Can Umno render Lim Guan Eng out of action?

COMMENT Umno will do all the unimaginable wrong things, but when challenged, it will go ferociously against its detractors, especially if they happen to be key opposition leaders.

Anwar Ibrahim, who is imprisoned in Sungei Buloh Prison, was a victim of Umno's vengeance against its challengers. The former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad detained him under the ISA.

When Anwar joined Umno and later became the deputy prime minister, he fell out with Mahathir and paid the price of being charged, prosecuted and jailed for sodomy and related charges.

After being released from prison, he emerged as the leader of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. However, since he proved to be main obstacle to Umno, Anwar was charged the second time for sodomy and jailed.

While the charges against Anwar are questionable, he was put out of action simply on the grounds that he constituted a fundamental source of threat to Umno's continued political hegemony.

Jailing Anwar was not the end of problems for Umno. Mounting corruption, the illegal receipt of RM2.6 billion into the private bank accounts of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, the scandals associated with 1MDB and others continue to plague Umno's management of the country.

Umno invents new enemies

To cover up the financial mess, Umno leaders have to invent new enemies for their own survival, a survival that is becoming difficult, day by day.

With Anwar out, the current threat to Umno's dominance comes from none other than Lim Guan Eng, the secretary-general of the DAP and the current chief minister of Penang.

Guan Eng's successful management of Penang over the last eight years and his growing popularity has earned him the ire of Umno. Umno's less lacklustre performance simply means that it cannot allow persons like Guan Eng the kind of limelight that Umno can never dream of.

While sodomy charges were pinned against Anwar, corruption charges are being used against Guan Eng. For Umno leaders, the charges might vary, but the end result should be the same - the ultimate removal of Guan Eng from the political scene.

What is Guan Eng's crime?

Umno leaders have alleged that Guan Eng bought a bungalow in Penang from a person by the name of Phang Li Koon at below the market price and that the seller had an interest to sell cheaply because she had benefitted from the sale of a 1.1-acre government land in Taman Manggis.

While these allegations have no material basis, this would not, however, prevent Umno leaders from using government agencies such as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to hound, harass and file charges against Guan Eng.

Even if there was no prima facie evidence to prosecute Guan Eng, it would not prevent the MACC from filing charges against him. If Guan Eng is charged in court, then it will spell problems for the current administration in Penang.

As we understand, the MACC is not an independent urgency, but one that is beholden to the prime minister! In this respect, it is not able to act fairly and objectively in cases involving politicians of different political divides.

How long this case will drag on, and whether Guan Eng will eventually be cleared of corruption charges remain unclear.

Even if Guan Eng is cleared of the charges, time would have taken its toll and the party would have been inflicted with a terrible punishment, both politically and morally.

Under these circumstances, the dream of the opposition coalition capturing Putrajaya will remain a distant dream.

However, if Umno is undermined by forces within and without, and within a short span of time, then there is a possibility for the opposition to re-group and consolidate its position before the next general election, which should be held in less than two years from now.

The signing of the Citizens’ Declaration leading to the Peoples’ Congress in Shah Alam, Selangor, yesterday might hold some promise in removing Najib - but it can also render Umno very, very desperate and dangerous.

As Lim Kit Siang, the veteran DAP politician and mentor, said recently, the removal of one or two persons in the DAP for crimes they did not commit would not spell disaster for the party as a whole.

According to Lim, DAP represents the dream of all Malaysians for a united, corruption-free and progressive Malaysia.

Can Umno put Guan Eng out of action? What are the costs and benefits in moving against Guan Eng, especially when he has no case to answer for?

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P RAMASAMY is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang and the state assemblyperson for Perai. -Mkini