Like him or not, Mat Taib's ditching Umno for PR is a good sign change is here - Rafizi

The decision of Umno stalwart Muhammad Muhammad Taib to dump his party for PAS has drawn mixed response including cynicism.

To some, the corruption-tainted former Selangor chief minister should be shunned, while others see the news as a positive sign that the people including those from the other side of the political divide were ready for political "change".

"I know there are some reservations whether or not we should accept ex or senior members of Umno-BN. I don't think we should hold a grudge against them so long as he is willing to start on a clean slate and join the mood for change and movement for renewal in this country. He shall be judged by his conduct in Pakatan Rakyat," Rafizi Ramli, the PKR strategy director, told Malaysia Chronicle.

Rafizi had made the comment last week when speculation was at its height that Muhammad would soon join the Pakatan Rakyat coalition led by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

'Born-again' Muslim

On Monday, Mat Taib or Mat Tyson as the former Umno information chief is also called announced his decision to leave the party in which he was a member since 1964.

Citing the need for 'change' in Malaysia's political system, Mat Taib formally handed over his application form to join PAS to party president Hadi Awang, while at the same time sending his resignation to Umno president, Prime Minister Najib Razak and to Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.

“Children will be messed up if development is soulless,” Malaysian Insiderreported Mat Taib as saying on Monday. “Look at Shah Alam. Which party can restore the soul? It must be a party that fights for religion."

Mat Taib also claimed that PAS was the only party that could lead Malaysia 'towards Islam'. He pointed out that although Islam was the country’s official religion, there were still Malay schoolgirls who did not wear headscarves.

“Say Islam, but look, there are school kids who wear skirts, they also wear baju kurungs, they also wear tudungs (headscarves), so it’s not clear,” he said.

Slap in the face for Najib

Whether or not Mat Taib is truly repentant and wishful of redeeming his controversial past or merely seizing the opportunity to get back at his old party mates for snubbing and leaving him in the political wilderness, his defection has sent shock waves throughout Umno.

It is a direct slap in the face for Najib, who is already facing a confidence of crisis due to his inability to quell infighting for seats in the May 5 general election.

Najib has been forced to sack 61 Umno members for daring to register themselves to contest as independent candidates. The highest ranking among those sacked was Kamilia Ibrahim, the deputy Umno women's chief who has since exposed Najib as a liar.

According to Kamilia, despite her seniority she had not been offered any seat at all, contradicting Najib's public announcement that he had offered her one but it was she who had turned it down.

Recognition of Pakatan as a political force

Against such fomenting turmoil, Mat Taib's decision to jump ship may open the floodgates to more defections to the Opposition.

An exodus of leaders from Najib's Umno-BN coalition has already begun and is expected to intensify as the Pakatan's chances to wrest the federal government becomes clearer and the GE date becomes closer.

According to Rafizi, this was natural and only proved that Pakatan had 'come of age' as a political force in the country.

"I think any addition is good for the country because It confirms that things are moving. Because if you look at all the other countries which have achieved change, in the Philippines, in Indonesia, the more closer it is to the change, the more you see previous members of the establishment joining the movement for change," said the PKR leader, who is due to stand for the Pandan parliamentary seat.

"You saw that with Fidel Ramos in the Philippines. So I think it is a good sign when you have senior ex members of BN one by one joining Pakatan Rakyat. I think it is a good sign that change is coming. Whether or not they can contribute positively to it, I think the fact that they join is already a confirmation that we are nearly getting there."

Since the last election in 2008, many high-level BN leaders have joined PKR including former Health Minister Chua Jui Meng, former Deputy Minister for Land and Cooperatives Tan Kee Kwong, and former MCA women's leader Tan Yee Kew.

The latest high-profile PKR additions include former Umno supreme council member Lajim Ukin, former Upko deputy president Wilfrid Bumburing, former Sabah Umno treasurer Ibrahim Menudin as well 4 retired senior generals including former army chief Gen (Rtd) Md Hashim Hussein and Lt Gen (Rtd) Abdul Ghaffir Hamid.

Several corporate figures and high-ranking government officers have also joined PAS at the end of their service, such as former CID police chief Fauzi Shaari, former Land and Cooperative Development Ministry secretary-general Dr Nik Zain Nik Yusof and Ramli Buyong, the deputy vice-president of Felcra Berhad.

Controversial past

Mat Taib was forced to resign as the Selangor Mentri Besar in April 1997 after he was charged in Australia for currency irregularities amounting to RM3.8mil. He was found not guilty as he pleaded that he did not understand English and therefore did not understand the currency regulations. However, in a later development, an investigative committee found that the court had erred in its judgment.

"On December 22 last year, Mr Muhammad was detained at Brisbane International Airport as he was about to board a plane to New Zealand with the equivalent of A$1.26 million in Singapore, Malaysian and New Zealand currency in his luggage," the Brisbane Courier Mail said in a report dated 28th June, 1997, under the heading "Politician’s property empire still growing".

The Courier-Mail had also revealed that Mat Taib whom it described as 'The Briefcase Millionaire' and his wife spent a week in Australia - checking on a luxury house being built on the Gold Coast and a 4500ha property in western Queensland - then flew to New Zealand for two weeks after he had appeared in court.

"The properties - registered to his wife in her maiden name of Asnan - were purchased last year for more than $3 million," said the news report.

Whilst serving as the Selangor chief minister, Mat Taib also eloped with Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah's daughter, Tengku Puteri Zaharia Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, to Thailand where they got married. They have since divorced.

In 2006, he was appointed as a Senator and made a Minister in the federal Cabinet by the then prime minister Abdullah Badawi. His stint as a federal Minister ended after Najib, who took over as premier in April 2009, reshuffled the Cabinet.

Mat Taib, whose last position in Umno was as its information chief, also lost in his bid to win the Umno deputy presidency against Muhyiddin Yassin in 2009.

Malaysia Chronicle