Azmin Ali spilled the beans. The mastermind was Mahathir, the victim was Anwar. Again Anwar was played out by Mahathir and his hope of becoming the PM of Malaysia grows dimmer.
In the latest report in the ST, Azmin said Perikatan Nasional PN was Mahathir's idea, a scheme hatched in Mahathir's house on 23 Feb. Presence were the heads of Umno, PKR, Parti Pribumi Bersatu, Parti Warisan of Sabah, PAS and Gabungan Parti Sarawak. Azmin was then deputy President of PKR. Notably absent was PKR's president Anwar Ibrahim, the man they were fixing not to become the PM of Malaysia. The purpose of the meeting was to ensure Mahathir continue to be the PM.
The proposal was presented to the King with 131 statutory declarations in support of Mahathir, who needed only 112 to have the majority in Parliament. The plot was more intriquing with the suggestion that they would remove Mahathir later and replaced him by a Umno candidate. But Mahathir the wily fox saw through the bigger scheme of thingsand resigned as PM, throwing everyone off guard.
Mahathir had denied his involvement in this scheme and claiming that he would honour his words to let Anwar to take over from him as the next PM. His words must be music to Anwar's ears.
Who is telling the truth, who to trust, are becoming more ridiculous by the day. But whatever happened, poor Anwar would forever be the victim and the PM in waiting with so many playing against him behind his back.
Would Anwar ever be the next PM of Malaysia? With so many interested parties involved and with so many eyeing for the job and plotting against Anwar, it is going to take a miracle for Anwar to get himself into the PM office.
Malaysian politics is so complex with so many players that no one can really predict what is going to happen tomorrow. And the mastermind is still weaving his spider web of plots withing plots to want to be the PM the third time, or is it the fourth time, and making sure Anwar will never get there.
Anwar has a big mountain to climb over if he is ever to be the PM and he would need a lot of political skill to do that. Maybe after Mahathir has passed away.
Malaysian Political Intrigues In A Nutshell
ReplyDeleteMalaysia has lost its direction. The present leadership is very weak.
The coalition of political parties to hold power by sharing power seldom work well. It is uncanny and strange that it can still hold together.
I think the Malaysian King (Sultan) is behind all the manipulations. He simply cannot and does not want to give consent to Anwar to ascend to the Premiership.
The fact that Anwar has received a royal pardon, and accepted it so willingly, means that Anwar cannot now claim that he was not guilty of sodomy, which he has been trying to do so even after being convicted for the second time. As such, in the King's eye, Anwar cannot be allowed to become the Prime Minister of Malaysia. He is taboo. Anyone else is still better than him.
Sodomy is taboo in Malay and Muslim tradition and culture. Public officials cannot commit the crime and still hold political leadership office. This is the bottom line. This has sealed the fate of Anwar Ibrahim's ambition to become the next Prime Minister of Malaysia forever. Even Anwar himself could have realized it. That's why he looks so agonized and desperate.
UMNO is trying very hard to make a comeback. It can only do so by making all ruling party leadership and administration look weak and directionless, as it is at present.
In addition, for UMNO to return to power, Najib Razak's 1MDB fiasco has to be quickly done with. The 1MDB fiasco has tarnished UMNO irreparably. The longer this fiasco drags on, the more difficult it is for UMNO to return to power. Therefore, it has no choice but to go for second options, which is to become the puppet master, pulling the strings from behind and above the screen. This is what it is doing now. This is what it can and will do for the time being, into the uncertain future.
As the present unassuming PM is doing just nice, not too good but also not too bad. UMNO has to jump onto his bandwagon and ride along as a free-rider, as well as the puppet master.
PAS is eager to be involved in the governing, if given a chance because for the past donkey years that it was in existence, it has never been able to hold any governing positions. This time around, it is going to make inroads into the Malaysian governing body, so that it can at least be a factor to be reckoned with. Therefore, it will sleep in bed with any other political party that has the best chance to form the government, except Anwar's party. Because, as an Islamic party, it cannot openly be seen as condoning and supporting someone who has been convicted of sodomy twice. However, if Anwar is out of the way, PAS may also consider an alliance with PKR.
Going forward, as long as Anwar is the leader of PKR, there is very slim chance for it to gain enough votes to form the next Malaysian government. His wife would have done better, as she has shown while Anwar was in jail.
I, therefore, venture to predict that UMNO will eventually rule Malaysia again.
Old habits die hard. After 60 years under UMNO rule, the majority of Malaysians have become used to its style of governing. At least about half of the Chinese and Indian voters prefer UMNO than PKR or any other parties to be the government. Especially so after the collapse of Dr Mahathir's second premiership, due to his own idiosyncrasies and a series of miscalculations, culminating in his own resignation, a very costly self-snooks-self misadventure. From that day onwards, Dr Mahathir's time is up. No matter how he tries now, very few Malaysian voters would want to give him a third chance to be in power again. He is spent.
In conclusion, Malaysia is now in the crossroads of political re-orientation, re-alignment and re-adjustments. It will take at least another five years for things to straighten out. This is a very trying time. It will take a trying premier to try whatever he can try, in order to disentangle the mess in the whole political system of Malaysia.
SSO - 5th December, 2020
Mahathir is of Indian/Malay ancestry. That says a lot about his character. But he is adapt at divide and rule, pitting the Malay majority against the other races, discreetly with his divisive policies. What is happening in Malaysia is all single handedly crafted by this sly old fox.
ReplyDeleteWhen he was PM of Malaysia, he did not like LKY, bordering on envy, because LKY had the better of him on many fronts. He is not one to take lightly those setbacks. In fact he hates LKY and Singapore for doing better than Malaysia, although both started from the same base line. In fact, after separation, the value of the ringgit and S$ were at par. But there is now a world of difference. Malaysians flocked to work here, earning multiple times what they can get in Malaysia. In fact if you are not a Malay Malaysian the odds are stacked heavily against you in everything.
All along Mahathir had been using Anwar to garner support and when he does get his support base, Anwar is dispensable because he sees Anwar also as a threat. Moreover, Anwar's family does not like Mahathir, particularly Anwar's daughter who called Mahathir a dictator. The sodomy sticker stuck on Anwar is hard for his family to swallow.
UMNO will come back, through front or back doors we still cannot tell, because of the Malay ground, but Mahathir's son will not be able to figure in the UMNO hierarchy lineup as many prominent children of ex PMs are still holding the reins. That is why Mahathir and his son left UMNO because there is unlikely to be any future for his son.
The present PM is just a puppet. UMNO is the puppet master. What else is more enticing than the coming together of past members to enjoy the fruits of their hard fought goldmine. After all the present PM is also well schooled in UMNO politics and the coming together spells opportunity.
Malaysia is not short of billionaires, mostly Malay politicians. Most are there with ill gotten wealth. When the top is crooked, the bottom will not be straight. This is very true.
Malaysian
ReplyDeleteunder whichever Chief from any political party shall fare far better than the Average Sinkie.
Young Sinkie, especially
those under 30 year old shall have hard time to get married and own home above 80 Square Metres. Malaysians on the other hand can easily get shelter due to their vast land-mass and low population. Their government also builds low-cost housing for the Low-incomes.
It
is good to care for our neighbours,
however it is more important to have our own house maintain in order. Vis a vis Sin and Malaysia, l think the Malaysia People are much more bless than Sinkies.
Cheers.
I just could not figure out how the racial bias issue in Malaysia is going to be straightened out, even after another five years. The NEP was supposed to run for 20 years, a time frame for the Malays to play catch up, but almost 50 years later it is still mutating.
ReplyDeleteFor Malays there is no issue with that, because they are enjoying all the privileges. The issue is how to balance out the differences among all the races, knowing that the Malays will never give up their rights and the other races will never have the opportunity to be treated on an equal footing.
Privileges once bestowed are difficult or can never be withdrawn, especially if it is going to make a difference at the ballot box. It will keep on mutating into one form or another, on and on and on... Malaysian Politicians need the Malay votes, tied to the condition that the majority Malays continue to have those privileges or else...
I think let us just watch and not comment too much. Some people may not like us to talk about Malaysian affairs as this is their homeland. Otherwise our water will be cut off again and someone may receive a 'fatwa' soon.
ReplyDeleteWhat Virgo49 said is true. My uncle runs a factory in JB. He tried reporting a break in and theft at the police station and found out it was as useless and costly, and just keeping quiet seems the reasonable thing to do.
ReplyDeleteHe is terrified of staying in JB, after several threatening experiences, and goes in and out, sometimes coming back to Singapore in the late of night. He is even afraid of stopping along the way. There is no choice. Is this really that bad?