PPBM, The Curse Around Pakatan’s Neck

The only question that now remains is: is the deregistration of PPBM, that will subsequently affect the registration of Pakatan Harapan, due to a sloppy oversight or was this planned all along as part of a sabotage? And is what PPBM facing a repeat of what happened back in 1987 when two teams emerged in Umno that eventually saw the party get deregistered?

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER 

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is upset because Muhyiddin Yassin announced that Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) cannot meet the 30th March 2018 deadline set by the Registrar of Societies (RoS) in their 28th February 2018 letter (READ HERE: Muhyiddin: PPBM won’t be able to submit Minutes to RoS in time).

Mahathir wanted this matter to be below the radar because he was still discussing with Lim Kit Siang about PPBM candidates contesting the general election on a DAP ticket. In principle, Mahathir and Kit Siang have agreed that DAP will ‘absorb’ PPBM’s candidates but the mechanics still need to be sorted out. So Muhyiddin was supposed to make the announcement after that and not before the deal has been sealed.

Mahathir and Kit Siang have agreed that DAP will ‘absorb’ PPBM candidates for GE14

The main issue to be sorted out is how will DAP’s Chinese supporters view this? Having Mahathir as Pakatan Harapan’s Chairman and Prime Minister-in-waiting is one thing but having Mahathir as a DAP candidate is another kettle of fish.

As for the Malay audience, Mahathir cannot be seen as being ‘swallowed’ by DAP and is merely a DAP kuda, as Superman Hew Kuan Yew said. Mahathir has to be seen as playing a leadership role in DAP and is in charge of the whole thing. If not, the Malays would abandon Mahathir and all his ‘PPBM’ candidates if they were merely seen as ‘alat Cina’.

Say what you like, Malaysian general elections are all about race and religion. Just read the news and articles over the last one year alone and they all talk about Chinese this and Malays that. Today itself the online news is about whether Barisan Nasional can win back Chinese support or whether Pakatan Harapan can take away Malay support from Barisan Nasional.

Most Malays view DAP as anti-Islam and anti-Sharia laws

So, it is not simply a matter of Mahathir and the rest of the PPBM candidates contesting on a DAP ticket because the party is being deregistered. Hence, Muhyiddin’s ‘confession’ has upset everything. And some are saying it was done on purpose because Muhyiddin is not happy with the way things are going and the direction PPBM is heading.

Muhyiddin knows that everything is about making Mukhriz the Prime Minister. As for Muhyiddin, his political career has more or less ended because of his affair with Nika Gee, who was another person’s wife and has since divorced. So, whatever Muhyiddin does would merely be for the benefit of Mukhriz and with no benefit to himself.

The split in PPBM is becoming serious. Many are beginning to get disillusioned with Mahathir and no longer can agree with Mahathir’s way of doing things. The Mahathir group, on the other hand, is worried that Muhyiddin is placing all his people in strategic positions and can at any time take control of the party. Their greatest fear, however, is that Muhyiddin may sabotage PPBM to frustrate Mahathir.

Muhyiddin knows this is all about making Mukhriz the Prime Minister and not about ‘Saving Malaysia’

Then there is the more important matter that we addressed in the previous article regarding how Mahathir is going to get sworn in as DAP’s Prime Minister if Pakatan Harapan wins the coming general election — ‘Mahathir needs to take over as DAP’s Leader immediately’ (READ HERE) — where we said:

Mahathir has to immediately become a DAP member and get himself officially and legally appointed as the DAP leader. Then this appointment needs to be lodged with the RoS together with proof of his membership. Added to that, each and every PPBM, PKR, DAP and PAN parliamentary candidate in GE14 must sign a letter declaring that in the event their party wins the most number of seats in Parliament their choice of Prime Minister is Mahathir. This is because Pakatan Harapan does not legally exist.

This has to be one of the terms for them contesting. In short, the Surat Watikah allowing them to contest under their party symbol would be exchanged for their Consent Letter agreeing to Mahathir becoming the Prime Minister if their party forms the government. 

Only then, in the event that Pakatan Harapan wins the most number of seats in Parliament and DAP wins the majority of those seats, can Mahathir request an audience with the Agong and swear in his new government with him as Prime Minister. Short of that, the Agong need not even consent to an audience let alone swear Mahathir in as Prime Minister of his new government.

Mahathir has to quickly become a DAP member and take over as party leader

To understand the confusing and complicated situation in PPBM and Pakatan Harapan, you must first understand why in the first place PPBM and Pakatan Harapan were created. The whole problem is Mahathir is not really serious about PPBM and forming that party was not really part of his plan. The only reason PPBM was formed was because Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak pushed Mahathir into a corner and left him no way out. So, as a sort of lifeboat, Mahathir formed PPBM just to give the impression he is still in the game and is not defeated yet.

Pakatan Harapan, which was founded on 22nd September 2015, was created for the same reason that Umno Baru was created in February 1988. In the Umno Baru case, Mahathir wanted to get rid of his enemies in Umno — so he closed down the party and formed a new Umno minus his enemies, who were then forced to form their own party, Semangat 46.

Because of PPBM, Pakatan Harapan can now no longer get registered

In Pakatan Harapan’s case, soon after the 2013 general election, a move was made to oust Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim for two main reasons. First was that he refused to fork out RM100 million to fund PKR’s candidates in the general election like the party wanted him to. Secondly, he refused to pay RM2.7 billion to take over SPLASH like Anwar Ibrahim wanted him to and was only prepared to pay RM250 million.

For defying the party’s and Anwar’s wishes, they wanted Khalid out and replaced with Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. HRH the Sultan of Selangor, however, disagreed. So, PAS proposed Azmin Ali as the new Menteri Besar instead and the Sultan agreed. DAP and PKR, though, did not, and they were very upset with PAS. Hence, they closed down Pakatan Rakyat and formed Pakatan Harapan in September 2015 so that PAS could be kicked out of the opposition coalition.

PPBM’s case is another story altogether. PPBM was never supposed to happen. What was supposed to happen is that Najib would be ousted and Muhyiddin would take over as the new Prime Minister with Mukhriz as his Deputy, after which Mukhriz would take over as Prime Minister around 2020 or so.

Najib survived three coup d’état attempts in 2015 and that drove Mahathir up the wall

In 2015, three coup d’état attempts were made — in July, October and December (in the Cabinet, Parliament and Umno Assembly respectively). All three failed and in January 2016 Mukhriz Mahathir was asked to resign as the Menteri Besar of Kedah.

At first, he refused to resign but the Kedah Royal Council told Mukhriz that HRH the Sultan of Kedah, who was also DYMM Yang di-Pertuan Agong, wanted him out. So, on 3rd February 2016 Mukhriz resigned. Mahathir was so upset that on 29th February 2016 he resigned from Umno and out of desperation formed PPBM on 8th September 2016.

Mahathir always talks about Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. In 2015, he had Plans A, B and C on how to oust Naib and he failed in all three attempts. Now he says he has Plans A, B and C on how to make Mukhriz the Prime Minister. That is actually nonsense. There are no Plans A, B and C on how to make Mukhriz the Prime Minister. There is only one plan, Plan A, and that is to make Mukhriz the Prime Minister through Umno after ousting Najib.

Mukhriz was supposed to be the DPM in July 2015 and PM by 2020

Mahathir was so sure he could use the 1MDB issue to oust Najib and that nothing could go wrong. However, when he failed three times and instead Mukhriz got ousted, he did not know what to do. That was why it took him seven months to form PPBM. If PPBM was Plan B then it would have been formed in March instead of September.

In essence, Mahathir was never serious about PPBM. The formation of PPBM was never Plan B, as he wants us to believe. Mahathir knows Mukhriz can never become Prime Minister through PPBM. If Mukhriz is going to become Prime Minister it must be through Umno. The formation of PPBM is just wayang to give Malaysians the impression that Mahathir is still in the game and has not given up or lost yet.

And that was why they were very sloppy and did not handle the affairs of PPBM properly. They did not properly form branches and divisions or have proper branch and division meetings. They did not properly follow their own party constitution causing them to be in violation of their own constitution. They demonstrated total lack of interest in making sure that PPBM is properly managed.

PPBM is no longer going to exist on 30th March 2018

PPBM is now in a mess and by 30th March 2018 it will most likely face deregistration. That in itself is not a major problem if not for the fact that PPBM’s deregistration will affect Pakatan Harapan. PPBM is a member of Pakatan Harapan so if PPBM is deregistered then Pakatan Harapan cannot get registered.

And that would mean in GE14, expected around late April or early May 2018, both PPBM and Pakatan Harapan will not be contesting the general election. The only three ‘Pakatan’ parties contesting the general election will be DAP, PKR and PAN. And that would mean all the ‘PPBM’ candidates would need to contest under the banner of one of the three ‘Pakatan’ parties — in this case, as Mahathir has indicated, it will be DAP.

The only question that now remains is: is the deregistration of PPBM, that will subsequently affect the registration of Pakatan Harapan, due to a sloppy oversight or was this planned all along as part of a sabotage? And is what PPBM facing a repeat of what happened back in 1987 when two teams emerged in Umno that eventually saw the party get deregistered?