Mahathir Mohamad is a “master strategist”. Liew Chin Tong is also a “master strategist”. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib, on the other hand, is not a thinker, let alone a strategist. Perhaps if Najib had finished his degree at the Nottingham University, UK, he might become a slightly smarter person. But there’s only so much he can learn when he indulged a playboy life in Britain.
Mahathir, the former premier of Malaysia for 22 years (1981 to 2003), was the strategist who had outfoxed his enemies numerous times. He is still the cunning fox who would study details of his enemies. When everyone thought Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who left UMNO political party and formed “Semangat 46”, would win the 1990 general election, Mahathir skilfully slaughtered him.
Mr. Razaleigh setup the Semangat 46 in 1988 after he was defeated by Mr. Mahathir for the UMNO presidency by 43 votes. Together with opposition DAP and PAS, Razaleigh managed to convince PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah), which ruled state of Sabah, to pull out of ruling federal government Barisan Nasional. The rebel alliance was set to defeat the empire, so to speak.
Then, Razaleigh visited Kota Kinabalu, Sabah on Oct 18, 1990 for a big rally with the PBS led by then its President Joseph Pairin Kitingan. The rally was eye-popping massive. Mahathir was so shocked that he called Razaleigh a traitor who backstabbed him in the back. Upon arrival in Kota Kinabalu, Razaleigh was presented, in his honour – a “Siagah” – a headgear of the Kadazan.
Thinking he could finally unseat Mahathir for the premiership, the overly-confident Mr. Razaleigh, a Malay-Muslim, had no idea he was about to dig his own grave. Without realizing that the headgear had a “design” which “resembled“, or rather appeared like the Christian cross, Razaleigh happily wore it and voila, he gave Mahathir the silver bullet.
Photographs of Razaleigh “wearing the cross” were splashed in the front pages of government-controlled newspapers and national television. For Mahathir, the headgear was like God sent. Although the “Siagah” wasn’t the only factor, it was the primary factor which cost Razaleigh his premiership. The Malay-Muslim voters, spooked by Mahathir’s propaganda, sent the opposition packing.
When then-Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim tried to challenge Mahathir in 1998, the Malaysian prime minister had again displayed his skillmanship. Mr Anwar was thrown into prison after he was convicted and given a 9-year prison sentence for sodomy. Amazingly, Mahathir and Anwar are now the tag-team determined to unseat PM Najib Razak from the throne.
Liew Chin Tong, arguably the most brilliant strategist DAP has ever possessed, was the humble and low-profiled young politician who inspired the opposition party leadership for the “blitzkrieg” on the state of Johor, the birthplace and bastion of ruling party UMNO, in the 2013 general election. Although Johor didn’t collapse, the onslaught had left a huge unrepairable crack.
And now, the courageous and genius Liew Chin Tong, has taken the fight to the backyard of Wee Ka Siong, deputy president of MCA and the incumbent of parliamentary seat Ayer Hitam. Had Mr. Liew not started the ball-rolling of cracking Johor 5 years ago, even Mahathir would have huge trouble rallying the Johoreans to overthrow Najib administration this time.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Razak is now in the state of panic and chaos. He didn’t realize it because he has chosen to be surrounded with bootlickers – including paid cybertroopers, propagandists and bloggers – who keep telling him to relax and be cool because he could defeat not only mentor-turned-rival Mahathir, but regain the precious two-thirds majority.
Do you really think Mahathir is truly upset that his newly created party – PPBM or simply Bersatu (Malaysian United Indigenous Party) – was declared “illegal” at the last minute by the Registrar of Societies (RoS)? Do you really think Mahathir believed his protégé-turned-rival Najib would allow him a smooth journey of using the “Bersatu” in the first place?
Flashback – in 2013, also almost at the eleventh hour, DAP faced the same fate like Bersatu today, when the same corrupted Registrar of Societies (RoS) tried to deregister the opposition party over allegation of conducting unfair and undemocratic party elections. Only after Najib realized that the stunt could backfire was DAP allowed to contest under its rocket logo.
Mr. Najib thought he was the smartest man on planet Earth when he instructed the RoS to ban Mahathir’s young party just a day before the parliament was dissolved. He is clueless even until this minute that Bersatu was nothing but a red-herring. The 93-year-old Mahathir deliberately setup Bersatu to lure Najib, who gladly swallowed the bait hook, line and sinker.
How could the self-proclaimed Bugis warrior Najib has the impression that a one-year-old Bersatu party could rival the mighty UMNO is beyond basic comprehension. Had he stopped for a minute and think with his head, instead of his toes, he would have had allowed the young rival party to compete, and bash the opposition until the kingdom come.
But Najib, still wet behind the ears, did not put on his thinking cap. Mahathir almost fell off his chair laughing when RoS director-general Surayati Ibrahim held a press conference justifying why Bersatu was being banned. Without his party, Mahathir can cry, whine and bitch everyday, practically telling all and sundry in his campaign what a cruel leader Najib has been.
From the beginning, it has been Mahathir’s plan all along to leverage on PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat or People’s Justice Party) – NOT BERSATU – to contest in the 14th general election. You don’t need a rocket scientist to tell that PKR logo, founded in 1999, has a stronger branding and presence than Bersatu (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia), which was established only in 2016.
Although DAP has the longest presence among the 4 component parties making up the coalition of “Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope)”, Mahathir knew he can’t use the Chinese-majority party, for obvious reason. The 3-year-old “Amanah (Parti Amanah Rakyat)”, like Bersatu, has branding issue too. Therefore, among the PKR, DAP, Bersatu and Amanah component parties, only PKR is the best fit.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. One of the reasons why PKR supremo leader Anwar Ibrahim (currently serving a 5-year jail sentence for sodomy) had failed to wrestle the federal government in 2013 general election was his failure to create the Malay-tsunami together with the Chinese-tsunami.
Comprising 68.8% (2017) of the country’s 32-million population, the Malays are the kingmaker. Without them, even if 100% of the Chinese (23.3%) and Indians (7%) combined voted for the opposition, Najib cannot be kicked out of the office. Like it or not, the different logos used by the opposition in 2013 failed to unitethe Malays and the Chinese to unseat Najib.
As the premier who had ruled for 22 years, Mahathir knew a common logoassociated with Malays is the primary recipe to mobilise the Malays in order to roast Najib. That’s why the coalition Barisan Nasional has been winning every one of its elections in the past. Therefore, his hatched plan involved going to the war armed with only one common logo – the PKR logo.
And Mahathir had successfully achieved his plan by watching Najib harassing and punching the red-herring Bersatu to death. The 93-year-old master strategist also knew that no matter how much his new party play nice and comply with rules and regulations, there will always some party members who can be bribed by Najib’s camp to lodge report alleging party irregularities.
More importantly, by using the PKR logo, Mahathir managed to pacify Anwar hardcore supporters who refused to be bossed by newcomer Bersatu party. Can you see how the old fox killed two birds with one stone? Facing the real possibility of a humiliating defeat, Najib’s paid cybertroopers, propagandists and bloggers are now singing a different song.
They said DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang is in deep shit because the PKR logo cannot sell and many Chinese are rejecting it. Mr. Najib should stop paying his bloggers who smoke grass while working with the keyboard. Have they tried listening to the pulse on the ground and asked Chinese uncles and aunties in rural areas about the disappearance of “rocket” logo?
Do they really think today is the year 1973, when Barisan Nasional was founded and required years to send its message? Thanks to social media and cheap electronic communication, not to mention words of mouth marketing, the so-called old rural Chinese uncles and aunties already knew that rocket logo has been replaced with the “eye” logo.
Pakatan Harapan is more worried about low turnout due to polling date deliberately set on Wednesday, or even old grudges against Mahathir during his 22-year-rule, among some Chinese voters than uncles and aunties getting confused because of missing rocket logo. And guess what: at “pasar (market)” it appears that all the uncles and aunties have “pakat (conspired)” to vote for the “eye”.
On the contrary, it is Najib who is in the state of panic. He is so panicked that he has admitted to spying his enemies before going to sleep at night – by watching video clips of his opponents on YouTube. Someone should tell him that it would be much healthier to watch adult film than viewing how he was bashed, mocked and insulted on the internet.
Obviously, Mahathir would have trouble justifying the use of PKR “blue-eye” logo as the common logo, if his Bersatu hasn’t been declared illegal. Trapped by Mahathir’s master stroke, Najib is reduced to childishly cutting Mahathir’s picture on billboards. Najib’s supporters are so speechless about Mahathir’s onslaught that all they can tell their boss is they have more flags planted than rival.
– http://www.financetwitter.com
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