A new thorn in Pakatan’s flesh

From working at a burger stall to owning a Rolls Royce to a BN 'broker', the change in Zamil's lifestyle convinced Pakatan that he indeed was an agent for BN.

COMMENT

Greenhorn politician Zamil Ibrahim seems to be a man in a hurry when it comes to striking it big, never mind the means used to achieve his goals and epitomising the ‘power crazy’ adage perfectly.

Not only did he force his way into becoming the president of Kita, this one-time burger stall operator has now taken to using others to malign the opposition Pakatan Rakyat pact.

But all did not go well as planned by Zamil. Recently, Zamil, the former Kita Kedah chief, found the tables turned when a Kita youth leader claimed he was ‘manipulated’ by Zamil to issue a statement questioning Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng on whether his former staff owned a posh house in George Town.

Kedah Kita youth wing treasurer H’ng Sau Ping is now claiming tha he merely read out a statement without fully understanding its contents at a press conference on Aug 3.

In his police report, the 29-year-old H’ng has also sought police protection for him and his family.

Also lodging a police report was Kedah Kita chief Kamal Nasser Thow Beek who said H’ng’s statement had nothing to with the party and that the latter was used by Zamil to target Lim who is also DAP secretary-general.

For that ‘act gone wrong’, Zamil has been rebuked by Kamal for tarnishing Kita’s image and wants the police to swiftly act on the case.

In the face of all this, Zamil is claiming innocence, claiming he never manipulated or used H’ng to take Lim on. Instead, Zamil is alleging that H’ng is being ‘disturbed’ by certain promient politicians who kept pestering him to lodge a police report against Zamil.

Zamil says he is confident of the accuracy of H’ng’s information, claiming its source originated from Pakatan Rakyat.

Hitting at Pakatan is Zamil’s agenda

But then targetting the Pakatan pact has always been Zamil’s agenda, especially after he was sacked from Kita in February this year for gross violations.

And when Kita founder-president Zaid Ibrahim decided six months ago to dissolve the year-old party to lend support to Pakatan, it further angered Zamil, who decided to go on a ‘terminate’ Pakatan mission.

Three weeks before his sacking, Zamil had declared himself as the new Kita president, a claim Zaid had rubbished and Kita information chief Mohamed Mazlan Abdul Manaf saying the party had been infiltrated by members whose sole agenda was to contest the next general election.

Was Mohamed Mazlan then alluding to Zamil who it appeared had become power-crazy?

In justifying their decision to expel Zamil, the party revealed that he was one of the agents of Barisan Nasional in a video footage purportedly showing him and representatives of a Pakatan Rakyat MP negotiating on the agreeable price for the latter to defect to Barisan Nasional (BN), which ranged between RM2 million and RM10 million.

In the same video footage, the man alleged to be Zamil and his ‘partner’ are heard telling the other three that the standard price (for defecting) is RM2 million.

BN agent?

From working at a burger stall to owning a Rolls Royce to a BN ‘broker’, the change in Zamil’s lifestyle convinced Pakatan that he indeed was an agent for BN indulging in MP-buying activities.

Maybe it is a case of harbouring vendetta against Pakatan for Zamil seems to be sparing no effort in tarnishing its image, accusing the opposition pact of many wrongdoings.

However, like his previous allegations against Pakatan, Zamil’s recent accusation against Penang chief minister Lim too stinks of Umno mischief, whose desperation in gunning down the opposition has only worsened Umno’s already battered reputation.

If Zamil is trying to play the racial game by pitting H’ng against Lim, it is futile for be it Zamil or H’ng who question Lim on the posh house, the typical Umno-gimmick has backfired with H’ng now claiming he was exploited by Zamil to query Lim.

Whether H’ng is telling the truth about being used by Zamil is another matter; what remains of concern is the machiavellian ways being empolyed by Zamil to deliver the fatal blow to Pakatan and clear the way for Umno to continue reigning over the country.

Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.