It was Husam who lobbied for Ku Li to become PM
So, that is the full story and Kit Siang has just related a small part of it — regarding PAS wanting Ku Li and not Anwar as the Prime Minister. The key people in pushing for Ku Li as Prime Minister have all since left PAS and are now in PAN or Amanah. Kit Siang has twisted this story to suggest that Hadi wanted to become Prime Minister when he was not even interested in becoming Menteri Besar.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
“PAS leaders were quite astute as not to suggest themselves that Hadi should be the prime ministerial candidate for Pakatan Rakyat. (They) diplomatically suggested that their proposal for a suitable prime ministerial candidate was veteran Umno politician Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah,” said Lim Kit Siang today.
“When DAP leaders dissented and held to our view that Anwar should continue to be the prime ministerial candidate for Pakatan Rakyat, and we made no suggestion that Hadi should instead be considered, the PAS leaders knew that DAP would not support Hadi as the prime minister-designate, and the proposal to replace Anwar was not further pursued.”
Kit Siang is not the whole story about PAS wanting Ku Li to become the PM
That is what was reported by Free Malaysia Today. However, what Kit Siang said is only partly true and there is more to this story.
Kit Siang was talking about pre-GE13, or the period before the 2013 general election, and not about the recent general election in May last year.
A few months after the 2008 general election or GE12, Anwar Ibrahim was arrested, yet again, for sodomy. He was then made to face trial and, in 2012, was acquitted. But the government filed an appeal to get the acquittal overturned.
According to Mat Sabu, who was then still in PAS, there was no way Anwar was going to escape because the PAS leaders had discussed this matter and they were of the opinion that Anwar is guilty.
Mat Sabu said PAS is convinced Anwar is guilty of sodomy and would be going to jail
So, the issue in 2012 was: PAS was convinced Anwar is guilty of sodomy and PAS was also convinced Anwar was going to jail. In short, even if Pakatan Rakyat were to win GE13, there was no way Anwar could become the Prime Minister since he would most likely be sitting in jail.
Husam Musa then had a series of meetings with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Ku Li) to convince him to agree to become Pakatan Harapan’s Prime Minister if the opposition were to win GE13.
But there was one problem. Ku Li was (and still is) in Umno and no way would Kit Siang or DAP accept an Umno Prime Minister. Ku Li would have to resign from Umno and join, say, PKR, before Kit Siang and DAP can accept him as the Prime Minister.
Husam was the PAS leader lobbying for Ku Li to be appointed Pakatan’s Prime Minister
But then this raises another problem. If Ku Li joins PKR that would mean he and not Anwar would become Prime Minister. So no way would Anwar accept Ku Li as a PKR member if that means his (Anwar’s) chances of becoming Prime Minister would be threatened.
So, in the end, nothing happened.
The main player in this whole thing was Husam. And he told everyone he had received the blessing of Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Aziz Nik Mat, who was also able to accept Ku Li as Pakatan’s Prime Minister. For his efforts, Husam would take over from Nik Aziz as the Kelantan Menteri Besar. For all intents and purposes, Husam at that time was Nik Aziz’s protégé and anointed successor.
So, that is the full story and Kit Siang has just related a small part of it — regarding PAS wanting Ku Li and not Anwar as the Prime Minister. The key people in pushing for Ku Li as Prime Minister have all since left PAS and are now in PAN or Amanah. Kit Siang has twisted this story to suggest that Hadi wanted to become Prime Minister when he was not even interested in becoming Menteri Besar.
