MAHATHIR’S EXIT AND MUHYIDDIN’S EXODUS

Lim Kit Siang and the rest in Pakatan Harapan are, of course, very pleased to ‘help’ Dr Mahathir achieve his objectives. Anything that can hurt Umno is fair game to Kit Siang and the Pakatuns. A weak and fragmented Umno works in the opposition’s favour. And better still if Dr Mahathir leads the attack and in the process can trigger an exodus from Umno.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

February 29th, 2016. That was the day Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad called for a press conference to announce his resignation from Umno. February 29th. What a shame. Now we can celebrate that auspicious day only in leap years, once every four years.

As soon as Dr Mahathir resigned from Umno, one of his spokespersons, Anina Saadudin, said that half the three million Umno members are going to leave the party. If that happens, then it qualifies to be called an exodus.

That reminds me of the Book of Exodus that tells the story of Moses bringing 600,000 Israelites out of Egypt in the middle of the night while the Pharaoh slept. When they reached the Red Sea, God parted the sea for Moses and his people to cross. The Pharaoh and his army that was in pursuit drowned when they, too, tried to cross the Red Sea and it closed behind Moses and the 600,000 Israelites as soon as they were safely on the other side.

If just Moses and his wife, without the 600,000 Israelites, had left Egypt then we would not have the Book of Exodus. And God would not have needed to part the Red Sea. God only needed to send down asampan for Moses and his wife to cross the sea and the Book of Exodus would probably have been called the Book of Row, Row, Row Your Boat.

Anyway, Moses should have gone a bit further from shore and today Israel would own all the oil in the Middle East. Unfortunately, they decided to settle in the worthless part of the Middle East so the Arabs ended up owning all the oil instead. And this they call the promised land? God must be a practical joker.

Yes, to qualify as an exodus, we need at least a million Umno members joining Dr Mahathir in leaving the party. Even 100,000 is nothing and would not qualify as an exodus. (According to the Bible the benchmark is 600,000). But before they can get even just 100,000 to leave Umno, it is important that Muhyiddin Yassin, Mukhriz Mahathir and Shafie Apdal first of all follow Dr Mahathir by resigning.

Alas, the three are not going to leave Umno. Instead, they are going to stay in Umno and will launch an ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) road show. They want to stay in Umno so that they can topple Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak from the inside. They know that trying to oust Najib from the outside would be an impossible pipe-dream.

“All three of us will be part of the roadshow. This struggle is not just because of me, Shafie and Mukhriz but it is for the rakyat and the country,” Muhyiddin said. “We have to fix this country before it becomes a failed state.”

Yes, that is the standard political script: we are doing all this for the rakyat and to save the country. If I receive RM1 every time I hear that tagline, by now I would be a multi-millionaire. Anwar Ibrahim alone would need to pay me RM500,000. That is how many times I have heard that come out from Anwar’s mouth.

Muhyiddin also said he would be joining the 27th March 2016 gathering that Zaid Ibrahim is organising. It is not yet clear what that gathering is all about: its objectives, format, and so on. All we know is that — yes, again — it is for the sake of the rakyat and to save the country and “… to fix the country before it becomes a failed state,” if we go by what Muhyiddin said.

They need to clarify what they mean by all this rhetoric. In what way is Malaysia going to become a failed state and what do they plan to do to fix the country? The devil, as they say, is in the details. So we need to know the details.

We must also remember that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And the good intentions in Libya, Iraq, and many other countries, ended up with those countries being turned into a hell on earth. So, unless we know the details, it is like putting all your money on a horse that someone whispered into your ears is a sure win. We need to first know that horse’s track record and if has never been a winner but, in fact, had dropped out of the race many times before this, why should it be a winner now?

We have heard this song and dance before, back in 1998 to be precise. And at that time it was Anwar Ibrahim who was giving this “I am doing this for the rakyat and to save the country and to fix the country before it becomes a failed state” sales pitch. It was like buying a used car from a used-car salesman who swears that the previous owner was a 70-year old lady who never drove faster than 30.

Later, back in 2006, Dr Mahathir gave that same sales pitch: I am doing this for the rakyat and to save the country and to fix the country before it becomes a failed state. And he did that by ousting Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and by pushing for Najib to replace him as Prime Minister. So, what happened?

One thing we can be sure about Dr Mahathir is his consistency. He can never be satisfied with any Prime Minister unless he himself is the Prime Minister. He was not satisfied with Tunku Abdul Rahman. Tun Razak Hussein died before Dr Mahathir could become dissatisfied with him. He was not satisfied with Tun Hussein Onn. He was not satisfied with Tun Abdullah. And now he is not satisfied with Najib.

Even if Muhyiddin takes over as Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir will eventually not be satisfied with him as well — unless Dr Mahathir dies within three years of Muhyiddin taking over. If not, then Muhyiddin will have to brace himself for the launch of an Anti-Muhyiddin Campaign or AMC. That is the nature of the beast of the man called Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

When Dr Mahathir was sacked from Umno in 1969 he worked with PAS to attack Umno and to try to oust the Prime Minister. In 2006, when he wanted to oust Tun Abdullah, Dr Mahathir, again, worked with PAS. And now he is working with anyone who wants to work with him to attack Umno and to try to oust Najib.

Yet another consistency of Dr Mahathir.

This is the third time Dr Mahathir has left Umno. And each time he works with Umno’s enemies to achieve whatever it is he wants to achieve. It is all about achieving what he wants to achieve, which does not necessarily have to do with the good of the rakyat. Who he hurts in the process is not important. He would even risk racial conflict as long as he can achieve whatever he wants to achieve.

Lim Kit Siang and the rest in Pakatan Harapan are, of course, very pleased to ‘help’ Dr Mahathir achieve his objectives. Anything that can hurt Umno is fair game to Kit Siang and the Pakatuns. A weak and fragmented Umno works in the opposition’s favour. And better still if Dr Mahathir leads the attack and in the process can trigger an exodus from Umno.

The boundary is now hazy and no longer clear. The current boundary is pro-Najib versus anti-Najib. It is like the Red Russians and the White Russians versus the Tsar 100 years ago. When the Tsar was eventually ousted, the Red Russians and the White Russians went for each other’s throats. And Russia became a sea of blood after that — Red Russian blood mixed with White Russian blood.

That, basically, is what Dr Mahathir and the ANC, in cooperation with Pakatan Harapan, is offering Malaysians. And if what Anwar offered us back in 1998 is anything to go by, then expect just old wine in a new bottle and nothing more than that. And Dr Mahathir and the ANC, in cooperation with Pakatan Harapan, will agree to disagree, in their effort to oust Najib. But once Najib is gone, then it will be like Afghanistan after the Russians were defeated — blood of Afghans killing Afghans colouring the streets red.