CHECKMATE FOR MAHATHIR – OR DID GRANDMASTER OF MALAY POLITICS CHECKMATE HIMSELF?

Have we just witnessed the end of the political career of the grandmaster of politics in this country? Perhaps.

Was this, as some might say, karma at play? Maybe. But when PPBM sacked Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the party’s founder and chairman, who was recently returned unopposed when nominations closed, did the party just press the self-destruct button?

Some of PPBM’s current supreme council members who decided to terminate Mahathir’s membership, and others weren’t even born when Mahathir first ventured into politics. Simply put, he has eaten more salt than some of these new kids on the block. They are young bamboo shoots that can be eaten for breakfast and no one does it better than Mahathir.

From the time he was sacked from Umno by Tunku Abdul Rahman, this seasoned gladiator has bounced back with incredible energy. Blessed with a shrewd mind and a political instinct second to none, he has seen the backs of Musa Hitam, Ghafar Baba, Anwar Ibrahim, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Razak.

Has he met his Waterloo in Muhyiddin Yassin? Possible.

If Mahathir wanted to finish off Muhyiddin and PPBM for good, he might consider an invitation from Umno to “come home”. Far-fetched? Impossible? Ludicrous? Never in a million years?

Well, politics is the art of making the impossible possible. Everything can be discussed. And anything is possible in Bolehland.

Who would have thought that the very people who jettisoned Mahathir to the pinnacle of power will be the very same people who ejected him from that position by working behind his back to form what is now touted as a backdoor government? Who would have thought that his blue-eyed boy who he cocooned, protected and showered with positions of power would do the unthinkable and betray him with the now infamous Sheraton Move?

But it is what it is.

In time to come, karma could well deal another hand to those basking in glory now. When that happens, you will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. You will be remembered as the people that bit the hand that fed you.

There is an often repeated quote that asks: “For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world but loses his soul?” If this soul searching question matters not to you, nothing will.

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