mentioning who is going to become the Deputy Prime Minister).
READ: Mahathir-Muhyiddin did not join Pakatan leaders to hold up ‘Anwar for PM’ placards
It would have been a brilliant move had Mahathir, Muhyiddin Yassin, Mukhriz Mahathir and Mat Sabu also carried those placards. But they did not, which means it is not ‘sebulat suara’ after all. And this was something Kit Siang had not anticipated and had not planned for, which made the whole situation worse because it revealed the serious division in Pakatan Harapan. And when asked by the press about this, both Mahathir and Mukhriz refused to endorse Anwar as the Prime Minister.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-h8RIY-eCE
Mahathir explains why Anwar cannot become Malaysia’s Prime Minister and that reason has not changed until today
Hence this is only a PKR and DAP decision to make Anwar the Prime Minister (Kit Siang demonstrated this by also carrying the ‘Anwar PM KE7’ placard). PPBM a.k.a. Pribumi and PAN a.k.a. Amanah are not in favour of ‘Anwar PM KE7’. Basically they know this is merely a red herring and an exercise in damage control to ‘repair’ Wan Azizah’s disastrous Aljazeera interview and to hide Kit Siang’s ambition to become Prime Minister.
Mahathir, Muhyiddin, Mukhriz, Mat Sabu, etc., know that sensible Malaysians (other than Dapsters and Pakatuns) would question how it is possible to make Anwar the Prime Minister. First of all, to replace Najib as Prime Minister, Pakatan Harapan must win at least 112 Parliament seats (or 125 to be safe). And for that to happen DAP must win at least 55 seats with the balance 60-70 shared by PKR, PPBM and PAN. If not Pakatan Harapan is not going to march into Putrajaya.
If DAP wins 55 seats, while PKR, PPBM and PAN share the balance 60 or so (around 35 for PKR, 20 for PAN and five or less for PPBM), that would give DAP the largest number of seats in Parliament. So that would also give DAP the job of both Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. That is the convention and this is how it works.
So where does Anwar or even Wan Azizah come into all this?
Secondly, for Anwar to take over as Prime Minister (from Wan Azizah, of course) he must first of all be elected as a Member of Parliament. By law, the Prime Minister must be an elected Member of Parliament. When and how can that happen?
That can happen five years after Anwar serves his jail sentence, which commenced on 10th February 2015. According to the government, Anwar will have to serve his full five-year sentence, which means he will be released on 10th February 2020. Anwar will then be barred from contesting the election for another five years until 10th February 2025. So it will be eight years from now, by the time Anwar is 78 years old, that he can contest the election or by-election and take over as Prime Minister, if he wins.
Azmin knows that Anwar is never going to become Prime Minister, as does Mahathir
Of course, Pakatan Harapan is saying if they win the next general election they will ask His Majesty the Agong to grant Anwar a pardon so that he can immediately contest the by-election instead of having to wait until 2025. But what are the grounds for the pardon? There must be very strong grounds other than because Anwar wants to become the Prime Minister.
There are thousands of drug traffickers, bank robbers, rapists, kidnappers, etc., in prison who also want to become the next Prime Minister. Can they also apply for a pardon and be granted a pardon on grounds that they wish to become the next Prime Minister of Malaysia? The Agong would not want to grant these thousands of convicts a pardon just because they claim they want to become Malaysia’s Prime Minister. If not the prisons would all be empty and every criminal in Malaysia would be walking the streets.
