Does anyone really know who Saifuddin Abdullah is?

"What must be avoided is a coup d'etat by the deep state or undemocratic apparatus."

– Saifuddin Abdullah

Maybe the next time former PKR man Saifuddin Abdullah uses a disingenuous argument as to why Pakatan Harapan did not amend laws or carry out reforms when they were in power, Harapan could point out that Saifuddin was part of fellow party defector Azmin Ali’s "deep state" that was sabotaging Harapan from within. 

The smugness in which Saifuddin (above) carries out his role as a potentate in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government has always rankled.

After all, Azmin's deep state brought down the Harapan government. The current communications and multimedia minister once claimed that the deep state was out to destroy the democratic will of the people of this country. 

When it came to human rights reforms, specifically the Rome Statute, this is what Saifuddin publicly claimed: “It can be inside the government and you can’t identify it. It is an agent provocateur paid by certain quarters to create fear among the public. 

"On social media, they distribute all kinds of stories and campaigns. It could be fake news, half-truths, but the idea is to stop certain reforms from going through or to sabotage good projects from being carried out.”

It is funny that what Saifuddin is describing as a concerted effort to destroy Harapan is exactly the kind of tactics and propaganda used by the Azmin deep state to sow confusion and distrust among the Harapan base. 

This misinformation campaign, combined with the old maverick’s open hostility to Harapan's reform agenda and the succession plan, were all part of an elaborate shadow play that brought down the Harapan government.

So, the next time Saifuddin implies that the Harapan government was corrupt or asks why the Harapan government did not do what they said they would do, maybe people can remind him of Azmin's deep state, which sowed enough confusion and bureaucratic mischief to hobble an elected government.

Since Saifuddin was part of the Harapan government and had warned of the deep state, which he claimed was attempting to subvert the will of the people, but he ultimately became part of the cabal that brought down the coalition. Of course, the smugness that he exhibits now is telling of the kind of political operative he is.

I have written extensively about the incompetence of the Harapan political elite in dealing with Azmin's treachery, so I will not get into it here. However, the idea that Saifuddin is strutting around making all these accusations against Harapan political operatives is demonstrative of the kind of arrogance and hubris of this self-described Malay uber alles government.

Read Saifuddin's quote that opened this piece again. Now I do not know if he is a changed man, but who knows what he was doing to destabilise Harapan's policies when he was slithering around with Azmin and cohorts when they were making mischief in Harapan.

Honestly, all you have to do is go back to the public statements he made when he joined PN - especially his insinuation that a certain multi-racial party objected to the appointment of Lim Guan Eng as finance minister because he is Chinese - to understand how folks like Saifuddin will say anything, break any confidence or loyalty to further their mendacious agendas.

"But more recently, for example, when Lim was appointed as the finance minister, there were objections in the early stages. If I were to reveal which party was the one that objected, people will be surprised," Saifuddin had said.

Keep in mind Azmin's public statements as well, with gems like: "But I and the non-Malay leaders (who are aligned to Azmin in PKR), we work as a team and they are credible leaders. I have to make sure they have a role to play in the new coalition and, Alhamdulillah (thank God), we managed to secure many agreements and they will be announced in the near future."

Therefore, we know that everyone working for Azmin was doing so, with the implicit knowledge that they would be rewarded in the new Malay uber alles government. We know that their motive was for plum political positions within the new administration. 

The 11 MPs who defected from PKR during the Sheraton Move.

Honestly, I have more respect for Umno political operatives who did not jump ship but instead chose to remain on the losing team rather than these people, who had good positions in the Harapan government but who wanted to reinforce a race-based political system to ensure hegemony over their less fortunate brethren.

It is not as if the democratic process was played out, and we just have to wait for the next election cycle. I have no idea what these people are capable of because charlatans are capable of anything to sustain their ploy, including eroding and dismantling what’s left of our democratic institutions.

When Saifuddin said that Harapan supporters should be wary of a coup d’etat when he was supporting someone who would eventually carry out one, this is the kind of degenerate politics which is, unfortunately, the foundational ideology of PN.

When Saifuddin took over the helm of the Communications and Multimedia Ministry, he claimed that he is the same man. Which begs the question, is he the same man who warned the public of a deep state? Or is he the same man who made that warning as part of Azmin’s cabal who brought down a democratically elected government?

As I said, nobody knows and if he was not such a threat to our democratic institutions, nobody would care.

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. A retired barrister-at-law, he is one of the founding members of Persatuan Patriot Kebangsaan. - Mkini

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