The Pakatan Convention aftermath
(MMO) – If Pakatan loses out at federal but Selangor Pakatan under Azmin holds on to the state, he can claim leadership of Pakatan and chart the path to the 15th General Election.
Dr M is now 112 parliamentary seats away from the highest office of the land. His deputy in this scenario will be the wife of the man he sent to prison 20 years ago.
The Pakatan Harapan Convention is done and dusted, and once the hangover dissipates, these preoccupations will take over our interests, at least till election day.
This column has repeatedly warned of New Economic Policy children (those born between 1957 and 1980) falsely judging the larger electorate through their lens, meaning the strength of the Mahathir-Anwar dual attraction; personality driven campaigning (stacking up with the Pakatan roster with everyone ever in power regardless of their reformist agenda or past); and the overemphasis of Anwar Ibrahim’s release as the opposition parties’ key struggle.
It was handsomely rejected, or rather, ignored.
Therefore, instead, let’s examine Pakatan’s fate over the months to come, on the terms of how they made their bed.
‘It’s a drag, isn’t it?’
In 1980, Paul McCartney infamously blundered when asked about his reaction to the murder of John Lennon.
The most successful song-writing duo in pop music — simply referred to as Lennon-McCartney — had been at war since the Beatles broke up 10 years prior after both band leaders had an acrimonious bust-up.
McCartney has ever since re-explained his crassness was due to the situation and his personal grief, a bit like how Mahathir Mohamad explains how it really was in the 1990s when he sacked Anwar Ibrahim. Till then, they were Malaysia’s best talent in terms of churning out together hits to the Malaysian masses.
McCartney says today the world misunderstood the love they had for each other. They were just two Scouser lads from England’s northwest — incidentally, our northwest is Kedah.
I guess, Mahathir is saying that too, without the singing voice.
Together again, the Mahathir-Anwar clans are facing off with the party they rebuilt in the 1990s.
It is not straightforward, not at all. Not a Skywalker and Kylo Ren — good versus bad — battle.
On the day — January 8, 2018 — Pakatan announced the temporary Mahathir-Wan Azizah leadership if they win at the polls, the prison department confirmed Anwar will be released on June 8.
It is not that the director-general announced it, it is that he announced it on a Sunday, a holiday. Very curious.
It’s clear the next phase of politicking will be to undermine the Pakatan value proposition as misleading, because both Mahathir and Wan Azizah are caretakers until Anwar is released, pardoned, successfully contests a parliamentary seat after Hari Raya, and receives the mandate of Pakatan MPs in Dewan Rakyat.
It’s a series of buts and ifs and Barisan Nasional (BN) will campaign on Pakatan’s perceived non-leadership ticket.
And by the same token, argues Mahathir will bide his time to usher his son, ex-Kedah mentri besar Mukhriz Mahathir, to the top.
The consummate strategist, Mahathir has gone on the charm offensive to reduce schism charges by both praising Anwar and family, and yesterday, attempt to visit his former deputy at a hospital without success.
These won’t faze the BN media machine.
They’ll stack up points — contradictory at times — to blow up the unitary theme Pakatan is unstable. That whatever gains they make in GE14 will be disrupted by Anwar, and it is not Mahathir the people are voting for, but Anwar. All the permutations of accusations are intended to heighten the uncertain nature of Pakatan.
Grossly unfair, but that’s what is well underway.
