NEW POLITICAL PARTY TO BE FORMED, SAYS LIM KIT SIANG

So the 27th of March gathering is very crucial to gauge how far they can go with this. They are hoping that not only those from the ANC, or those who oppose Najib, would attend, but that those from the NGO’s, associations, etc., would also come. And if it looks like there is a response then expect a new anti-najib political party led by Dr Mahathir and Muhyiddin to burst onto the scenes soon.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

This was what Lim Kit Siang said today:

“But this will not be in the best interests of the nation, for Malaysia would have descended further in the next two years down the slope towards a failed and a rogue state.”

“Even Dr Mahathir seemed to have come around to the view first, that the best way is for the country to have two political parties as this would ensure that one or the other would win a majority to form the government and second, everybody should act as patriotic citizens, irrespective of party affiliation or loyalties, to save the nation from heading towards perdition.”

“Is the country ready for a realignment of progressive and patriotic political forces to save Malaysia and to keep faith with the vision of a united, inclusive, moderate, democratic and prosperous Malaysia? The coming weeks will seek to give an answer to this question.”

Zaid Ibrahim is planning a gathering of like-minded people on the 27th of March 2016. According to Zaid, it is not going to be a demonstration or protest rally but a sort of forum or maybe even a brain-storming session. It is a platform to discuss and not a platform to oppose. It is a gathering for those who aspire to see change in the country, Zaid explained.

In short, this is going to be the launch of Reformasi 2.0. However, they do not want to call it Reformasi 2.0 because the Reformasi Movement is associated with Anwar Ibrahim and has been ‘tainted’ due to its single-purpose agenda, which was to free Anwar from jail (plus the fact that the idea of a Reformasi Movement was ‘stolen’ from Indonesia).

Zaid is a bit hazy about the objectives of this gathering and just says that it is a gathering of those like-minded people who aspire for change. That may be true, that it is a meeting of those who aspire for change, but what is the objective of the gathering?

The gathering itself is not an objective. Gatherings are the means to reach an objective. You gather so that you can achieve something. Hence the gathering cannot be that objective. The gathering is merely to discuss what to do about meeting that objective,

Lim Kit Siang is more open about the intention of the 27th March gathering. The only way to save Malaysia, said Kit Siang, is for the country to have two political parties. And Kit Siang asks Malaysians to watch the coming weeks to see something major happening in the country.

So that is the real intention of the gathering of 27th March. It is to test the waters to see how receptive the Team B in Umno is towards the idea of forming a new coalition or alliance with the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan. As Zaid said, the PAS President has not been invited to this gathering because, according to Zaid, Hadi is opposed to change.

What Zaid means when he says ‘opposed to change’ is that Hadi is perceived as too supportive of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak (and Hadi has never hidden this fact). So they do not want any pro-Najib people at this gathering. It has to be only those in the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) and Pakatan Harapan (and PAS is not in Pakatan Harapan).

And that is why Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Muhyiddin Yassin, and all those in the ANC (plus those Umno people who may be opposed to Najib) have been invited while Hadi and PAS have not.

DAP knows that to capture Perak they need the Malay votes — and they have said so. However, they are not too sure whether the PAS-splinter party, Amanah, can do that job. And if their chances of capturing Perak is questionable, unless they can get the Malay votes, then what more if they wish to capture Putrajaya and form the Federal Government?

Amanah has not proven as much a success as they had hoped and expected. Amanah could not even get more than 500 people to attend the first anniversary rally of Anwar’s incarceration. And it looks like Amanah is also not able to increase its membership, especially to get those from PAS to leave the party to join Amanah.

In short, there was no exodus of PAS members as they had originally envisioned and this worries DAP. If the PAS members stay with PAS and do not cross over to Amanah then there is a strong likelihood that Amanah would not be able to bring in the Malay votes that Pakatan Harapan needs. Perak, therefore, would remain in the hands of Barisan Nasional while their ambition of forming the next Federal Government would be reduced to a pipe-dream.

How, then, would the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan have any chance of forming the next Federal Government if Amanah cannot deliver the Malay votes? Well, then the Malay votes would have to be delivered by Umno — or rather the ANC in Umno. And for that to happen the ANC has to officially be part of the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan — either as a member of the coalition or it enters into an electoral pact with the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan.

And this is the purpose of the 27th March gathering. It is to feel out the members of the ANC to see whether they are open or receptive to a pact or alliance of some sort with the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan. The ANC will be transformed into a political party (just like ADIL that was launched in 1998 was transformed into Parti Keadilan Nasional or keADILan in 1999).

So, if the 27th March gathering is successful, the next step would be for the ANC to register a new political party. Since Amanah is not able to take away the Malay votes from PAS then the new ‘Parti Anti-Najib’ would have to take away the Malay votes from Umno. Only then would the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan be able to form the new Federal Government with probably a few more states added to the three they already own.

That is the ultimate plan. And with the RM3 billion that the ANC is budgeting, and with another RM1 billion from Penang and RM1.5 billion from Selangor, there would be enough funds to make sure that in 2018 Malaysia would get a new government after 60 years of Malay-Umno rule.

That is the change that they are talking about.

So the 27th of March gathering is very crucial to gauge how far they can go with this. They are hoping that not only those from the ANC, or those who oppose Najib, would attend, but that those from the NGO’s, associations, etc., would also come. And if it looks like there is a response then expect a new anti-najib political party led by Dr Mahathir and Muhyiddin to burst onto the scenes soon.