Brader Anwar Bin Ibrahim is Baaaaaaack ! !

The Cabinet has just been announced - or partially.  

Yesterday Tun Dr Mahathir announced a list of 10 core Ministries.  He was supposed to announce the 10 Ministers today but that has not happened. Only THREE Ministers have been announced. 

Guan Eng is Minister of Finance. 

Mat Sabu is Minister of Defense.  (Mat Sabu left the building earlier and did not wait for the public announcement by Tun Dr Mahathir.) 

Tan Sri Muhyiddin is Minister of Home Affairs.

WHERE ARE THE REMAINING SEVEN OF THE 10 CORE MINISTERS? 

Note that there is NO MINISTER from PKR (other than Wan Azizah who is DPM).

Now here is another story.

Have you all seen this picture?  A picture is worth a thousand words.  

That is Brader Anwar talking. It is in a hotel room. He is also wearing civilian clothes.

Listening to him are Tun Dr Mahathir, Lim Kit Siang, the wife Wan Azizah, Lim Guan Eng and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Tun Dr Mahathir looks like :  "I have heard this before."

Mr Lim looks like, "Huh ? Like that ah?"

Azizah is sitting farthest from the husband.

Guan Eng is like, "Chief Minister or Cabinet, Chief Minister or Cabinet"

Tan Sri Muhyiddin is like, "I suppose I have to listen to this".

The fact that NO Ministers from Anwar's PKR have been named yet is proof enough that there is some serious disagreement about the Cabinet positions.

It is obvious that being the "senior partner" with 49 seats Anwar would want to name over 40% of the Cabinet lineup (at least 4 ministers in the first 10 core group). Plus he would want the "plum" Ministries like Finance, Home Affairs and Defense. 

Dr Mahathir has again been a step ahead by making public the appointment of Guan Eng, Mat Sabu and Tan Sri Muhyiddin. Just like announcing his own swearing in without consulting the Istana.  It became a fait accompli.

So Anwar has come up empty handed, thus far. People say Anwar is seriously "merajuk".

Sarawak BN has also crossed over. That is another 19 Parliamentary seats for PH. Together with Warisan's eight it dilutes the proprotion of seats held by the parties in the Pakatan. 

Najib has quit today as the president of UMNO and Chairman of BN. I dont know if this is a sandiwara. It could be part of a deal. Zahid Hamidi has taken over.

Folks in the know say that Najib has been in constant touch with Brader Anwar. 

Brader Anwar desperately wants to be the PM.  It is getting really elusive for him. 

Tun Dr Mahathir just walks in and out and back into the PM's office. 

Since the night of May 9th, Najib has been calling Brader Anwar. Folks say these calls are possibly still coming through. Nothing wrong in talking to old buddies.

Folks say Najib asked Anwar  to talk to Tun Dr Mahathir to let him (Najib) go. Or let him off the hook. Obviously that has not worked.  Najib and Rosmah cannot leave the country. 

There is a little bit more. There is speculation that Najib has also offered Brader Anwar a deal. 

UMNO's 57 or so MPs and PAS' 18 MPs will team up with PKR's 49 MPs to form the government.  It adds up to 124.  Najib offered Brader Anwar to be PM. This is speculation ok.  

If Amanah also joins up, that will be another 10 seats.

Under the guise of Malay unity, Islamic brotherhood etc ?  

That can kick off a whole new ball game. 

But Najib has quit as UMNO president. 

So Zahid takes over. 

Zahid was Anwar's best buddy in UMNO. 

He still is. These guys are still best buddies.


Folks, there are 57 (??) UMNO MPs. They are now without leadership. Najib is gone and Zahid is not seen as party leadership material.  So there are now 57 "ronin" or 'pahlawan yang tidak mempunyai Tuan'.  The will soon be looking for a leader.  Conversely a "leader" may be looking for exactly such Ronin. Nature abhors a vacuum. If there is a vacuum, soon something will rush in to fill up the vacuum. Dont say I did not warn you. There are 57 MPs without leadership.

There is more drama.  Today the swearing in of the Pahang MB (Adnan from UMNO) was postponed - by up to ONE week. People say the Palace is not happy. Others say that Najib is not happy. But Najib has quit as UMNO president? So what exactly is going on? 

Over in Penang, Guan Eng was unsure if he would be Chief Minister again? Because the bargaining over the Cabinet positions was not concluded. Look at that picture again.  The Cabinet make up is still not finalised.   The stumbling block is Brader Anwar.

Now Guan Eng has been named Minister of Finance. 

Somehow this story does not seem complete. 

But my thoughts on this are  also  predictable :  some people are just too predictable.


UPDATE :

RUNDINGAN JEMAAH MENTERI MASIH BERJALAN DAN BELUM DIMUKTAMADKAN

Saya merujuk kepada pengumuman yang dibuat YAB Tun Mahathir Mohamad sebentar tadi mengenai perlantikan tiga portfolio kanan dalam kerajaan iaitu Menteri Kewangan, Menteri Dalam Negeri dan Menteri Pertahanan.

Saya telah ditanya mengenai ketiadaan wakil KEADILAN di dalam mesyuarat dan semasa pengumuman perlantikan.

Saya ingin menjelaskan beberapa perkara yang menjadi latar belakang kepada pengumuman tersebut:

1.     KEADILAN beranggapan perbincangan masih berjalan dan pengumuman yang dibuat tidak muktamad; dan

2.     Sebarang keputusan mengenai apa-apa perlantikan mestilah dipersetujui secara bersama oleh keempat-empat parti di dalam Pakatan Harapan.

YAB Perdana Menteri, Tun Mahathir Mohamad sedang dalam perjalanan untuk berbincang dengan Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim di Hospital Rehabilisasi Cheras mengenai perlantikan-perlantikan ini.

KEADILAN yakin proses rundingan yang mengikuti semangat muafakat akan membantu mengukuhkan kerajaan Pakatan Harapan.

RAFIZI RAMLI


NAIB PRESIDEN KEADILAN