One of Sun Tzu's golden rules of warfare was, "Do not start a battle in which there is no chance of winning."
Perak Menteri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu should take heed of this rule because he may live to regret the comments about his "lone battle". which he made in a video. He told a small gathering that he was fighting "a desperate battle alone, against DAP".
In his lone battle, Ahmad Faizal probably imagines that his enemy is the DAP. He is wrong because his enemy is the people of Perak, whom he betrayed with his incompetence and arrogance.
In the video which went viral, Ahmad Faizal said, "In Perak, I am fighting a desperate battle alone against 'puak-puak' (factions) DAP.
"I want to defend the land of the Malays, I want to champion our religion."
He needs to tell us from whom or what he has to defend the Malays and Islam. For the past 62 years, Umno touted the same line, but what have they done to improve the lives of the Malays?
The same goes for Ahmad Faizal. What has he done in the past 19 months, to improve the lot of the Malays?
Is Ahmad Faizal still trapped under his tempurung? Malays occupy positions of power in GLCs, in ministries, in the police, customs, immigration, Mara, Felda, Tabung Haji, Khazanah, Bank Negara and Jakim.
If the Malay needs defending, it is from the other Malays. Many are not used to holding power or being in charge of money. Disgraced Najib Abdul Razak, his former deputy PM Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Isa Samad, formerly of Felda, and Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (above), the former head of Tabung Haji, have been charged with criminal breach of trust and money laundering.
The Malays also need defending from being pampered. Dr Mahathir Mohamad scolds the Malays for being lazy, but in the next breath, rewards them with handouts. No wonder they are confused.
What does Ahmad Faizal mean by wanting to "champion our religion"? Is it through might and right? What has he done to push the IGP to find Indira Gandhi's daughter, who was kidnapped by her convert husband? Will he stop the alleged forced conversions of Orang Asli?
For the past 19 months, he has wasted time doing very little, apart from lurching from one blunder to the next.
Ahmad Faizal has thwarted the wishes of the rakyat who wanted the new Pakatan Harapan administration to clean-up the mess left by the previous state government.
More importantly, he has done nothing to entice the hundreds of thousands of young Perakians, and experienced professionals, who have migrated to Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Singapore and overseas in search of better pastures, to return, and help to rebuild Perak.
In short, the Perak MB lacks both charisma and vision.
He has lost the trust of the people of Perak, who voted for Harapan. He abused his position by dismissing the need for transparency in awarding some contracts. He appointed an RM2 company to do reforestation. Without open tenders, contracts worth several hundreds of millions of ringgit were awarded to companies. He belittled the rights of the Orang Asli and dismissed claims that Orang Asli children were malnourished.
Instead, the Perak taxpayer is forced to bail out Umno-Baru's white elephants. Thus far, no-one in the administration of the former MB, Zambry Abdul Kadir (above), has been hauled up for corruption. If they need a hint, try sand mining.
The Orang Asli in his constituency of Chenderiang must regret voting for Ahmad Faizal. He won by the skin of his teeth - a mere 39 votes. If not for the Orang Asli, he would have lost his deposit
One year after being in office, the ungrateful MB repaid his gratitude by claiming that there was no such thing as Orang Asli customary rights in Perak.
DAP is the biggest party in the Perak Pakatan Harapan coalition, with 18 seats. Bersatu is the smallest with two, but it is Bersatu which calls the shots.
"Melayu mudah lupa" (Malays easily forget) and Ahmad Faizal has betrayed the DAP, in the same manner he betrayed the Orang Asli, with his "lone battle" remark.
Like most people from his former party, Umno Baru, Ahmad Faizal probably thinks that he has a right to rule. He has put his former party, Umno Baru, before the interests of the state. The Perak taxpayer is forced to bail out the Movie Animation Park Studios (above), the Umno Baru white elephant. He wants to resurrect other Umno Baru white elephants, like a new airport and a space centre. These vanity projects will only benefit the cronies.
The Perak MB has also put himself before the interests of the rakyat. He once said that his best achievement was to continue to be MB.
Desperate for popularity, he rewarded Perak footballers (and officials) who beat Terengganu in the Malaya Cup finals of 2018, with land seized from farmers who had tilled the soil for four generations. It would have been cheaper to reward the footballers with Datukships, especially as we have now lost a good source of fresh produce.
The warning signs, that he plays to the Malay/Muslim crowd, were evident at the start of Ahmad Faizal's tenure. In the Manjoi mob incident, the Malays who demanded the removal of bottles of alcohol from the shelves of a store in Manjoi, were not punished. Businesses must be worried.
So, who is the real Ahmad Faizal Azumu? He fancies himself as the hero of the Malays and Muslims, but claims to be MB of a multi-racial state. He is the proverbial Umno-Baru wolf in Bersatu sheep's clothing, and acts like a member of the fifth column.
He and his family have roots which are firmly grounded in Umno-Baru. They hopped into Bersatu in a tactical move which was motivated by greed and selfish political reasons.
Ahmad Faizal knows that he was not the people's choice for MB. The rakyat wanted an MB who was not corruptible.
For now, Ahmad Faizal's position is safe, because he has the protection of his Godfather, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. But no-one lasts forever.
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