Mahathir wants a new coalition to replace Pakatan Harapan
But then Umno and PAS jumped the gun and beat Mahathir to it by forming Muafakat Nasional or MN. That was what Mahathir wanted to do, from a new Muafakat Nasional or MN coalition, but with half of Pakatan Harapan minus DAP and the Anwar Ibrahim faction in PKR and Amanah.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
PAS broke away from Umno in 1951 and came back together 68 years later under Muafakat Nasional or MN
The “Kongres Maruah Melayu” (KMM) assembly (or “Malay Dignity Congress”) that was held earlier this month was to hijack the Umno-PAS Muafakat Nasional (MN) agreement (or “National Consensus”) and “Himpunan Penyatuan Ummah” (HPU) assembly (or “Community Unification Gathering”) held about a month earlier.
The MN and HPU were specifically between Umno and PAS while the KMM, which was organised at the behest of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was for all Malays from across political boundaries — this means Malays from Pakatan Harapan plus Malays from Umno and PAS.
Mahathir’s KMM is meant to hijack the Umno-PAS MN and HPU
To demonstrate maturity, Islamic brotherhood, Malay unity, and so on, Umno and PAS attended Mahathir’s KMM. They did not boycott the event even though this would have been what “the other side” would have done had Umno and/or PAS organised the KMM instead.
In fact, had Umno and/or PAS organised the KMM, there would have been screams of racism reverberating the length and breadth of Malaysia. As it is, the Umno-PAS MN and HPU already attracted all sorts of negative comments and allegations of racism, radicalism, extremism, etc. It would have been worse had Umno-PAS organised the KMM.
Anyway, many in DAP are not happy about the KMM and they have lodged a police report asking the police to investigate the congress under Malaysia’s sedition law.
Let me be very clear about this — Mahathir is no racist or Malay supremacist. Many non-Malays became millionaires (or non-Malay millionaires became billionaires) due to Mahathir. Some Chinese who are now billionaires were actually on the verge of bankruptcy until Mahathir helped bail them out.
When the MCA-led Chinese cooperatives collapsed in the mid- to late-1980s, Mahathir helped bail them out to the tune of RM3 billion. That RM3 billion is now worth about RM10-12 billion today.
Mahathir could have just let the Chinese cooperatives collapse but then the Chinese would have abandoned MCA (as they had threatened) and would have crossed over to DAP in the 1990 general election (in the 1990 general election, DAP was allied to Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s “Semangat 46”).
This is the new coalition that may oust Pakatan Harapan in 2023 or earlier, and Mahathir knows it so he wants to hijack it
Nevertheless, while Mahathir may not be a racist, he knows how to play the race card in his game of thrones. In short, you do not need to be a racist to play the race card. The race card is about politics, not about your racial sentiments, and you play whatever card you can to win votes.
For example, there are many people who are gay or bisexual but who whack the LGBT lifestyle. It is not that they hate gays or whatever. But in politics they have to pretend to be anti-LGBT even though behind closed doors they are connoisseurs and lovers of Semburit. And in Malaysian politics there are many people who show a different face in public but in private they make even Satan or Iblis blush.
Mahathir knew that he needed the non-Malays to help oust then Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. Hence Mahathir played the democrat, clean government, transparent government, anti-abuse of power, anti-corruption, all Malaysians are equal, Bangsa Malaysia, etc., card. And Mahathir also knew he cannot oust Najib unless he kills Umno and Barisan Nasional.
Mahathir does not really want Umno to be buried. He only needed Umno to be temporarily put into cold storage while he climbs back into the Prime Minister’s seat. Now that he is back as Prime Minister he can revive Umno — but a new Umno (Umno Baru Lagi Baru) within a new coalition (neither Barisan Nasional nor Pakatan Harapan).
Today, Umno apologised to PAS for “past deeds” in a new milestone in their relationship
But then Umno and PAS jumped the gun and beat Mahathir to it by forming Muafakat Nasional or MN. That was what Mahathir wanted to do, from a new Muafakat Nasional or MN coalition, but with half of Pakatan Harapan minus DAP and the Anwar Ibrahim faction in PKR and Amanah.
Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng and DAP know about this, which is why they are upset and up in arms and want action to be taken against those who are trying to “break up” Pakatan Harapan (READ HERE). Anwar Ibrahim is also aware of this move, which is why today he told everybody to stop talking about the succession issue (or about PM8 taking over from PM7 in or before May 2020).
Anwar knows the more Pakatan Harapan pressures Mahathir to resign and hand over power the faster he is going to enter his grave. As it is, Anwar already has satu kaki dalam kubur and it will not take much for Mahathir to push the other leg into the kubur and bury Anwar six feet underground.
This was what Umno Supreme Council Member Lokman Noor Adam said yesterday:
“Dalam pertemuan Mahathir dengan Kesemua Ketua Cawangan Khas (Special Branch) setiap negeri di Azerbaijan hari ini, Mahathir menerima laporan bahawa cuma 48 MP sokong Mahathir dan 113 sokong Anwar. Penangkapan mereka yang terlibat dengan LTTE hanyalah permulaan. Selepas ini Ramasamy, Nga Kor Meng, Superman Hew dan Guan Eng dijangka menyusul. Mahathir akan menggunakan semua kuasa yang ada untuk memastikan Anwar tidak akan jadi PM.”
This unites six million Malay voters under one roof, and it is panicking DAP
In 1987, Mahathir launched “Operasi Lalang” to stay in power. According to Lokman, “Operasi Lalang 2.0” is being planned to make sure Mahathir does not get ousted. If that is going to happen, then it has to happen soon. And if it is true, as Lokman said, that Anwar has 113 MPs against Mahathir’s 48, then Mahathir has to play hardball to stay in office.
Mahathir now has to pull out every trick in the book to stay in office. And that would include playing the race card and doing a deal with Umno, PAS, Sabah and Sarawak. But can he do that? If he can get DAP and PKR to make him Prime Minister, Mahathir could even con the devil himself. And I would put my money on Mahathir winning this game of thrones.
