EPISODE 22: After the horse has bolted

Today, Azmin Ali and every man and his dog are whacking Hasan Ali. What do you achieve by whacking Hasan Ali now? I whacked Hasan Ali before the 2008 general election. I whacked him soon after the 2008 general election. But at that time he was the darling of the opposition. So it was sacrilegious to whack someone who is the darling of the opposition. Opposition leaders are sacred cows and are beyond criticism. We must wait until they betray the cause and they abandon the opposition before we are allowed to whack them.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Hasan turns to dark side after Selangor victory: His former aide reveals that the axed PAS strongman's demeanour changed when Pakatan Rakyat seized Selangor in 2008. (READ MORE HERE)

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Azmin: Hasan Ali spent RM300,000 to spruce up office

(The Malaysian Insider) - Sacked Selangor exco member Datuk Hasan Ali spent hundreds of thousands of ringgit while in office, including some RM300,000 on office renovations, Azmin Ali said today.

Hasan also forked out RM550,000 for a Selangor Malay Customs and Heritage Corp (Padat) conference when he was chairman of the state body, the Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman said.

(READ MORE HERE)

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Today, Hasan Ali’s former aid revealed that his boss had ‘turned to the dark side’ soon after the 2008 general election. Yesterday, Azmin Ali revealed that Hassan Ali had misappropriated or misused RM850,000 of the government’s money.

I call this: trying to close the barn door after the horse had bolted.

Now, why are Azmin Ali and Hasan Ali’s former aid screaming? Is it because Hasan Ali is wicked, evil, corrupted, etc? Or is it because Hasan Ali is now no longer in Pakatan Rakyat and has gone over to the other side?

No prize for the right answer. It is not because Hasan Ali is wicked, evil, corrupted, etc. It is because Hasan Ali is now no longer in Pakatan Rakyat and has gone over to the other side. If Hasan Ali were still with Pakatan Rakyat there would not have been a single negative word said about him. They would cover up all his misdeeds and if I were to expose him it will be me instead of Hasan Ali who would get whacked.

Those who have been reading Malaysia Today since 2004 and/or have been following the Free Anwar Campaign from 2000 to 2004 would know that I have been pointing at quite a number of personalities over the last 12 years. And I am still doing that till today.

The only problem is, when I point at these personalities while they are still members or leaders of the opposition, many would huff and puff and would get hot around the collar. They will not tolerate any expose of people who are in the opposition. And if I do not whack those who have since left the opposition (or are no longer in power), they would also huff and puff and will get hot around the collar. They will want to know why I am not whacking these people.

Malaysians are a hard bunch to please. They demand that you whack those on the other side. And they demand that you remain silent about those on their same side. That is the issue. It is not about exposing wrongdoing. It is about whacking the enemy and about covering up all the deeds or misdeeds of your friends.

This is not what I signed up for. I signed up to expose misdeeds, never mind who may be the one who perpetuates them. I did not sign up to expose the enemy and to cover up friends. That is dishonest. That is notamar makruf, nahi munkar, the duty of each and every Muslim without exception.

Why scream about Islamic law? Why foam at the mouth regarding a Muslim’s duty to uphold and implementHudud? Why get upset about respecting Islam and about complying with the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad? At the end of the day, if you can’t do even a simple and fundamental thing like practice amar makruf, nahi munkar, your Islam has just flown out the window.

Those who have been reading Malaysia Today since 2004 and/or have been following the Free Anwar Campaign from 2000 to 2004 would know that I had already exposed Hasan Ali way before the 2008 general election.

What I wrote then was that in the event the opposition (at that time a loose electoral pact since Pakatan Rakyat did not exist until 2008) manages to take over Selangor in the 2004 general election, Hasan Ali wants to become the Menteri Besar.

The problem with this was: Azmin Ali also wanted to become the Menteri Besar. So we would be seeing a battle of the two sons of Ali, Azmin and Hasan. But the opposition failed to take over Selangor in 2004. In fact, the opposition got whacked good and proper, the worse electoral performance ever for the opposition.

And that solved a major problem that was facing Anwar Ibrahim, who was still in jail then. If he allowed Hasan Ali to become the Menteri Besar then Azmin Ali would sulk. And if Azmin Ali became the Menteri Besar then Hasan Ali would sulk instead. Hence, in 2008, when the opposition did take over Selangor, Anwar was forced to appoint Khalid Ibrahim as the Menteri Besar to avoid one of the two sons of Ali throwing a tantrum.

Then, when it became clear that Khalid Ibrahim, and not one of the two sons of Ali, was going to become Menteri Besar, Hasan Ali engaged in secret negotiations with Umno about the possibility of PAS Selangor forming a unity government with Umno Selangor. And if that unity government did happen then Hasan Ali would be appointed the Menteri Besar.

When I exposed this secret negotiation that was going on behind the scenes, and even indulged in a little mischievous devil’s advocacy by suggesting that maybe Pakatan Rakyat should consider a unity government with Barisan Nasional, all hell broke loose. You should have seen the nasty things they said about me.

Actually, Hasan Ali was not the only PAS leader guilty of this secret unity government negotiation. There were other people involved as well. The bottom line is, it was going to be a Malay-based unity government. This would deny the Chinese power in Selangor.

The most important thing though is that the unity government issue was met with an extremely violent opposition. The response was downright vicious. (I should know. I was on the receiving end of these attacks). Many considered the idea itself as downright blasphemous. But do you know that Selangor was brought to the very brink of such a possibility just like the Cuban Missile Crisis in the days of President Kennedy?

Back in early 2000, about six months or so before I launched the Free Anwar Campaign, I decided to call it quits. At that time I had already 23 years of political activism under my belt and I thought that it was probably time to move on. When Marina Yussof offered me a job, I accepted and went to work for her.

A friend by the name of PY Wong phoned me and requested a meeting. He came over to my office and asked me what was the reason I left the party and decided to go back to the corporate world.

I gave him my reasons and he sighed. He told me that he had come to exactly the same conclusion but wanted to hear it from my own mouth. He too felt that Parti Keadilan Nasional had lost its way and, in a mere year, racism and Ketuanan Melayu appeared to be the main agenda of the party.

Anyway, I spent just a few months with Marina Yussof before some friends of Anwar called me and asked me whether I was prepared to launch and manage the Free Anwar Campaign. I agreed and in mid-2000 left Marina Yusoff to manage the Free Anwar Campaign. The fact that the Free Anwar Campaign would operate outside and independent of the party appealed to me. I would never have agreed if the Free Anwar Campaign had been a branch of the party.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the Free Anwar Campaign was secretly used by many personalities in the party for the purpose of raising funds. It is illegal for many international organisations to donate to or fund political parties. But they can donate to or fund NGOs, movements, societies, associations, etc., especially if they are human rights or freedom of speech, etc., related.

One of Anwar’s lawyers, Pawanchik Merican -- who was instrumental in the creation of the Free Anwar Campaign, and hence can be considered as one of the ‘founding fathers’ -- asked me in 2004 how much money the Free Anwar Campaign had received. He spoke to me in the presence of my wife.

I told him that over the four years from 2000 to 2004 I had received just RM3,000 -- RM1,000 from Dr Wan Azizah and RM2,000 from Anwar’s brother, Rosli. He shook his head and said that he was under the impression that the Free Anwar Campaign was well funded.

I assured him that RM3,000 was all that I had received and that the Free Anwar Campaign was being funded from my own pocket. I was not being paid any salary either. My wife supports the family by baking cookies and curry puffs, which I go around on my motorcycle to sell.

Pawanchik told me that many personalities in Parti Keadilan Nasional had been raising money in the name of the Free Anwar Campaign. He was shocked that nothing had come to me to help fund the Free Anwar Campaign. He then asked me to just close down the Free Anwar Campaign.

He also told me he had reported this matter to Anwar and that Anwar was aware of the issue. I asked him as to what Anwar’s response was and he replied that Anwar just kept quiet and did not say anything. That was why he was asking me and was also why he wanted me to close down the Free Anwar Campaign.

I replied that I would close down the Free Anwar Campaign in two weeks time and then focus full-time onMalaysia Today. He asked me why two weeks and not immediately. I replied that because in two weeks Anwar will be free from jail. He laughed and said that none of Anwar’s lawyers believe that he would be freed from jail until at least April 2009. I told him Anwar would be freed from jail on a two-one decision on 2nd September 2004.

Now, at this point you may be asking me: what is the point of all this long story and the weekend walk down memory lane? Well, simple really. I knew that some personalities in Parti Keadilan Nasional were using theFree Anwar Campaign to raise money and that the money went into their own pockets. I wanted to expose these people way before 2004 but was told not to.

This is not the time to expose them, was the reply. Why now, so close to the next general election? If I were to speak bad about these Parti Keadilan Nasional leaders then I would be accused of being an Umno agent, a turncoat, a Trojan horse, etc. People will say I have been brought or that I was in Barisan Nasional’s pocket. No one will believe what I say. No one will believe any allegation against Parti Keadilan Nasional leaders. Instead, I will be whacked good and proper. So better I just keep quiet and not ‘rock the boat’.

So I did as advised. I kept quiet. I did not expose them. I kept on going with the Free Anwar Campaign until the day of Anwar’s release on 2nd September 2004. Then, I just quietly moved on to Malaysia Today without a word regarding what I knew.

Then these darlings of the opposition and blue-eyed boys of Anwar Ibrahim betrayed the cause. In March 2004, the ‘Dirty Dozen’ from the party’s Youth Movement, led by Parti Keadilan Nasional’s Information Chief, Ruslan Kassim, left the party to join (or rather rejoin Umno). Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak received them with open arms in a public ceremony. And Ruslan Kassim and the Dirty Dozen condemned Anwar and the party and promised that the opposition was going to get wiped out in the 2004 general election.

And wiped out they almost were, especially Party Keadilan Nasional.

So, this culture of not speaking ill about the opposition leaders and not exposing their wrongdoings and misdeeds is not a new phenomenon. It is a 12-year old culture. And, today, many of these darlings of the opposition and blue-eyed boys of Anwar Ibrahim have turned and are now condemning Anwar.

S. Nallakarupan, Ezam Mohd Nor, Ruslan Kassim, Lokman Noor Adam, Anuar Shaari, Ghani Harun, Hanafiah Man, Zahid Md Arip, Zahrin Hashim, Zulkifli Noordin, N Gobalakrishnan, Zainur Zakaria, and many, many more are now Anwar’s greatest critics. Many more such as Datin Saidatul Keruak, Neil Onn, Marina Yusoff, etc., left without a word.

When Parti Keadilan Nasional was launched on 4th April 1999, it had 20,000 leaders and members. I know because my son, Raja Azman, was put in charge of keying in their names and IC numbers into the computer. So I had a copy of that membership list.

Let’s look at all the states. Perlis, Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor, Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan, Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territory. All these 14 regions had leaders and members who signed up in April 1999. How many remain?

Let’s not bother with those who have already left. The list will be just too damn long. It is easier to list down those who still remain. This list is much shorter. Okay, there is Azmin Ali, Tian Chua, Khalid Jaafar, Saifuddin Nasution, Johari Abdul, Dr Xavier Jayakumar, Fuziah Salleh, Haniza Talha, Zuraidah Kamaruddin, Saiful Hizam Ramli….that’s about all the names I can remember from the original 20,000 (maybe I have left out some names so please feel free to add those names to the comments section below).

I have never had much regard for many of these people even back in 1999 when I first started working for the party. And I told PY Wong this when he came to meet me exactly 12 years ago in Marina Yussof’s office. However, instead of exposing them and revealing what these people really are like, I kept quiet and moved on and just did my own thing.

I was ABU back in 1999. In fact, I was already ABU way back in the late 1970s, 35 years ago. And I am still ABU today in spite of what many may be thinking. But it must be the right type of ABU. 12 years of experience with the Parti Keadilan Nasional (now Parti Keadilan Rakyat) leaders have taught me that to keep quiet and cover up the misdeeds of these leaders can be disastrous to the cause. The cause has to be above personalities.

Why close the barn door after the horse has bolted? What will we achieve then? When would be THE RIGHT TIME to expose them? After the damage is done? If after the damage is done, we will merely be able to embark upon damage control. Preemption is always the best strategy.

Today, Azmin Ali and every man and his dog are whacking Hasan Ali. What do you achieve by whacking Hasan Ali now? I whacked Hasan Ali before the 2008 general election. I whacked him soon after the 2008 general election. But at that time he was the darling of the opposition. So it was sacrilegious to whack someone who is the darling of the opposition. Opposition leaders are sacred cows and are beyond criticism. We must wait until they betray the cause and they abandon the opposition before we are allowed to whack them.

Opposition supporters are a pathetic lot. They suffer from a serious case of denial syndrome. They consider opposition leaders as incapable of doing wrong. Only when these people have turned and when they damage the opposition cause can we whack them good and proper. And that is why it is going to be an uphill battle to take over the federal government -- because we live in a make-believe world.

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Ezam is back in Umno

(The Star, 29 May 2008) - Former Parti Keadilan Rakyat Youth leader Ezam Mohd Nor is back in Umno.

Umno president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he welcomed Ezam’s return to the party but he (Ezam) was not promised any party position or privileges.

He said Ezam did not ask for any, but he believed Ezam was only interested in continuing with the party’s struggles.

He also did not join Umno with any condition imposed on him, added Abdullah.

“He wants to come back to Umno and he will continue with the struggles of Umno according to the party’s goal and direction, and not Parti Keadilan.

“So I accepted him,” Abdullah said at a press conference after holding a brief meeting with Ezam at Parliament, here, yesterday.

Ezam also handed his registration form and RM100 for his party’s lifetime membership fee to Abdullah.

Abdullah said what was special about Ezam was that he had left Umno to lead another party but returned after learning that Umno was a better party.

He said he did not hold any discussion with Umno Youth before accepting Ezam back into the party.

He added that any new membership in the party, including Ezam’s return, would boost the party’s strength.

On whether Ezam would be allowed to contest in the party’s election end of the year, he said it would depend on the party’s constitution.

Asked if Ezam’s return would cause internal conflicts or enemies within the party since he was former political secretary to PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Abdullah said “no’’.

He also said Ezam had changed his mind now although he used to criticise Umno when he was in PKR.

However, Abdullah said if there were other PKR members who wanted to join Umno, the party had to “look at who the person is first”.