MAHATHIR, THE CLOWN PRINCE OF PAKATAN

What a sorry state of affairs Mahathir has found himself in. Not too long ago he was the undisputed Crown Prince of Pakatan Harapan. Now he is the Clown Prince of Pakatan Harapan. He is only there to amuse and entertain but not to be treated seriously and not to be allowed to do the important jobs.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Muhyiddin Yassin and Mukhriz Mahathir are now talking about forming a new platform to oppose Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. Basically it is still about ousting Najib and some are even calling it a Third Force.

And that is ironical because, back in 2008, when I first mooted the idea of a Third Force, the opposition whacked me kau-kau and accused me of treachery. And then when I launched the MCLM (Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement) two years later in 2010, that was the beginning of my problems with the opposition. They went for my jugular and accused me of trying to sabotage the opposition by ‘splitting the votes’.

That was six years ago and after the opposition ‘divorced’ me I decided to move on. Surprisingly, though, after ‘divorcing’ me, they accused me of being unfaithful, a traitor, and so on. Come again! I get kicked out and I am the unfaithful and treacherous party?

That is precisely what happened to PAS. After kicking PAS out of the opposition coalition and after forming a new Islamic party called PAN to replace PAS in the opposition coalition, they accuse PAS of being unfaithful, of being a traitor, and of not respecting Pakatan Harapan.

These opposition people, in particular those from Pakatan Harapan, sure have a strange way of thinking. You would imagine that those who are offering themselves as the next federal government would be more sensible than that. Apparently they are very childish and irrational and cannot think properly.

This new platform was actually mooted about a year ago in August after Muhyiddin was replaced as the Deputy Prime Minister and when the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) realised that it is not so easy to oust Najib after all. But then the so-called moderates or progressives in PAS, who are anti-Syariah, were in the process of leaving the party to start their own party. So they had to delay the launching of this new party.

Furthermore, they needed a trigger as an excuse to form Semangat 46 version 2.0 (the Spirit of 1946, when Umno was formed) or Semangat 88 (the spirit of 1988 when Umno Baru was formed) or Parti 4M, (Mahathir, Muhyiddin, Mukhriz, Mahfuz), or whatever. And that trigger is the recent sacking of Muhyiddin and Mukhriz from Umno.

Mahathir, however, has another plan. His plan is for Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali to take over PKR and for that party to become the new platform to oppose Umno and to bring down Najib. Anwar Ibrahim, however, disagrees with this, as do the rest of his family and close circle.

The video below is still a sore point for Anwar, his family and close circle. And, to make matters worse, last week Mahathir insulted Anwar by saying that he has forgiven Anwar — whereas it is Anwar who should be talking about whether he forgives Mahathir and not the other way around (and Mahathir has thus far never apologised to Anwar).

So, before Azmin ousts Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, they are going to oust him first and they are using Azmin’s affair with another woman (or girl) as that catalyst. They are trying to arrange for the girl’s outraged father to come out and confirm the affair, unless Azmin can reach him first and make a more lucrative offer of ‘compensation and damages’.

The issue that Azmin, Muhyiddin, Lim Kit Siang, Mat Sabu, etc., now need to ponder on is whether Mahathir still has what it takes to make a dent in Umno and Barisan Nasional. The Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-election disasters has shown that Mahathir no longer has teeth and is more bark than bite.

Since the two by-elections, Lim Kit Siang and Mat Sabu have cooled down a bit. Before that they were constantly in communication with Mahathir and excited about the prospects of defeating Najib in the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar Referendums (especially with Mahathir campaigning all out and telling the voters to vote Pakatan Harapan).

Mahathir practically threw the kitchen sink at Najib in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar. However, instead of winning the anti-Najib Referendum, Umno actually did far better this time around compared to the 2013 general election. And this shocked them because they thought with Mahathir behind them it was more or less already in the bag.

Pakatan Harapan, in particular Lim Kit Siang and Mat Sabu, are now figuring out how to detach the opposition from Mahathir. They are no longer constantly in touch with Mahathir. In fact, Mahathir now needs to call them, not like before when they used to call Mahathir — and even then they try to avoid Mahathir’s calls.

When Mahathir summons them for a meeting they no longer rush there. They first ask what the meeting is about and if there is no mutual benefit (but only benefits Mahathir) they try to offer excuses and wangle themselves out of the meeting. Even Mahathir can feel that he is being treated like yesterday’s news whose ‘use by’ date has expired.

Mahathir should heave realised that Pakatan Harapan was just treating him like a caddy or kadam. Do you really think that Anwar, Kit Siang, Mat Sabu and the rest took Mahathir seriously? They saw an opportunity to use Mahathir to hurt Najib and most likely bring down Umno and Barisan Nasional as well.

That is now a pie in the sky and is never going to happen. They will still use Mahathir, of course. He is still useful for certain things. But Mahathir will be restricted to only certain areas and functions and will no longer be given carte blanche. Letting Mahathir loose all over the country will be akin to letting a bull loose in a china shop.

What a sorry state of affairs Mahathir has found himself in. Not too long ago he was the undisputed Crown Prince of Pakatan Harapan. Now he is the Clown Prince of Pakatan Harapan. He is only there to amuse and entertain but not to be treated seriously and not to be allowed to do the important jobs.

Anwar Ibrahim is probably sitting in prison ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing). No wonder he hurt his back and had to be sent to hospital. Unless he hurt his back doing something he should not have been doing. Meanwhile, Muhyiddin has nothing to hide and will be revealing his inner-most secrets at a function on 3rd July 2016. So make sure you are there to hear the story of Nika Gee and her divorce from her husband.