Cheated not once, but thrice

Tun Razak also said he wants Tengku Razaleigh as the number two. Tun Razak had great confidence in his disciple, Tengku Razaleigh, because this Prince from Kelantan was practically the architect and engineer of Malaysia’s economic program.

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Najib pledges loyalty as Abdullah names him as successor
The Straits Times, 8 April 2008

DEPUTY Prime Minister Najib Razak yesterday thanked Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi for backing him as his political successor and promised to stay loyal. The endorsement by Datuk Seri Abdullah was made on Sunday as he launched attacks against his political foes and answered questions about their relationship after the shock results of the March 8 general election.

Speaking at a closed-door briefing for about 1,000 Umno chiefs and grassroots leaders on Sunday, PM Abdullah said there had never been any problems between him and Datuk Seri Najib. 'I assure you there are no problems between us, and he is the one who will be succeeding me,' the 68-year-old Premier said. He did not say when he would step down, the New Straits Times reported yesterday. 'I will know when to go, but give me a chance to implement what I have promised,' he said.

He repeated the remarks while in Sabah yesterday, telling reporters that he would not stay longer than he should as premier. 'I would retire one day but I could not leave in this kind of political scenario. I will retire one day, of course. I'm not going to stay longer than I should. But there are certain things that I would like to do now. I cannot leave at a time when the party is in this condition. I cannot leave at a time when we are preparing for the implementation of development projects. We have already promised the people. We will do it. I'm not going to stay on for years. Certainly not,' he said.

He was responding to a question on whether he had a date in mind for his retirement since he had named Datuk Seri Najib, 54, as his successor. Datuk Seri Najib, reacting to the Prime Minister's comments on Sunday, said he valued the trust and confidence of Datuk Seri Abdullah. 'I am thankful and touched by the Prime Minister's trust and confidence in me,' he told reporters.

He said Datuk Seri Abdullah had told him about the succession plan in front of a few senior officials, but Sunday's comments were the first time the issue had been made known to many people. 'I appreciate very much the Prime Minister's trust in me and I will honour Abdullah's request to me to continue cooperating with him as the Prime Minister,' Bernama news agency quoted him as saying.

The succession issue was aired at a time when former premier Mahathir Mohamad and veteran Umno leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah have been asking for Datuk Seri Abdullah to step down. Former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh is offering himself as Datuk Seri Abdullah's replacement.

The Prime Minister on Sunday lashed out at both his predecessor as well as Tengku Razaleigh. Among other things, Datuk Seri Abdullah said Tun Dr Mahathir had eroded public confidence in the judiciary, especially by sacking the No. 1 judge in 1988, Tun Salleh Abas. He also said the former premier had maintained a tight grip over the media, instructing the press to black out news of his opponents, and launched a crackdown in 1988 which saw the detention of 106 people, including politicians, under the Internal Security Act. Turning to Tengku Razaleigh, the Prime Minister said the former finance minister was responsible for Umno losing Kelantan in 1996.


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That was what The Straits Times (Singapore) reported this morning, which was similarly reported by all the Malaysian mainstream newspapers. Finally Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is fighting back. And this will certainly make the next eight months very interesting indeed, at least as far as the political scenario is concerned -- though we can’t say the same for the economic scenario, which will for sure react to these uncertainties in a most negative manner.

It is worth noting, and maybe to dissect as well, what Abdullah uttered at that so-called Sunday gathering with 1,000 Umno members at the PWTC. We will talk more about that Sunday ‘gathering’, maybe in another piece, and reveal the gathering that never was. Yes, there was no gathering as such. What it was, basically, was a show with many ‘props’ or ‘extras’, as they say in the movie business, to give an impression of a large crowd. But, as I said, we shall touch on that later once we get the full report from our ‘deep throat’ in Umno.

First of all, Abdullah talks about Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah losing Kelantan in 1996. 1996? Why 1996? Anyway, before we talk about that, let us take a step back and trace the steps that led to this so-called 1996 when Tengku Razaleigh lost Kelantan.

Umno (lama) was deregistered in 1988 and a new party called Umno Baru was created to replace it. Tengku Razaleigh plus the entire ‘Team B’ gang, Abdullah included, were not invited to join the new Umno. Now, let us take a step even further back. Why was Tengku Razaleigh and his Team B, Abdullah included, not invited to join Umno Baru?

The whole drama actually started a few years before 1998. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (then only ‘Datuk Seri’) had just taken over as the new Prime Minister after successfully pressuring Tun Hussein Onn into resigning. But Mahathir refused to appoint a Deputy Prime Minister and instead left it to the party to decide, in ‘true democratic fashion’, whom it wanted as its number two.

The result was a head-on clash between Tengku Razaleigh and Musa Hitam for what was, at that time, a vacant post. Mahathir then dropped hints that he needs a number two whom he can work with and Musa appears to be the candidate he can work with. Although Tengku Razaleigh was clearly the favourite of the Umno delegates, that ‘signal’ from Mahathir helped swing the votes over to Musa.

So it was not really a ‘let the members decide in true democratic fashion’ sort of situation. It was an appearance of that and some ‘pulling’ behind the scenes to help influence the result. And so Musa won instead of Tengku Razaleigh.

Invariably, Tengku Razaleigh felt cheated. No doubt it is the Prime Minister’s prerogative to choose his number two. But Tengku Razaleigh felt that Mahathir ‘owed’ him the post. And, to understand this, we have to take yet another step back to the time when Tun Razak was on his deathbed in a private London hospital.

Tun Razak knew he had to ensure that there would be a smooth succession once he was gone so he explicitly anointed Hussein Onn as his successor. He also said he wants Tengku Razaleigh as the number two. Tun Razak had great confidence in his disciple, Tengku Razaleigh, because this Prince from Kelantan was practically the architect and engineer of Malaysia’s economic program. Felda, Petronas, Bank Bumiputera, Bank Pambangunan, UIA, and many more, were the brainchild of Tengku Razaleigh. In fact, the PSA that Petronas made Exxon sign is, today, the model that all oil-producing countries use as the basis of their contract with oil exploration companies.

In that sense, Malaysia led the way in the oil industry and Tengku Razaleigh was the man who started it all. Many may also not even realise that Tengku Razaleigh owns the land that the PWTC-Umno headquarters sits on. He donated the land to the party and undertook the construction of the building, plus fully-furnished it, at no cost to Umno.

When Tun Razak died, Hussein Onn took over but he refused to follow Tun Razak’s advice on number two and instead wanted to choose Ghazali Shafie. When Ghaffar Baba, Mahathir and Tengku Razaleigh found out, the three of them confronted Hussein and made him choose from amongst one of them, all Vice Presidents of Umno.

Ghaffar Baba, who did not possess the basic educational qualifications, was out -- so it had to be either Mahathir or Tengku Razaleigh. But Ghazali bitterly opposed the idea of Mahathir becoming number two as he considered the latter a communist, anti-royalist republican. In fact, Ghazali had been trying to pin something on Mahathir for some time. Ghazali even detained Syed Hussin Ali under the ISA so that he could be ‘persuaded’ to squeal on Mahathir. Instead of ‘confessing’ that Mahathir was his communist boss, Syed Hussin chose to spend the next seven years in the Kamunting Detention Centre.

Tunku Abdul Rahman was also opposed to Mahathir. The Tunku said that the day Mahathir becomes Prime Minister would be the day that Umno will be destroyed. The Tunku went to his grave a mortal enemy of Mahathir and he never joined Umno Baru but died a member of the opposition Semangat 46.

Taking this cue, Hussein wanted Tengku Razaleigh as his number two but the Kelantan Prince politely turned down the offer as, he explained, he still had so many things to do for the country. Tengku Razaleigh then proposed that Mahathir be appointed the number two and then, when Mahathir goes on to become Prime Minister, he will come in as Mahathir’s number two. By then he would be ready for the job.

Well, Mahathir did eventually go on to become Prime Minister but he did not appoint Tengku Razaleigh as his number two. Instead, he let the party decide. But because of the hint that he favoured Musa Hitam, the party decided to follow the Prime Minister’s ‘advice’ and Tengku Razaleigh lost out.

Three years later, Tengku Razaleigh decided to try a second time. But this time it was no longer a ‘race for a vacant post’. Musa was already the Deputy Prime Minister so it was cleverly ‘painted’ as Tengku Razaleigh trying to ‘topple’ the number two. Toppling is negative, so Tengku Razaleigh did not get the support and lost.

Musa then asked Mahathir to sack Tengku Razaleigh but the Old Man of Malaysian politics was too smart for that. Without Tengku Razaleigh around, Musa would become too powerful. If he retained Tengku Razaleigh, then Musa can be checked. It was basically a very clever divide-and rule, checks and balance game that Mahathir is so fond of playing and is very good at.

Mahathir did not sack Tengku Razaleigh as what Musa wanted. He just ‘demoted’ him from Finance Minister to Trade and Industry Minister. And this made Musa mad as hell. Musa eventually resigned in a huff and, instead of appointing Tengku Razaleigh as the replacement, Mahathir ‘recycled’ Ghaffar and appointed him the new Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. And this time it was Tengku Razaleigh’s turn to become mad as hell.

Later on, Tengku Razaleigh invited Musa to his Gua Musang division meeting in Kelantan and, in his speech, the ex-Deputy Prime Minister announced that Tengku Razaleigh would be contesting against Mahathir while he will be doing the same against Ghaffar. Tengku Razaleigh, caught off-guard and clearly embarrassed, said nothing.

Musa then invited Tengku Razaleigh to his division meeting in Johor and the same stunt was repeated. Again Tengku Razaleigh said nothing. Either Tengku Razaleigh was ‘testing the market’ or Musa was trying to ‘batu api’ Tengku Razaleigh. Anyway, at the third division meeting organised by Manan Othman in Gong Kapas, Kuala Terengganu, Tengku Razaleigh responded when Musa announced that he would be going against Ghaffar while the Kelantan Prince will be challenging Mahathir.

The challenge eventually took place and both Tengku Razaleigh and Musa lost, though some say they won but were cheated of their win. Following that, Umno was deregistered when it was proven that one of the delegates to the assembly was an un-discharged bankrupt. Now, who was the man behind the move to get Umno deregistered and how did they do it? Well, maybe this posting from an Umno website can clear the air on that one:

Sebenarnya diketahui ramai dikalangan mereka yang terbabit dalam Parti Semangat 46 bahawa usaha menyaman UMNO adalah dirancang oleh Dato Seri Abdullah Badawi sendiri. Mesyuarat pertama untuk membincang usaha ini dilakukan di rumahnya di Jalan Medan Kapas, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. Antara yang hadhir adalah Marina Yusof, Dato Radzi Shiekh Ahmad, Zawawi Zin, dan lain-lain.

Di dalam mesyaurat itu yang dihadhiri oleh mereka-mereka yang boleh digelar sebagai orang-orang Musa (Hitam) dan orang-orang Dolah, Abdullah sendiri yang membuat keputusan untuk menyaman UMNO di mahkamah dan dipersetujui oleh mereka yang hadhir. Berikutan mesyuarat pertama, mesyuarat kedua diadakan di rumah Puan Marina Yusof di Ampang Hilir.

Penggerak utama rancangan ini adalah mantan terbaru Setiausaha Agong UMNO, Radzi Sheikh Ahmad sendiri. Sepanjang penyediaan kes dan setiap hari perbicaraan, kesebelasan mereka yang menyaman UMNO berkumpul dan berbincang di rumah Radzi.

Mengikut sumber-sumber terdekat Tengku Razaleigh, Ku Li tidak dilibatkan langsung dan sedang berada di luar negara selama dua bulan semasa perancangan tersebut. (http://anotherbrickinwall.blogspot.com/2008/04/fikir-fikirkan-abdullah-perancang.html )

Okay, there you have it -- and from an Umno man himself. Following this deregistration of Umno, Tunku Abdul Rahman and Hussein Onn quickly submitted an application to register Umno Malaysia. When Ghaffar found out, he also quickly submitted an application to register Umno Baru -- though this took place three days later.

As can be expected, the Umno Malaysia registration was rejected on grounds that the Umno name ‘had already been taken’ -- although the Umno Baru application was submitted three days AFTER Umno Malaysia’s application. As they say, the rest is now history. Umno Baru took off and Tengku Razaleigh and his gang of merry men were persona non grata in the new party, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi included.

Not left with much of a choice, and since Umno Malaysia had been rejected and he and his boys and girls were not welcome in Umno Baru, Tengku Razaleigh was forced to form his own party. And he did and this party was called Parti Semangat 46. In the 1990 general election, Semangat 46 teamed up with DAP under Gagasan Rakyat in the west coast, with PAS under Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah in the east coast, and with PBS in Sabah.

And that was when Kelantan fell, in 1990, when they would not allow Tengku Razaleigh back into Umno and he had to form his own party and remain in the opposition. So what is this talk about Tengku Razaleigh losing Kelantan in 1996? If anyone is losing it, that would be Abdullah.

Now, on the judiciary issue -- which Abdullah accuses Mahathir of destroying. Okay, let us say he did. The new de facto Minister of Law, Zaid Ibrahim, proposed that the government apologise to Tun Salleh Abbas for the injustice done to him. At the first Cabinet meeting that Zaid attended, he was whacked good and proper and had to reverse his stand and explain that that was just his ‘personal opinion’. Barely a couple of weeks into his new job and Zaid was made to eat his words. But why? Had not Tun Salleh Abbas been treated unjustly (dizalimi)? If Mahathir did what they say he did then the government should and must apologise, not only to Tun Salleh, but to the entire nation.

Then there is the issue of the Lingam Tapes and the judge fixing scandal that Mahathir has been accused of being involved in. This would mean that the recently-retired Chief Justice is tainted and should have been allowed to retire when he was due for retirement even if he can’t be sacked.

But Abdullah would not allow him to retire even though almost the entire country was up in arms. Then the Bar Council organised a march from the Palace of Justice to the Prime Minister’s office and 2,000 people took part in that march to hand over a protest note to the Prime Minister. But still Abdullah wanted to extend the Chief Justice’s term of office.

Finally, the Agong had to intervene and when Abdullah told His Majesty that he would like to extend the Chief Justice’s term of office, His Majesty put his foot down and said that the people are not happy with the idea and therefore His Majesty can’t agree to it. However, just when we thought all had been resolved, Abdullah appoints Umno’s lawyer to the post of President of the Court of Appeal -- whereby that puts him next inline as the Chief Justice of Malaysia. Umno’s lawyer as Chief Justice? And is Mahathir now to be blamed for this as well?

Let’s make one thing very clear. This is not a Mahathir-apology piece. Sure, he has done much of what they say he has done, plus probably more. What we want to focus on is the wrongdoings of this present administration, which they are conveniently trying to blame Mahathir for in an attempt to throw us off the scent.

Anyway, let us stop here for now though there is much to talk about. Maybe we can continue this later. Oh, by the way, before I leave, can you see how cleverly Abdullah names Najib as his successor so that we all throw up our arms and say, “What the hell, if Najib is next inline, then we had better just keep Abdullah around. He may not be the best, but at least he is not as bad as Najib.”

And we all assume Abdullah is not playing with a full deck of cards. Actually he is cleverer than many of us give him credit for.

Like Siamese twins

It is like two people in a lifeboat. The ship has sunk and you and your enemy both end up in the same lifeboat. You would like to throw your enemy over the side, especially, in the first place, since it is his fault that the ship sank. But then the lifeboat needs two people to row to reach dry land.

Raja Petra Kamarudin

My first face-to-face experience with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was soon after he became Prime Minister. That was about 26 years or so ago and Anwar Ibrahim had just joined Umno and had hardly one year under his belt as a Member of Parliament.

I must admit my ‘relationship’ with Mahathir can be classified as love-hate. By then I was already ‘moving’ with PAS so Mahathir would have to be considered ‘the enemy’. But he was also Prime Minister. So while I may have ‘rejected’ him as the Umno President, I still had to give him due respect as the Prime Minister. That was how I had been ‘indoctrinated’ from young.

This was probably the ‘Malay palace protocol’ acting up on me. Malays are indoctrinated with the dogma that authority must be respected, regardless of whether the authority is just or cruel. That is why for generations Malays looked up to Hang Tuah as the hero and Hang Jebat as the villain. Of course, much of that has now changed, especially since the internet and globalisation has shrunk the world to one small borderless village. But it was not until quite recent, say 25 years or so ago, when leaders like Musa Hitam declared that Malays must now become kurang ajar before they dared face an unjust authority with defiance.

If I had said what Musa said I would have been showered with verbal diarrhoea. But because it was the Deputy Prime Minister who made this statement, then it has to be the gospel and nothing short of that. Musa, however, did not clarify what he meant by kurang ajar or whether he meant this literally or metaphorically speaking.

Kurang ajar is something Malays can never tolerate. The May 13 disaster, though many believe was the result of the ruling party losing some states and its two-thirds majority in Parliament in the 11 May 1969 general election, was actually because of what happened on 12 May rather than 11 May.

On 12 May, a group of Chinese and Indians paraded in convoys in the predominantly Malay sections of Kuala Lumpur and started taunting the Malays. It was bad enough the Malays felt that the Chinese and Indians had defeated them and had ‘taken over Malay territory’. But to add insult to injury by calling the Malays names and then shouting at the Malays to get out of Kuala Lumpur and go back to the kampongs because Kuala Lumpur is now owned by the Chinese and Indians was pushing it a bit too far.

The Malays decided to balas dendam (get revenge) and a counter-parade was planned for the following day. The rest, as they say, is now history and water under the bridge. There is probably not a single Malaysian who does not know what happened the following day on 13 May 1969 so I really need not go on further.

As much as many may believe that May 13 was the result of the bad performance of the Alliance Party in the 11 May 1969 general election, the truth of the matter is the Malays were outraged by the insults from the Chinese and Indians on 12 May 1969. No doubt the Malays were still in shock. But the shock of the 11 May 1969 humiliation was overshadowed by the insults of 12 May 1969. And that was the main reason for the following day’s retaliation, though of course there are other ‘hidden’ reasons, which I have already talked about at great length in the past and do not really need to repeat here.

The Malays are not really that poor a sport. Sure, Malays understand defeat and can accept defeat just like any other race. But what Malays can’t accept, which probably differentiates Malays from other races, are insults. You insult a Malay and he will run amok. And is not amok a Malay word that is not found in any other language?

Anyway, enough digressing. Allow me to get back to the subject of my first face-to-face with Mahathir. This was a meeting cum dinner held at the Equatorial Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Mahathir was the host and the Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce were the guests.

It was a Chinese dinner, a normal table for ten, but each table was marked with five Malay Chamber members and five Chinese Chamber members and we had to sit selang-seli (alternate). It was not free seating and we had to sit where we had been slotted to sit. So each Chinese ended up with Malays on his left and right and vice versa for the Malays. This was to ensure that the Malays do not all sit on one table or bunch up on one side of the table, the same for the Chinese of course. It never occurred to me, then, that the Indians were not included in this whole thing. Or could it be because the Indians were not as organised as the Malays and Chinese and the government did not know which Indian business grouping to contact?

Mahathir, who was Prime Minister for only a year or so, kicked off by saying that the New Economic Policy was already more than halfway through. As we had promised the non-Malays, said Mahahir, the NEP must end in 1990 as scheduled. It would be unfair and a breach of ‘agreement’ to extend the NEP beyond 1990. So the Malays must be prepared to see it end, come eight years or so. Mahathir then whacked the Malays and the bad attitude they had, right there and then, in front of the Chinese. But then he is the Prime Minister and he could get away with something like that.

Mahathir then turned to the Chinese. It is the moral duty of the Chinese to help the Malays, argued Mahathir. The Malays can’t be left to die. The Malays are the majority race in Malaysia and any race that is unhappy is not good for the peace and stability of the nation, especially if they form the majority race in that country.

Mahathir then insulted the Malays further. Malays like to spend money, said Mahathir. If they have money they spend. Even if they don’t have money they will still spend and end up heavily in debt. So what is wrong if the Chinese help the Malays become rich? Invariably, the Malays will spend all their money and it will be spent in Chinese shops since it is the Chinese and not Malays who own all these shops.

Therefore, said Mahathir, in his usual Mahanomics manner, rich Malays would ensure that the Chinese become even richer -- because at the end of the day the Malays would spend all their money and it would end up in the pockets of the Chinese.

Hmm….this does not say much for the Malays. And they were being insulted in front of the Chinese. In short, Mahathir was telling the Chinese to help make the Malays ‘fat’ so that the Chinese can ‘slaughter’ the Malays later. And does it not make sense that you fatten the animal before slaughtering it?

As I said, Mahathir was ‘the enemy’. I was PAS and he was Umno. But he is still my Prime Minister. So I gave him due respect because he was Prime Minister and not because he was my party President. And I listened to what the Prime Minister said. That would be very hard for many to reconcile, especially if you are non-Malay. ‘Old’ Chinese culture would be, if you oppose the Emperor, then not only you but your entire family for seven levels would be put to death -- wife, children, parents, uncles, aunties, brothers, sisters, in-laws, cousins, second-cousins, third-cousins, cousins-in-law, plus your chickens, pigs, dogs and cats included.

My next meeting was a private meeting in his office. I was there to suggest that Mahathir abandon the Bakun hydro power plant and instead embark upon a gas powered one. This would certainly save much valuable forest. Furthermore, Malaysia has ample gas so it would not be that costly to run -- plus gas turbine plants would be cheaper to build than a hydro plant.

I could see from the look on Mahathir’s face that he was not too pleased with my unsolicited advice. He mumbled something about water costs nothing and you never run out of water like you would gas -- so in the long run a hydro plant is better and cheaper. I may not be that smart but I was smart enough to know when to drop the subject and we moved on to talk about the weather and all such mundane stuff.

The third meeting was a closed-door session to discuss what to do with the Malays. This was at the height of the 1985-1987 recession when Malays, Chinese and Indians were losing their pants due to the worldwide economic downturn. Our mission was to explore how to solve the ‘new Malay dilemma’.

The Chinese are in worse trouble than the Malays, argued Mahathir. But the Chinese sort out their problems on their own. They do not come running to the government. The Malays, however, throw the problem to the government and expect the government to bail them out. Maybe we should just allow the weak Malays to die so that the strong can survive.

We reminded Mahathir that this is not just about race or the economy. The backbone of Umno are the Malays. If Umno allows the Malays to die, then Umno too would die. The Malays would abandon Umno and would swing to the opposition. So this is not just about helping the Malays ride out the bad economic patch. This is also about ensuring that Umno would remain in power. I was PAS so why the hell do I care if Umno dies? Would that not be better for PAS? No, not from where I was sitting. An Umno in trouble would mean the country in trouble, at least until one day when an alternative to Umno emerges.

Mahathir sighed and asked why can’t the Malays be like the Chinese. We knew the answer to that one but did not think Mahathir would like to hear it. So we just kept quiet. Mahathir gave us an ‘aiyah’ look and said, “Okaylah, I will set up a Tabung Pemulihan Usahawan (TPU) and will put aside RM500 million for it.”

RM500 million is not enough. We want RM1 billion. “Aiyah, if I give you RM1 billion what will the Chinese say? We have to be fair to the Chinese as well. Work with RM500 million first and if it is not enough I will consider more later.”

In the end the tabung touched RM560 million and many a Malay businessman was salvaged out of his financial dilemma (some women as well). They have mostly all paid the money back by now and some I met are still in business. One chap I met a year ago rushed up to me and hugged me.

“Can you remember me?” he asked. “Twenty years ago you helped me with my RM1.3 million TPU application.”

Yes, I remembered him. He was Semangat 46 and they had rejected his application on grounds of politics but I ‘banged table’ and managed to get it approved. In fact, I got quite a few applications approved -- which were rejected because the applicants were Semangat 46 -- and that got me labelled as ‘Tengku Razaleigh’s man’. Subsequently, Wan Mokhtar and Umno Terengganu blacklisted me and life became hell thereafter, resulting in me leaving the state and migrating back to Kuala Lumpur in 1994.

“Oh, okay, have you paid back all the money?” I asked.

“Dah bayar lama dah.”

He was about 75 or so but looked younger than me. Could it be because of his three wives? I pointed him out to my wife and asked her to guess his age. I then tried convincing my wife that he looked 20 years younger than his age because he had three wives but my wife was not convinced that that was the reason. Sigh…….

Well, there were a couple of other face-to-face meetings I had with the Grand Old Man of Malaysian politics which I do not need to go into. Suffice to say, the ‘private’ Mahathir and the ‘public’ Mahathir are two different animals. You can’t really get to know Mahathir by observing him in public. Ten public appearances will still not reveal the true Mahathir. But one private meeting reveals a lot.

My love-hate relationship with Mahathir lasted only about ten years or so. After that I began to despise him mainly because he had been around too long. I felt that a prime minister should stay in office for only two terms or ten years, never mind how good he may be. More than that and he would have overstayed his welcome.

But now Mahathir has retired and I no longer despise him as such. I give him due respect as a retired Prime Minister, as a Tun (Sir), and as a man who is 83 or 84 years old. I am 57 and I must give due respect to a man much senior to me. Doing otherwise would make me ‘un-Malay’. Even at the height of the Reformasi Movement I whacked Mahathir for what he had done to Anwar and to the country. But I did not label him as Mamak, Keling, Mahazalim, Mahafiraun, and all those other names that the Reformasi websites were so fond of calling him.

During my ISA detention I was made to write a thesis on why I oppose Mahathir. I ‘spoke’ from my heart and told it as it is, no holds barred. My Special Branch minders were quite surprised. They had assumed that my opposition to Mahathir was all about Anwar. They did not think that it was the principle of a prime minister should not hold office for more than ten years and then leave the scene, even if he is the best Prime Minister Malaysia ever had.

On Mahathir’s misdeeds as Prime Minister, I listed them down in detail and offered my reasons as to why I thought Mahathir was wrong and therefore why I should oppose him. I spoke as the Rakyat and argued about the loss to the Rakyat if these misdeeds were not checked. It was nothing personal. If Mahahir resigns and then repents and then takes steps to rectify his mistakes, I could forgive him for what he had done, even what he had done to me personally. The Special Branch officers responded by saying that if they were me, instead of Special Branch officers, they would not disagree with my opinions.

All the great religions, in particular the religions of the book, speak about repentance, forgiveness and redemption. Even God possesses forgiving qualities. But forgiveness can only be forthcoming with repentance and redemption. Yes, there is much Mahathir must redeem before forgiveness can be given. And has Mahathir truly repented? For if he has not then forgiving would be impossible.

But first things first. Let us first solve the problem of the burning house before we talk about who started the fire. Standing around arguing about whose fault it is that the house is burning would not save the house. We will still be arguing long after the house has burned to the ground and still not settle the blaming and finger-pointing.

The foreign fund managers are pulling out of Malaysia. The Chinese investors are moving their money to Vietnam, Cambodia, China and Thailand. The Singaporeans are adopting a wait-and-see stance. Qualified Malaysians are queuing up in front of the foreign embassies to apply for PR status in other countries -- a serious brain drain for this country.

The question is not whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat will be the federal government come Christmas Day. It is whether there will still be a country, as we know it, in existence by then. This is the dilemma ahead of us and which is the house burning down I am talking about. The impending collapse of the world economy expected later this year adds to the problem and this is no less a doomsday scenario in the making.

The political uncertainty is of course one reason, in particular the internal war in Umno. But the overriding reason is the loss of confidence in the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi government.

The President of MIC, MCA, Gerakan, etc., is not our concern. That is the concern of the members of each respective party. But the President of Umno is our concern and not just the concern of the party members. Whomsoever becomes the Umno President becomes the Prime Minister. So while the Umno President is merely the leader of that party, the Prime Minister will decide the fate of the entire country and of 26 million or 27 million Malaysians.

It is like two people in a lifeboat. The ship has sunk and you and your enemy both end up in the same lifeboat. You would like to throw your enemy over the side, especially, in the first place, since it is his fault that the ship sank. But then the lifeboat needs two people to row to reach dry land. You can throw your enemy into the sea and, with glee, watch him drown -- after which the lifeboat would drift aimlessly and you would be dead in a week as well. Then again, you can make a deal with your enemy and the both of you row the lifeboat in the direction that you suspect dry land would be waiting for you.

Yes, Umno is the Prime Minister. Umno can choose to retain the present Prime Minister or it can choose to change the Prime Minister. Umno’s decision will decide what happens to all of us. If they retain the Prime Minister, will that be the best thing for Malaysia? Or would the better alternative be to change the Prime Minister? And what happens if Umno makes the wrong choice? What happens if they change for the worse rather than for the better? Yes, those are questions that should trouble us because Umno’s decision is about our future.

Umno politics, therefore, does not belong to Umno. Umno politics belongs to all Malaysians. And we have a right to know who is going to be the Prime Minister for the next five years or so until the next general election. And if the present Prime Minister is wrong, then Mahathir committed that wrong and he should therefore be the one to put it right. Forgiveness, redemption and repentance must go hand-in-hand.

But Mahathir must not decide who the next Prime Minister should be. He already made a mistake with Abdullah. Let us not allow him to make a second mistake with Abdullah’s successor. Unfortunately, the choice of successor lies in the hands of Umno and its members and we are not Umno members. But that does not prevent us from urging our friends and comrades in Umno to think of all 26 million or 27 million Malaysians in making that choice and not just the interest of three million or so Umno members.

And to those of us not in Umno and who have no say in the matter, let us assure our Umno friends and comrades that if they change the Prime Minister then we shall ‘suspend’ all opposition for the next two years. We shall give the new Prime Minister time to sort out the country’s problems. If he fails to do so, like how Abdullah failed to do so, then come two years we will re-launch opposition with the fury of a lover scorned.

Maybe a form of ‘unity government’ can be proposed. The opposition will support the federal government for a period of two years. The opposition will help the federal government sort out the mess left by the previous administrations. But if the ruling party demonstrates insincerity and reverts to the abuses and excesses of the previous administrations, rest assured we will return to the opposition with a fierce vengeance never before experienced in the history of this country.

But the opposition must remain an opposition. Pakatan Rakyat must not only be retained but must also be strengthened. PKR, DAP, PAS, MDP, PSM, PRM and PASOK must not join Barisan Nasional. But it can be part of the federal government while remaining an opposition in the states in the interest of pulling this country out of the economic quagmire the present and previous administrations have got us into.

That should be the game plan until the next general election.

Smokescreens and disinformation: a distraction of issues

Forget about Mahathir. He is history. The future is not with Mahathir. Mahathir is about the past. The future lies in the hands of the present Prime Minister. Whether Abdullah stays in office or gets ousted will be what will decide our future. So let’s stay focused. Let’s see how to kick Abdullah out.

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Information Minister cautions Mahathir

On Friday, 4 April 2008, Information Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek cautioned former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be careful with his words lest they do more damage to Umno. He also said many of the things that Mahathir is now criticising were actually introduced by him when he was party president.

He said the tragedy that saw Umno being declared illegal in 1988 during the leadership of former prime minister and former Umno president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad should not be allowed to be repeated. Therefore, Dr Mahathir should be careful when making public statements, added Shabery. He said Umno was previously deregistered because of the various statements that were made openly and now it could be destroyed in other ways.

"I feel it would be appropriate that Tun (Dr Mahathir) exercises more caution in making statements because we don't want the demise of Umno, the destruction of Umno, and the deregistration of Umno that occurred during his leadership to be repeated in another form," he told reporters after attending for the first time the Information Ministry Monthly Assembly at Wisma Radio, Angkasapuri in Kuala Lumpur Friday.

"I fear that Umno will sink further after it first began to sink during Tun Dr Mahathir's reign when Umno was deregistered," Shabery said. He was commenting on the criticism made by Dr Mahathir who claimed that members of the Umno Supreme Council now were afraid to voice their opinions to convey a message to the top leadership.

Responding to Dr Mahathir's criticism that the present breed of supreme council members dare not speak up to convey a message to the party leadership, Ahmad Shabery said during the former prime minister's leadership many regulations were imposed including a resolution passed at the Umno General Assembly that there should be no contest for the president and deputy president's posts and several other "difficult" regulations.

"There was no contest (for president and deputy president's posts) after 1987 but now he is saying it is undemocratic. The Malays have not forgotten all these things but maybe Dr Mahathir has forgotten. "I am sad to talk about all these things but the openness in Pak Lah's era should not be taken advantage," he said.

Bernama reported that at one time, he said, Umno supreme council members cannot be challenged in their divisions and they also cannot contest. Division chiefs in Kelantan cannot be opposed when Dr Mahathir was the state Umno liaison head, he said.

Ahmad Shabery said the former Umno president had also reminded delegates to the Umno General Assembly in 1997 that any criticism about the party and its leadership can only be made through the party channel, via branches, divisions and the supreme council and not outside the party. (MySinchew)


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Yes, the first act by the newly installed Minister of Information is to embark on a campaign of smokescreen and disinformation. This is a typical strategy of distraction, which an accomplished strategist like Mahathir himself normally uses. When you have a pain in your leg, get someone to hit your head with a hammer. The pain in your head would distract you from the pain in your leg. It is not that the pain in your leg has gone away. It is just that the pain in your head is greater than the pain in your leg so you focus on the pain in your head and you get distracted from the pain in your leg.

Okay, for purposes of argument, let us agree that it was Mahathir who was instrumental in introducing the ‘no contest for number one and number two’ rule. And to make sure it would be difficult for anyone to mount a challenge, it was also Mahathir who introduced the ‘30% nominations from Umno divisions’ quota. This would mean Mahathir is guilty as hell and was the culprit who ‘killed’ democracy in Umno.

Then, let us put Mahathir on ‘trial by public opinion’ (because there has been no Registrar of Society laws broken and you can’t actually get the police to arrest him or the Attorney-General to charge him for this ‘crime’) and pronounce him guilty. So we now find Mahathir guilty as charged. But then there are a few things wrong here.

First of all, after Mahathir left the scene, Umno refused to reverse his ‘violation’ or ‘crime’ of ‘killing’ democracy in Umno. In fact, Umno upheld the ‘no contest for number one and number two’ rule plus also upheld the ruling of the ‘30% nominations from Umno divisions’ quota. Why did Umno not wipe the slate clean and erase the Mahathir ‘legacy’ so that democracy could be restored in Umno?

Secondly, Umno always defends its President cum Malaysia’s Prime Minister by arguing that one man does not make the decisions either in Umno or the government. All decisions made are made on a collective and unanimous basis by the Umno Supreme Council and/or the Cabinet, they keep telling us. In that case, why is Mahathir now blamed for all the ills and wrongs in Umno and the government? Many a time we have heard Ministers and political leaders argue that the party President and/or the Prime Minister should not be taken to task for any shortcomings because the entire ‘team’ came to a particular decision and supported that decision.

Are they now saying that what we alleged all this time is true -- that one man and not the entire Supreme Council or Cabinet made all these wrong and unpopular decisions? You can’t one day defend your leader-in-office by saying that the decisions were collectively and unanimously made and then, once he is out of office, you turn around and say that he and he alone made all the decisions. Are we therefore also right in accusing Abdullah -- on the advice of his family -- of making the decisions in Umno and the government all by himself? Or will this allegation only be true once Abdullah is out of office and not be true while he is still in office?

Okay, let us assume that Mahathir is the dictator everyone makes him out to be and that he ruled the Umno Supreme Council and the Cabinet with an iron first and single-handedly made all the decisions -- while everyone else in the Supreme Council and Cabinet actually disagreed with these decisions. Did anyone protest? Did anyone resign? Did anyone speak out against these decisions? Did anyone wash his/her hands and distant himself/herself from the decisions? In fact, what everyone did was to speak up in support of Mahathir’s decisions and publicly and openly state that they support the decisions and that the decisions were unanimous and got the support of the entire Supreme Council and/or Cabinet. The fact that everyone stood behind Mahathir and publicly endorsed him and declared that the decisions were collectively and unanimously made makes everyone, and not just Mahathir alone, guilty of everything that Mahathir is alleged to have done.

Soon after Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over from Mahathir on 1 November 2003, they proclaimed a new era of clean, transparent and democratic governance. Abdullah even led the congregation in prayer to demonstrate that he is the true imam that they claim him to be. No Prime Minister before this has ever led the congregation in prayer. And to ensure that no one misses this wonderful scene, they splashed photos and video-clips of Abdullah leading the congregation in prayer all over the newspapers and TV. This perception of a ‘New Deal’ resulted in Barisan Nasional garnering almost 92% of the seats in Parliament in the 21 March 2004 general election.

Malaysians were promised sweeping changes. After 22 years of Mahathir’s less than transparent regime and rule with an iron first, Abdullah was a breath of fresh air. But the sweeping changes never came. What happened instead was that a new set of cronies was created and they ‘swept’ in a mere two years what took Mahathir 22 years to achieve. They set themselves on turbo-charge, overdrive mode and did more damage in a mere two years what took Mahathir 22 years to do.

Then, also in 2004, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah announced that he was going to make a bid for the Umno Presidency and Umno, in turn, announced the ‘no contest for number one and number two’ rule. Umno also upheld the ‘30% nominations from Umno divisions’ quota. Sure, Mahathir may have been the culprit who had introduced these rules but Umno refused to abolish or amend them but instead defended them to the hilt. Why can’t these ‘undemocratic’ rules be removed? Why can’t they undo all the ‘damage’ that Mahathir had created? Why can’t they restore democracy in Umno, which had been eroded by Mahathir? Why use all those iron-fisted rules, which had been introduced by Mahathir, instead of reforming the party by discarding all those things Mahathir had done which is damaging the party and which makes a mockery of democracy?

Forget about Mahathir. Forget about what Mahahir did. Mahathir is no longer in power. Those currently in power must prove that Mahathir is everything they say he is by dismantling Mahahir’s ‘legacy’ and by restoring what Mahathir had eroded. But they are not doing this. They blame everything on Mahathir. After declaring that it was a collective decision, they now blame the entire thing solely on Mahathir. But they refuse to undo what Mahahir did. They still uphold the rules that Mahathir introduced, which were meant to deny any challenge to the Umno Presidency and Deputy Presidency. And they use these same ‘undemocratic’ rules of Mahathir to prevent anyone from challenging Abdullah and Najib Tun Razak.

Okay, so Mahathir is a slime-ball and scumbag. Mahathir is a dictator and undemocratic. Then remove what Mahathir introduced. Restore Umno to what it was before Mahathir ‘destroyed’ it. By upholding Mahathir’s policies, it only gives an impression that Mahathir is right and did no wrong.

Yes, there is currently a smokescreen and disinformation campaign going on. They are hitting us on the head to make us forget the pain in our leg. This is nothing but an exercise in distraction. And the new Minister of Disinformation is the man tasked with the job of distracting us and with the job of leading us up the garden path of disinformation. And if you don’t believe me then take at a look at these two issues, which have captured the attention of the entire mainstream and ‘alternative’ media.

First let us look at the Director of ACA issue. It is being alleged that Mahathir blocked an investigation by the Director of the ACA. Was this so? The then Director of the ACA was investigation the Secretary-General of the Economic Planning Unit, which comes under the Prime Minister’s Department. The Sec-Gen of the EPU complained to his boss, who also happens to be the Prime Minister, that the ACA was rude and abusive and that the so-called investigation was actually a witch-hunt and political persecution.

Now, this may sound hard to believe, but I have a lawyer friend who was representing the Director of the Commercial Crime Division and they arrested him on the eve of Hari Raya, manhandled him in his office in front of his staff, handcuffed him in a very rough manner until they injured his wrist, and threw him into the lockup for the night. And the whole thing was on trumped-up charges of not replying to a letter whereas he had replied, but not the way the ACA wanted.

So, yes, the ACA is capable of doing such things and it appears like they still do that until today. Anyway, since the Sec-Gen of the EPU comes directly under the PM’s Department, Mahathir called the ACA Director to enquire into the allegation that the investigation was mala fide.

Mahathir, in fact, did the same thing many times in the past. For example, in the Abdullah Ang case, Mahathir summoned the IGP, Tun Haniff Omar, to ask whether Abdullah Ang is really guilty. Haniff confirmed he is. Mahathir asked whether the police had the evidence. When Haniff also confirmed that the evidence was overwhelming, Mahathir replied, then do what must be done.

Abdullah Ang went to see Mahathir and, down on his knees, cried and grabbed Mahathir’s leg and asked for help. Mahathir replied that it is now a police case and they have evidence of wrongdoing so he is not able to lift a finger. This was Mahathir’s ‘best friend’ but still Mahathir would not intervene and Abdullah Ang went to jail (though there is another story of what happened after he was sent to jail).

Anyway, back to the Sec-Gen of EPU story. The ACA Director, who was summoned to explain the facts of the case, shouted at Mahathir and stormed out of the room in a huff. Mahathir was shocked and totally speechless. This was the Prime Minister and yet the ACA Director had the gall to scream at him. Mahathir did nothing though. He did not demand the ACA Director’s resignation. The Director, however, dropped the investigation although Mahathir did not demand that he do so. Why did he drop the investigation if there was evidence that the Sec-Gen of the EPU had committed a corrupt act?

Okay, let us look at another case. This one involves the sacking of Tun Salleh Abbas, the Chief Justice. The story being spun is that Mahathir ordered his sacking and Zaid Ibrahim, the new ‘Minister of Law’, wants to resurrect the case and make an issue out of it. But did Mahathir really sack the Chief Justice?

What happened was that the Chief Justice had a home next door to the Agong’s and His Majesty’s house was under renovation. The Chief Justice was displeased with the noise and pollution and he wrote a letter to the Agong with copies to all the Rulers complaining about the matter. The Agong was upset with this insolence on the part of the Chief Justice. Writing a complaint letter is one thing and could be forgiven since this was a genuine grievance -- though an audience would have been the correct protocol instead of a complaint letter -- but to copy the letter to all the Rulers smacks of pressure.

The Agong was outraged and demanded that Mahathir sack the Chief Justice for this insolence that tantamount to misconduct. Mahathir, however, replied that he does not have the authority to sack the Chief Justice and that this can only be done through a Tribunal. The Agong then commanded (titah) that a Tribunal be set up, which was to report direct to His Majesty. The Tribunal found the Chief Justice guilty of misconduct and sent its recommendation to the Agong, who then removed the Chief Justice.

Hey, Mahathir is guilty of many things. One thing he is guilty of is for detaining me under the ISA, arresting me under the Sedition Act, arresting and handcuffing my wife, and the beating I received in the Dang Wangi Police Station at the hands of Bakri Zinin in front of my wife. I would certainly like Mahathir to pay for these crimes. But I am not about to make him pay for crimes he did not commit. And if he is guilty of destroying democracy in Umno, then the present leaders should dismantle everything that Mahathir did. But they refuse to do this. They accuse Mahathir of many breaches and violations and accuse him of destroying democracy but they still uphold all those rules imposed by Mahathir, such as no contest for number one and number two and the 30% nominations ruling.

Umno is embarking on a smokescreen and disinformation campaign. They want to distract us from the real issue, the impending hot contest in Umno to oust Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. They want us to focus on Mahathir’s wrongdoings so that we do not look at what is about to happen in Umno. Forget about Mahathir. He is history. The future is not with Mahathir. Mahathir is about the past. The future lies in the hands of the present Prime Minister. Whether Abdullah stays in office or gets ousted will be what will decide our future. So let’s stay focused. Let’s see how to kick Abdullah out. We can deal with Mahathir later. And let us also not forget that Abdullah is using all those undemocratic and iron-fisted rules imposed by Mahathir to cling to power and to prevent Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah from challenging him later this year.

That is the real issue.