Mahathir’s move to make PPBM the largest party in Malaysia

Mahathir knows he does not have the numbers to resist DAP. If Mahathir does not announce soon the date he is handing over to Anwar then DAP will decide that date. And that date will be within the next ten months or so.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

There appears to be a mixed reaction to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s invitation or appeal for all the Umno Malays to join PPBM en masse. Many view this as a desperate Mahathir trying to retain power because PKR, DAP and Amanah are ganging up on him and are forcing him to retire and make way for Anwar Ibrahim to take over as Prime Minister.

Maybe Mahathir is desperate and maybe it is because Anwar’s gang in Pakatan Harapan outnumbers the pro-Mahathir PPBM gang. And it seems many in Umno support Anwar — or at the very least DO NOT support Mahathir — while those from Sabah and Sarawak are said to be also with Anwar.

Anyway, the way I see it would be: if you hate DAP then it makes sense to support Mahathir. Or, if you hate Anwar, then it also makes sense to support Mahathir. And, of course, if you hate both DAP and Anwar then there is every reason for you to support Mahathir.

Kit Siang met Mahathir this week to demand he confirm the actual date of handing over to Anwar

But would you rush to join PPBM just because you hate DAP and Anwar? Is there no other way to wipe out DAP and Anwar without joining PPBM?

I suppose there is always more than one way to skin a cat (though I do not know why one would want to skin a cat even if it happens to be Najib Tun Razak’s cat and, like Mahathir, you hate Najib).

But then I am not a politician. As I said years ago, I am an anarchist. And, to an anarchist, chaos represents opportunities. Many, in fact, becomes millionaires in times of war. So, wars are not always bad, at least for some people.

Zahid Hamidi’s return from garden leave upset Mahathir’s plan of an exodus from Umno to PPBM

Undoubtedly, Pakatan Harapan is in chaos. The appeal by Mahathir for the Umno Malays to unite and join PPBM is not about saving the Malays. It is about saving the Mahathir legacy and the Mahathir dynasty. If Anwar takes over as Prime Minister then Mahathir and his cronies and children are finished. Even Tun Daim Zainuddin will need to run for cover.

Just one year of the Pakatan Harapan government has shown what damage DAP can do to the Malays. It is true, as Mahathir said, the Malays need to unite to save themselves or else the Malays are going to end up as hamba di tanah air sendiri, or slaves in their own land. But is Mahathir’s solution for the Malays to join PPBM to grab the country back from DAP the right solution?

This is the trouble with starting fires. You think you can control it but fires invariable burn out of control. When Mahathir used DAP to oust Najib, he thought he could control the situation. Now Mahathir realises the situation is beyond his control.

Mahathir thought he could use DAP and the Chinese voters to oust Najib and still be in control of Pakatan but now he knows he has lost control of the situation

When Lim Kit Siang met Mahathir in his office earlier this week, it was to inform him that Pakatan Harapan no longer tolerates the vague statements on the handing over date. DAP wants the actual date that Mahathir intends to hand over to Anwar to be confirmed now. And that date must be before May 2020, which means within ten months from now.

Mahathir knows he does not have the numbers to resist DAP. If Mahathir does not announce soon the date he is handing over to Anwar then DAP will decide that date. And that date will be within the next ten months or so.

Mahathir wants the Registrar of Societies to deregister Umno as soon as possible hoping that once Umno no longer exists their members and leaders will rush to join PPBM. Mahathir is also hoping that once this exodus takes place PPBM will be the largest party in Pakatan Harapan. And Mahathir further hopes that once PPBM is the largest party in Pakatan Harapan, DAP and Anwar can no longer push him around or hold him to ransom.

Mahathir wants Umno deregistered so that he can steal the three million Umno members and leaders and make PPBM the largest party in Pakatan and in the country

That is a lot of hopes. But then Pakatan Harapan is the “Collaboration of Hope” anyway. So maybe that is all they can rely on, hope. But do the rakyat still have hope or have they already lost hope? I suppose the not so smart ones will not give up hope because they have no hope for anything else.

The dictionary defines hope as “an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one’s life or the world at large.” And the definition of “positive” is seeing half a glass of water as half full rather than half empty.