Robert Kuok’s Last Chance At Changing The Government

Robert Kuok supported the ex-Umno-anti-Umno faction in 1987 and again in 1998. And when a new ex-Umno-anti-Umno faction emerged in 2015, the ANC, Robert Kuok again supported it. The only way to destroy Umno is to split it up into Team A and Team B and support one side to fight the other, or support both sides to fight one another. That has been Robert Kuok’s modus operandi all this while — as DAP’s Superman Hew Kuan Yew said, use Malays to fight Malays.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Robert Kuok and his nephew James, the DAP contact man

What the game entails

This could be classified as a case of political intrigue of the highest order. Robert Kuok, the richest Malaysian, tried in 1987 and 1998 to influence the downfall of Umno but failed on both attempts. This is his last chance to try for the third time, and if he fails this time then Umno is never going to fall for some time to come, and even if it does eventually happen some time in the future, Robert Kuok is not going to be around any longer to see it happen.

Basically, the chess moves involves Robert Kuok stepping in after July 2015 when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s coup d’etat failed on 29 July and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak purged those from the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) within Umno. When the October 2015 and December 2015 votes-of-no-confidence in Parliament and the Umno Assembly respectively failed, Mahathir realised they needed money, huge amounts of money, if they were ever going to oust Najib.

And this was when Robert Kuok and his RM60 billion wealth came in handy. Robert Kuok already had strong links with DAP through his nephew, James, which had been established a long time ago. Robert Kuok was the main funder of DAP and through his effort many other Chinese tycoons were also extending financial support to DAP. For example, for the ANC”s effort to oust Najib alone, Robert Kuok and his gang of Chinese tycoons had pooled together a budget of RM5 billion, which, of course, involved the financing of GE14 as well, which is estimated to cost Pakatan Harapan RM1.5 billion.

James Kuok and the DAP leadership

By playing the Chinese market alone is not enough. If it was then Umno and Barisan Nasional would already have been toppled back in 2008 or 2013. It required more than just 85% or 90% Chinese votes. It also needed for the Malays to be split into four or five opposing groups. And this was what DAP had been doing since soon after the 2013 general election: dividing the Malays into Umno, PAS, PKR, PPBM and PAN. And to active that it required tons of money, which Robert Kuok was able to provide.

Crucial to this game was to dominate the social media. Online portals such as The Malaysian Insight and a team of a few thousand cyber-troopers such as DAP’s Red Bean Army would be needed for this. And this, yet again, would need tens of millions, which is mere dedak (or animal feed) for a billionaire such as Robert Kuok. So Robert Kuok asked Lim Kit Siang and his son, Guan Eng, who were very close to Jahabar Sadiq, to discuss The Malaysian Insight’s financial needs and how they could come in to provide the RM50 million that The Malaysian Insight needs. Ho Kay Tat would also be appointed the de facto editor-in-chief to coordinate the operations from behind the scenes while making sure that the Malay ‘face’ of The Malaysian Insight is not compromised while the owners of the portal would be paid RM2 million a month to ‘play ball’ and offer the portal immunity from any government clampdown.

Who is Robert Kuok?

Robert Kuok is said to be publicity-shy and not much is known about the richest Malaysian and the second-richest South-East Asian tycoon worth more than US$15 billion. His recent memoirs may have revealed a bit of what makes him tick but can memoirs be trusted? After all, Chin Peng’s and Lee Kuan Yew’s memoirs, another two prominent Chinese who influenced the course of Malayan history (in those days Malaya included Singapore), can be said to be ‘sanitised’ versions of history. For example, Chin Peng was a murderer and Kuan Yew a dictator, but their memoirs do not take this into account.

James Kuok and Segambut Member of Parliament, Lim Lip Eng, who has been tasked with the job of mobilising MCA and Gerakan support to their Chinese cause 

Robert Kuok started his career working for the Japanese during the Japanese occupation of Malaya from 1942 to 1945 — what Chinese used to call a Japanese ‘running dog’. Basically, Robert Kuok was working in the rice-trading department of a Japanese industrial conglomerate which, with the help of the Japanese military, monopolised the agricultural commodities trade in Malaya. Robert Kuok was soon promoted to the head of the rice-trading department and after the war he used his skills in how to monopolise the agricultural commodities business, which he learned from the Japanese, to build his sugar and other agricultural commodities monopoly businesses.

Robert Kuok used the Japanese contacts he made during the war to form the Malayan Sugar Manufacturing Co. Bhd. in partnership with with two prominent Japanese. He also brought in many influential Malay elite into his various companies as directors and shareholders, which included Umno politicians and Malay royalty. Robert Kuok knew that he needed to work with the political elite and members of the royal family to get ahead in Malaya.

In short, Robert Kuok knew that while the Chinese may be the movers and shakers of the Malayan economy, you still needed Malay faces as frontmen or Ali Babas to navigate your way through the labyrinth of the Malaysian corridors of power. The Chinese need to be the hidden hand while the Malays are presented in front to get things moving smoothly.

Robert Kuok’s brother, Philip Kuok, was a former Malaysian Ambassador while another brother, William, was a member of the Malaysian Communist Party who was killed in 1952 during the Malayan Emergency. This presented a strange situation of one brother working for the government, another opposed to the government, and Robert Kuok using the government to become the richest Malaysian while financially supporting those opposed to the government.

It cannot become more complicated than that by any standards.

Robert Kuok resented the fact that while he may be the richest Malaysian, he had to work with the Malay politicians and Malay elite to reach that status. In other words, it was political connections that made him what he is and not really his skills and hard work alone, even if that may have also been part of it.

In his memoirs, Robert Kuok said Chinese are hard working and skilled entrepreneurs, which is the reason for their success, while there are some who made it big through corruption. This is a veiled attack at people like Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Daim Zainuddin who, combined, are worth RM160 billion, almost three times what Robert Kuok is worth, without the hard work involved. While to took almost 70 years for Robert Kuok to achieve what he achieved, it took Mahathir and Daim just 10 years or so to become three times richer.

Robert Kuok knew that the New Economic Policy (NEP) would allow the Malays to fast-track their wealth. And this was why he opposed it and he told Tun Hussein Onn the NEP must not be allowed to happen. Hussein told him that was impossible, as Umno would never agree to it. Nevertheless, Robert Kuok did not relent and his anti-Malay sentiments, which grew after his brother was killed in 1952, increased even further. And that is what motivates the enigma known as Robert Kuok these last 70 years or so.

Zaid Ibrahim, representing the Pakatan Malay group, in talks with James, representing Robert Kuok

Fast-forward to 2015

Robert Kuok supported the ex-Umno-anti-Umno faction in 1987 and again in 1998. And when a new ex-Umno-anti-Umno faction emerged in 2015, the ANC, Robert Kuok again supported it. The only way to destroy Umno is to split it up into Team A and Team B and support one side to fight the other, or support both sides to fight one another. That has been Robert Kuok’s modus operandi all this while — as DAP’s Superman Hew Kuan Yew said, use Malays to fight Malays.

When Mahathir’s ANC first started the attacks on Najib three years ago, stories were floating around that a Chinese tycoon outside Malaysia was giving financial support to the ANC and figures of RM5 billion or more were being mentioned. Some said it was Francis Yeoh, Vincent Tan, Genting Group, and so on. But then if the Chinese tycoon was outside Malaysia then it could not be them. The fact that it was Robert Kuok was known to only a few and it was not until after The Malaysian Insight was formed about a year ago that the truth finally emerged. Ironically, it was The Malaysian Insider’s Ho Kay Tat who triggered the alarm bells when he asked Jahabar Sadiq to declare who The Malaysian Insight’s funder is.

Robert Kuok knew that the only way to destroy Umno would be to split the Malays into many groups. While the Chinese are solidly behind DAP and the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan, they would go nowhere if 70% of the Malays are behind Umno or the Umno-led Barisan Nasional. And it is important that the Malay civil service plus the Malays in the Malay heartland states be divided. And the only way to win the hearts and minds of the Malays would be to poison their minds through the social and online media.

Jahabar Sadiq has always been a DAP man since his The Malaysian Insider days

The Malaysian Insight: their secret weapon

This opportunity presented itself when The Malaysian Insight was launched. They needed RM50 million and the original financiers of The Malaysian Insider, who had already blown RM10 million, were not forthcoming. That was when Robert Kuok spoke to Kit Siang and Guan Eng and offered to come out with the money. But then Ho Kay Tat must be the de facto editor-in-chief and DAP’s Red Bean Army must be parked in The Malaysian Insight. As an inducement for their cooperation, the owner of The Malaysian Insight, mainly Faridah Begum, would be paid RM2 million a month. Robert Kuok knew that greed was always a great motivator.

Since then The Malaysians Insight transformed into a propaganda outfit for the anti-Umno movement, which also meant the anti-Najib movement. Looking at the postings in The Malaysian Insight, it is clear that most of it is the work of DAP’s Red Bean Army, as can be seen below. The Malaysian Insight has mastered the art of misinformation and disinformation, or what today we call fake news. The question is: is this working and are the Malays being taken in by The Malaysian Insight’s disinformation campaign? Well, Robert Kuok hopes so with the RM50 million he is spending on the portal plus the RM2 million a month on the owners.

Robert Kuok’s antagonism on what he considers the Malay or Umno government of Malaysia is well-documented. However, thus far, since the 1970s, his attempts to undermine the government have not been so visible. Today, that is no longer a secret. Robert Kuok knows that if they cannot oust Umno and Barisan Nasional in the general election this year then it is never going to happen for a long time to come. So Robert Kuok is getting very desperate that he no longer cares if anyone knows what he is trying to do.

He knows money can solve all problems so he is burning money in the billions. At 94, Robert Kuok has no time to lose as by the next general election he will most likely no longer be around. Hence RM50 million to fund The Malaysian Insight and another RM2 million a month for the portal’s owner is mere dedak compared to the RM5 billion budget he has committed for the ANC.

Robert Kuok’s biggest worry is that his anti-Malay cum anti-Umno sentiment will become public knowledge. He needs to ensure that the Malay split and the Malay swing towards Pakatan Harapan materialises or else the election will be lost. This becomes even more critical now that DAP or the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan may not get 90% Chinese support after all. Some estimates put the Chinese support at just 70-75%. So if the Malay support is less than 50% then Pakatan Harapan is doomed. And currently it appears that Malay support for Pakatan Harapan is below 40%.

Robert Kuok’s racism and Chinese chauvinism has never been so prominent until now. His biggest mistake is to get involved in The Malaysian Insight. And The Malaysian Insight’s blunder was to take an anti-Najib, Anti-Umno and anti-government stand. So now Robert Kuok has been stripped naked and is being exposed for what he really is: an anti-Malay and anti-Umno Chinese racist and chauvinist whose mission is to destroy Najib and Umno.

The Malaysian Insight’s editorials, analyses and news reports are geared towards discrediting Umno, Barisan Nasional and the government, as some of these examples show