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.