Mahathir will apply for a pardon on Anwar’s behalf

By MT Webmaster Last updated Jul 20, 2017

In that case if Anwar refuses to apply for a pardon how is the Agong going to grant him a pardon? Can the Agong grant Anwar a pardon if Mahathir applies for a pardon on Anwar’s behalf? Does the system work that way? And if Anwar fails to get his pardon would that not mean the temporary seventh Prime Minister would now become the permanent seventh Prime Minister? Or will they appoint someone else to take over from the temporary seventh Prime Minister if Anwar is not granted a pardon and therefore cannot become the eighth Prime Minister?

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Finally Pakatan Harapan has settled its leadership lineup and the opposition supporters are hailing it as the greatest breakthrough since the formation of the Federation of Malaya or Persekutuan Tanah Melayu in 1948.

Barisan Nasional, that started life as the Alliance Party in 1952, has been married for 65 years. The founders were Tunku Abdul Rahman from Umno, Tan Cheng Lock from MCA, and V.T. Sambanthan from MIC.

The Alliance Party won 51 of the 52 seats it contested in the 1955 elections and that was why the British agreed to give Malaya independence in 1957. It was because the Alliance Party proved it had the support of Malayans.

This was one of the conditions that the British stipulated for Malaya to be given independence — that the new government must have the support of Malayans (so 51 out of 52 seats meant it did). The second condition was that the new Alliance government of independent Malaya must be multi-racial that has the support of all three races and was not going to be a single-race government, in this case meaning a Malay-only-government.

Three months ago someone sent me a message on my 44th wedding anniversary that said: “Falling in love is easy. Staying in love is harder. Well done! Congratulations on your 44th wedding anniversary.”

The only long-term thing about the opposition is that Lim Kit Siang has been in power for 52 years

Barisan Nasional has remained married for 65 years although Barisan Nasional as a legal entity ‘rose from the ashes’ of the Alliance Party in 1973. But no one disputes that Barisan Nasional was born in 1952 just like Malaysia got independence in 1957 although Malaysia was not formed until 1963, six years after Merdeka.

Anyway, that debate would be just like the debate regarding whether Umno is 71 years old or 29 years old since Umno was formed in 1946 while Umno Baru was formed 42 years later in 1988 when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad deregistered Umno to kick out Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and his Team B supporters. (The same for the debate whether the United States is really 241 years old).

The point is, the structure of Barisan Nasional has basically remained unchanged since 1952 other than change of name, new registration, additional members coming on board, and so on. The building may have been renovated, improved and upgraded but it has never been demolished and its foundation dug up.

Pakatan Harapan, however, has seen structural changes since the idea of an opposition coalition was first mooted 27 years ago in 1990. In the 1990 general election there were three opposition coalitions. On the east coast was Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah (APU). On the west coast was Gagasan Rakyat. And in Sabah was an unnamed loose electoral pact between Semangat 46 and PBS.

The Gagasan Rakyat coalition on the west coast and the electoral pact between Semangat 46 and PBS died off after the 1990 general election and only APU remained. But then APU survived just six more years and then also closed down in 1996.

There would be no opposition coalition if Mahathir had not thrown Anwar into jail and now, ironically, Mahathir is heading that same coalition

Then, just as everyone thought that was the end of the opposition, Mahathir and Anwar Ibrahim crossed swords when Anwar unsuccessfully tried to oust his boss and take over as Prime Minister. Mahathir threw Anwar out of the party and, when he proved a nuisance, three weeks later threw him into jail.

PAS and DAP saw this as an opportunity and rushed to Anwar’s side to pledge support (although earlier PAS and DAP wanted Anwar to be stuffed into jail together with his boss, Mahathir). Any enemy of Umno is a friend of PAS and DAP and suddenly all Anwar’s past sins and crimes were forgiven and forgotten — but just as long as Anwar goes against Mahathir and Umno.

This culminated in the creation of Parti Keadilan Nasional (PKN) and a new opposition coalition called Barisan Alternatif (BA). And this was made possible because of Mahathir. If Mahathir had not kicked Anwar out of Umno and thrown him into jail, PKN and BA would never have existed.

But BA lasted for only two years. In 2001, DAP left the coalition and decided to, once again, go solo. This was because Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh both lost the 1999 general election and they blamed PAS for it. They said the Chinese were angry that DAP had formed a coalition with PAS, which was why the Chinese voters punished Kit Siang and Karpal.

So, in the next general election, only PAS and PKR (by then PKN had changed to PKR) faced the 2004 general election as a coalition. DAP once again went back to being a solo opposition party. But DAP still did not do any better in the 2004 general election than it did in the 1999 general election. So was PAS really the problem after all?

Mahathir has now taken over and is heading the anti-Mahathir movement

Then we saw the birth of Pakatan Rakyat in 2008, which closed down seven years later in 2015, and now Pakatan Harapan. DAP appears to be in and out of so many marriages these last 27 years since 1990. They cannot seem to remain in a relationship for long and they enter into marriages and divorces as easily as changing their underwear.

Barisan National has stayed married for 65 years while the opposition has married and divorced so many times in just 27 years. So why should we believe that this latest marriage is going to last? Even stranger is that DAP does not want PAS in this new marriage but they insist that PAS must not have any cooperation of any kind with Umno or Barisan Nasional.

How does DAP explain that? I do not want you in my bed but I forbid you from going to bed with others. Who the hell does DAP think they are?

Anyway, the wedding ceremony is now over and Pakatan Harapan is currently enjoying their honeymoon. Once they come back from their honeymoon they will need to get down to business and explain to Malaysians why we should vote for them.

We know they have promised that all forms of taxes, in particular GST, will be abolished. Then Malaysians will enjoy free healthcare and free education up to university level, Oxford and Cambridge included. Chinese and Tamil schools will receive ten times the budget they are getting now. Churches and temples will receive the same amount of money that the government spends to build mosques.

The Federal Constitution of Malaysia will be amended to remove all the ambiguities, in particular regarding Malaysia’s status as a Secular State, which will now be clearly spelt out in the Constitution. The confusion regarding Malaysia’s pre-Merdeka dual-legal system will be removed by abolishing Sharia laws and maintaining only one set of Secular Laws. There will be clear and absolute separation of church and state like what is being practiced in other democratic countries.

Those promises sound good and will motivate Malaysians to vote for Pakatan Harapan. However, more needs to be explained to convince Malaysians that since all forms of taxes will be removed, and everything will be free, how the government is going to pay of it (especially with the abolishing of toll charges on all highways). A simple explanation would suffice because most Malaysians would not understand complicating accounts.

Will Mat Sabu become the temporary seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia?

Oh, and finally, Pakatan Harapan said one week after they come to power they will start the process to get Anwar freed from jail so that he can become the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia. In the meantime, while awaiting Anwar’s release from jail, someone else would become the seventh Prime Minister, but only on a temporary basis until Anwar can take over.

But then this next general election is about kicking out Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. So, if it is about kicking out Najib, the voters need to be told: kick out Najib to replace him with whom? Is it kick out Najib and replace him with Mat Sabu? Since you refuse to mention who is going to replace Najib then it can be anyone, even Mat Sabu. And if it is not Mat Sabu why are you so ashamed to mention who shall be replacing Najib? It is probably someone you know Malaysians can never accept as the temporary seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, which is why you malu nak mention.

Even more important is what will happen if Anwar is not freed from jail? You said one week after you come to power you will start the process to get Anwar freed from prison. And you mentioned you will seek a pardon from His Majesty the Agong. But should Anwar not first of all apply for a pardon? Anwar said he refuses to apply for a pardon because then he would be confessing his guilt. And innocent people do not apply for a pardon. So he refuses to apply for a pardon so that he can keep saying he is innocent.