The pot reproaches the kettle

Firing a sex bazooka and the constant hounding of Anwar has only damaged Umno’s already sullied-image.

Pot calling the kettle black – that best decribes the latest brouhaha over a sex video involving an opposition leader. The people behind this scandal include former Malacca chief minister Rahim Tamby Chik, who, in 1994, made news for having sex with a minor, which, under the law, is categorised as statutory rape.

Maybe it was his connections that helped Rahim escape punishment for the crime committed. Years later, he is once again in the news, this time for claiming he has evidence of an opposition leader whom he claimed to be Anwar Ibrahim as having sex with a prostitute at a hotel.

An Umno veteran, Rahim and his buddies, businessman Shazryl Eskay Abdullah and Perkasa’s Shuib Lazim, deciding to call themselves “Datuk Trio or Datuk T”, invited the media to view the sex video at Carcosa Seri Negara hotel.

With Rahim’s reputation as a philanderer, it is unbecoming of him to point an accusing finger at Anwar, the arch enemy of Umno. What comes across in this entire shenanigans is the insecurity of Barisan Nasional (BN), or Umno to be precise, losing out to Anwar in the next general election.

The truth is that BN coalition chief and Umno president Najib Tun Razak is having sleepless nights because of one person, Anwar.

Ways and means have been devised to get rid of Anwar, the goal being to finish him off, in one way or another. If this includes stooping to the worst level possible, Najib and his croonies are all for it, so long as all threat is eliminated in their quest for absolute control over the country.

Portraying Anwar as a man of easy virtue and making him the target of public ridicule and condemnation is not the ticket BN can count on to ensure success in the 13th general election. If Anwar is a womaniser, then Rahim is no saint. Or for that matter how “clean” are BN component party leaders like Dr Chua Soi Lek?

While Chua’s sex act was quickly forgotten and he soon returned to politics as MCA president, why does BN keep aiming its ammunitions at Anwar? If he did have sex with a prostitute, why is Umno squirming? Where was Rahim and the rest of the Umno cronies when Chua was caught with his pants down, literally?

Despite his extramarital affair, Chua continues to go about his life, hardly shameful of what he did to his family. And he continues to receive Umno’s backing. Why this hypocrisy, Umno?

Umno terrified of Anwar

As much as Umno will deny it, the truth is there is so much insecurity about Anwar that finishing off the man seems the only way Umno can think of to revive itself. For as long as Anwar exists, he
is a drag to Umno.

The shameful defeat at the 2008 polls has made Umno paranoid to the point that it got involved deeper and deeper with money politics, buying over opposition leaders, with the intention of causing panic in Pakatan Rakyat, the opposition coalition.

Umno, however, has overlooked the fact that the rakyat has come a long way since 2008; they have to an extent attained political maturity and know how to do justice to their voting rights.

Tarnishing a person’s reputation by way of slander is the only game Umno knows best how to play, aside from its all-time favourite – money politics. The party has forgotten its basket of rotten apples which revolts the people. Why is the basket not emptied and replaced? It is because Umno is banking on these rotten apples (read Rahim) to accomplish its agenda of brainwashing the people and presiding over the nation.

How long more does Umno intend to play witchcraft and make Anwar its punching bag, doing whatever it takes to cry him down? The sex video exposed by Rahim and friends is a game gone wrong for Rahim. Instead, the people want to know how did Rahim have the audacity to exhibit
pornographic material to the public? Who else, apart from the “Datuk T”, is involved? Does Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein have a hand in this Machiavellian act of defaming an individual?

Clearly, Umno knows it has lost support on the ground. So, the next best move is to “buy” over people, both the voters and key members of the opposition parties. PKR defectors like Behrang
assemblyman Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi, Changkat Jering assemblyman Mohd Osman Jailu, Lunas assemblyman Mohd Radzhi Salleh, Port Klang assemblyman Badrul Hisham Abdullah and former Penanti assemblyman and former Penang deputy chief minister I Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin are
examples of former PKR allies who were easily seduced by the monetary gains Umno offered as bait.

Then there was PKR MP for Bayan Baru Zahrain Hashim who suddenly woke up to the “realisation” that he was better off playing independent instead of a PKR loyalist. He quit the party and trailing him were Nibong Tebal MP Tan Tee Beng and Dr Halili Rahmat, who was the Hulu Selangor PKR treasurer.

These individuals found the lure of money politics laid out by Umno to be too good to resist, giving two hoots to party loyalty and the issue of reformation championed by Anwar.

Umno’s desperate tactics useless

Setting a death trap in the form of a sex video is not the miracle Umno can count on to put an end to the opposition’s determination to have a stake in the country’s administration. Instead, such cowardly act only goes to show just how desperate Umno is to recoup all the votes it lost to the opposition in the 2008.

Umno’s tactics to character-assassinate Anwar to the point of “no return” has failed and will continue to be a flop for the people post-2008. They have seen through the game played by Umno.

Firing the sex bazooka to keep hounding Anwar has only damaged Umno’s already tainted image with the people no longer interested in the little explosions Umno continues to make.

The bigotry which best describes Umno in all that it does also confirms that when it comes to finishing off Anwar’s political career, it will not hesitate in getting help from crooks like Rahim. To Umno, stop the mudslinging and disgusting ploys you are devising to kill off your enemies.

Remember, your closet is choked with skeletons, most of which the people know you are responsible for. This time, by turning to a sex video to defame a fellow politician, Umno has revealed that it is nothing but a fly on the wheel. - FMT