GE14, who will have the last laugh?

By MT Webmaster Last updated May 7, 2018

Everyone walks away with something while Mahathir loses everything and ends up with nothing. Najib, Kit Siang, Anwar, Wan Azizah all benefit from Mahathir’s decision of selling himself to the opposition pact and volunteering to become their tool or puppet. There can be no better ending for the career of the man who tried to use his enemies to put his son in the Prime Minister’s seat and instead was the cause of the destruction of his political dynasty.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

When Lim Kit Siang and DAP made the unilateral decision of closing down Pakatan Rakyat in mid-2015 so that PAS can be kicked out, that more or less sealed the fate of the opposition pact. Without PAS, that would mean the Malay votes are gone and they would need to depend solely on the non-Malay votes in GE14. And that would also mean they can expect to win just 50 or so parliament seats instead of 90 or thereabouts.

Then a god-send happened eight months later to turn what was undoubtedly an epic disaster into some hope for the future. Because his son Mukhriz was forced to resign as the Kedah Menteri Besar, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigned from Umno three weeks later on 29th February 2016. And that ended any possibility of Mahathir toppling Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak from the inside.

Mahathir now no longer had a political platform. So, he needed a new platform and DAP was that only platform available. More importantly, the opposition had ‘lost’ PAS eight months before that in June 2015 and they needed a new Malay vehicle to attract the Malay votes. So, Mahathir was now going to be that new Malay vehicle that would act as DAP’s Ali Baba. Mahathir would now take over the role of bringing in the Malay votes to replace the Malay votes that they lost when they kicked PAS out of the opposition pact.

Kit Siang made the biggest blunder of his political career by closing down Pakatan Rakyat so that PAS can be kicked out and then Mahathir unwittingly walks in to save the day

DAP knew this was the opportunity to exploit the clash between Mahathir and Najib to their advantage. And they could use 1MDB as that weapon to bring Najib down. Mahathir’s agenda was to make Mukhriz the Prime Minister. But with Mukhriz’s political career in Umno cut short, Mahathir would now need the opposition’s help to bring Najib down.

Mahathir’s agenda is narrow and simple: to make Mukhriz the Prime Minister. And Mahathir is prepared to do anything and to be used in any way as long as that agenda can be met. If DAP and the opposition pact can guarantee that his political dynasty will continue, then Mahathir is prepared to be anyone’s puppet or tool.

Invariably, Mahathir saved the opposition pact that now called itself Pakatan Harapan from a disastrous performance in GE14. Pakatan was more or less wiped out with not more than 50 seats left from almost 90. Then Mahathir came along and offered to save Pakatan by bringing in the Malay votes that they had lost. Mahathir thought he could benefit from using the opposition whereas the benefit was more to the opposition rather than to him.

Mahathir is prepared to become DAP’s Ali Baba as long as he can save his son

PAS has more than one million members and supporters, which are now lost to DAP and the opposition pact. PAN a.k.a. Amanah cannot even take 20% of the support away from PAS. Umno has more than three million members and supporters. If Mahathir can help take even just 30% of that, this will make up for what they lost when they sacked PAS from Pakatan Rakyat.

Without PAS, GE14 is lost to DAP and the opposition pact. But with Mahathir they now have a chance of winning GE14 (or at least not lose too badly). Mahathir can help replace the lost one million votes from PAS. Mahathir will do all the dirty work such as whacking Najib and bringing the Malay votes back to DAP and the opposition pact.

Without PAS the opposition pact lost their Malay votes

The fact that Mahathir needs to eat humble pie and kowtow to his lifelong enemy, Lim Kit Siang, is poetic justice to make Mahathir pay for all his sins. Mahathir had to crawl to Kit Siang with his tail between his legs. And to see Kit Siang opening his arms wide to welcome the man that he promised will end up in jail if the opposition wins GE14 is so comical. There can be no better payback than to see Mahathir and Kit Siang now sleeping in the same bed.

Mahathir is now an outcast or pariah in Umno. Mukhriz can never go back to Umno and hence will never become Prime Minister. Kit Siang and all the DAP leaders have to waste so much time travelling all over Malaysia to explain to the Chinese why they need Mahathir as their leader and why they need to discard their rocket and contest GE14 under Anwar’s Mata Lebam symbol.

Chinese votes alone cannot give the opposition pact more than 50 seats

To pacify the Chinese, DAP needs to reveal they are using Mahathir and PKR to trick the Malays into voting for DAP and the opposition pact. But then they end up antagonising the Malays even more. So now not only the Chinese but the Malay as well are angry with DAP.

Whatever happens, DAP and the opposition pact cannot take Mahathir as their leader or as the Prime Minister. If they do then they will end up looking like fools. So, one way or another, they need to get rid of Mahathir and explain to the voters they are merely using Mahathir as their puppet or tool to grab Malay votes.

The novelty of this whole thing is Kit Siang made the biggest blunder of his political career by closing down Pakatan Rakyat to kick PAS out of the opposition pact. But just when they thought all was lost, Mahathir walked in to help save them. Mahathir thought he was helping his son to become Prime Minister but instead he was helping the opposition avoid getting slaughtered in GE14.

Mahathir thought he is the Kingmaker whereas he ended up merely as the court jester to help others gain power at the expense of his son

So, who is going to get the last laugh on polling day of 9th May 2018? Everyone will be laughing while Mahathir alone will end up the loser. DAP will still retain Penang and win their 30 or so parliament seats. PKR will still most likely rule Selangor with 25 or so parliament seats.

Mahathir may most likely win his Langkawi seat while Mukhriz will lose. The objective is for Mukhriz to win so that he can go on to become Prime Minister. Hence it serves no purpose for Mahathir to win if Mukhriz loses. Anwar Ibrahim and Dr Wan Azizah Ismail have the satisfaction of finally seeing Mahathir suffer defeat for what he did to them in September 1998. And Anwar and Wan Azizah did not need to lift a finger to see Mahathir commit suicide.

Everyone walks away with something while Mahathir loses everything and ends up with nothing. Najib, Kit Siang, Anwar, Wan Azizah all benefit from Mahathir’s decision of selling himself to the opposition pact and volunteering to become their tool or puppet. There can be no better ending for the career of the man who tried to use his enemies to put his son in the Prime Minister’s seat and instead was the cause of the destruction of his political dynasty.