Raised eyebrows, annoyance, snorts and sniggers. Those were among the
most common responses to a plan by Umno President and Barisan Nasional
chairman Najib Razak to seek the help of the Malaysian Anti Corruption
Commission to vet the ruling coalition’s candidates for the forthcoming
13th General Election.
To make it worse, there has been nothing but an ominous silence to
this proposal from the most powerful man in Umno today, Najib’s former
boss and ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad, and with good reasons too.
Mahathir’s son, Mukhriz, is unlikely to make the grade given the
father’s reported US$ 44 billion in assets and the flight of US$ 200
billion in dirty money last year. In fact, few if any of the top leaders
in Umno would be able to make the grade, with the entire plan already
ridiculed by the public and tagged as an eye-wash to curry favor in a
most childish way with voters.
Trying to scare the Devil or negotiating better exit term
What is Najib trying to do? As far as the general perception goes,
Najib along with Mahathir should to be among the first to be axed given
the former’s humongous Scorpene corruption and Altantuya Shaariibuu
murder scandals. Can the 59-year-old Najib really be so fatuous as to
believe that by roping in the MACC, whose own integrity is in doubt, it
will make things right with voters?
Come on, voters are already sick and tired of the Umno-BN’s
never-ending story of bribery and plundering of the national coffers. So
what is Najib after? Is he trying to warn Mahathir and his own deputy,
the also corruption-tainted Muhyiddin Yassin, to back off? Red-hot on
the Umno grapevine is talk that Mahathir and Muhyiddin have struck a
deal to push out Najib before GE13. Is Najib trying to signal that he
won’t be giving up so easily and if he has to, he will fight back?
Those who are watching the developments in Umno will know soon
enough. However, given the strength of Mahathir’s sinister character
and Najib’s weak indecisivness, few believe Najib can do much to scare
Mahathir. That would be like a kitten trying to take on a wolf.
At the most, it might buy the PM and his wife Rosmah Mansor a few
more months in power, allowing them to make a more advantageous and
graceful exit. Instead of relinquishing the premiership before GE13 as
Mahathir and Muhyiddin are said to have demanded, Najib might get to
lead Umno-BN into GE13 before stepping down as Umno president at the
party’s internal election due to be held later in 2013.
Mahathir conducted a purge of Umno, BN candidates
Upon assuming power in 1981, Mahathir decided, unilaterally, that his
Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah (Clean, Efficient and Trustworthy)
administration would not field undeserving candidates. Mahathir was
judge, jury, and hangman in this case. No MACC or ACA for him! The
candidates knew it had nothing to do with their being ‘undeserving’ but
that this was his way of purging BN of candidates put up by his
predecessors and bringing in his own faction members.
Many Umno and BN members who held party posts were not fielded as
candidates in the General Election (GE) simply because they weren’t with
him or he simply didn’t like their faces. To add insult to injury, they
weren’t compensated with other government posts either because his aim
was to finish them off politically and bury them for good. Yet, his
losing candidates in party elections were not only fielded as GE
candidates but were rewarded with other government positions when they
lost at the party and GE levels.
Ruthless, mean, vicious, vindictive – these are all words used to
describe Mahathir, and another strongman politician in Malaysia – Taib
Mahmud of Sarawak.
Najib is no better than this duo. He and Rosmah are just as
controversial and unpopular. But for his own self-preservation, Najib
should know why he must get Mahathir and Company out of the 13th GE.
Mahathir’s regime was anything but clean, efficient and trustworthy
as evident in, among others, Barry Wain’s book, “Malaysian Maverick –
Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times.” According Wain’s research, during
Mahathir’s administration US$ 100billion was lost from the Malaysian
treasury.
Mahathir stabbed Hussein Onn in the back and betrayed Razak
This was how Mahathir repaid Abdul Razak, Najib’s father and
Hussein’s brother-in-law, who brought him back to Umno after having
being sacked by Tunku Abdul Rahman for being one of the three arch
villains behind the May 13 race riots. The other two arch villains were
Razak himself and then Selangor Menteri Besar Harun Idris who prevailed
on the former to re-admit Mahathir into Umno.
The issue that Mahathir used against Hussein was the allegation that
the latter’s wife was virtually running Petronas from her house. The Dap
mysteriously received, now believed to be from Mahathir, documents in
the post on the allegation and on Exxon allegedly stealing Malaysian oil
on the high seas unknown to Petronas. Then Dap secretary-general Lim
Kit Siang ended up in Court as a result of the documents as Exxon fought
back with a legal suit.
The story, as it goes further, is that Mahathir had Hussein’s office
completely cleared out when the Prime Minister was subsequently in
London for medical attention.
He also reportedly spread rumours, in hinting at the allegations on
Petronas/Exxon, that Hussein had a “terrible heart condition” and would
be stepping down as Prime Minister upon his return “for health reasons”.
Mahathir’s regime was a time of great rumour-mongering and all of which
subsequently turned out to be true since they originated from the man
himself.
It was Dap, albeit inadvertently, who helped put Mahathir in the Prime Minister’s chair.
Now, Najib has the opportunity to settle scores on behalf of Hussein,
his father and Tunku and embark on a real purge of Umno and BN members
he shouldn’t field as candidates. But will he rise to the occassion or
is the latest MACC ploy just to negotiate better exit terms for himself
and Rosmah?
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