THE POLICE DECIDE WHO BECOMES PRIME MINISTER

Let us see what happens next week. But if the Special Branch is also in the group that wants to oust Najib then I fear things will not go well for the Prime Minister. And Tun Dr Mahathir knows this as well because it was the Special Branch that brought down Anwar Ibrahim and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, which most Malaysians know.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

When I was detained in April 2001 alongside nine other Reformasi activists (called the Reformasi 10) one of the things that stuck in my mind the most was the declaration by the Special Branch officers regarding the Prime Minister.

“Do you think all your street demonstrations can bring down the Prime Minister (at that time Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad)? We decide who becomes Prime Minister. And if the Prime Minister tak betul jalanwe can bring him down. You might even find his car guling dalam gaung.”

I discovered later that the other detainees also had the same experience. In fact, Saari Sungib even wrote a series of books regarding his experience under detention with details of the conversation.

We were told that we might successfully bring down the Prime Minister but “the guns are in our hands, not yours.” Another detainee related how the officer interrogating him took out his gun and put it on the table to demonstrate his point.

It appears we were all more or less put through the same form of interrogation and psy-war, which probably means it was all scripted. But what stuck in my mind, as what I said earlier, is the fact that the Special Branch is more concerned about who becomes Prime Minister than about issues of national security.

To family members and close friends I have always said that no one becomes Prime Minister and no one will get toppled as Prime Minister unless the Special Branch wants it to happen.

I have not written about this before because I doubted that many would believe it. Even those I related the story to found it hard to believe. But with today’s statement by the Deputy Director of the Special Branch, which Malaysiakini and Free Malaysia Today carried, it more or less confirms what I have been telling my family and friends these last 14 years.

The Deputy Director declared that he is a Dr Mahathir loyalist. This was in fact well known because he never made it a secret — he told many people this. He was also very critical of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and openly attacked him.

The problem is, while the military serves the nation and the people, the police serve those in the corridors of power. Hence they are loyal to those in power, or opposed to them as the case may be.

And that is why if we need to lose our democracy status and become a dictatorship, it is better we come under a military regime than become a police state. Dr Mahathir himself lamented about this about nine years ago when he said that Malaysia has turned into a police state. Dr Mahathir should know because he more or less turned Malaysia into a police state to enable him to stay in power for 22 years.

So there you have it. The Director of the Special Branch reached his retirement age this month and I was told that even though the Prime Minister wanted him to stay on he insisted that he be allowed to go.

Everyone expected the number two to take over but that did not happen. Instead, the number two is now being transferred to the Prime Minister’s Department, which took many of us by surprise because it was rumoured he was going to be appointed the new Commissioner of Police for Sabah.

We knew he was being put into cold storage because of his strong political leanings. But we never expected him to come out and openly declare his political leanings.

His statement more or less proves what I have said these last 14 years: that the Special Branch decides who becomes Prime Minister and that if the Prime Minister tak betul jalan they will remove him even if his “kereta guling dalam gaung.”

While most Malaysians were focusing on the goings-on over the last month in the AG’s Chambers, MACC, Bank Negara, etc., not many gave a second glance at what was going on in the Special Branch. And it appears that the Special Branch is another government agency that the Prime Minister neutralised to demolish the conspiracy to oust him.

I sometimes wonder whether Najib is cleverer than the impression he gives us. But the game is not over yet. The Deputy Director said he is going to sing like a canary about the conspiracy to cover up the truth regarding 1MDB. Can he do that or is he bound by the OSA? And if he is bound by the OSA and sings, what is going to happen to him?

Let us see what happens next week. But if the Special Branch is also in the group that wants to oust Najib then I fear things will not go well for the Prime Minister. And Tun Dr Mahathir knows this as well because it was the Special Branch that brought down Anwar Ibrahim and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, which most Malaysians know.