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Date Posted: 01:03:27 10/01/06 Sun
Author: Hunter hunted (Raja Petra Kamarudin)
Subject: Thursday, September 28, 2006
In reply to: CORRUPTION AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL 's message, "THE FATHER OF ALL SCAMS" on 01:01:15 10/01/06 Sun

Thursday, September 28, 2006
Hunter hunted

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Fasting has just started so expect the month of Ramadhan to be very quiet. This is the month for Muslims to get closer to God and to indulge in activities geared to guaranteeing one a better place in the Afterlife. One is of course not told to turn one’s back on the world but the mark of a good Muslim is one who puts God above one’s self. Many Muslims of course misunderstand this to mean serving God and God alone. True, all Religions of the Book subscribe to the concept of One God and one may not worship multiple Gods. But this cannot be interpreted to mean that all else has no place in one’s life. Islam, for example, is a religion that puts community interest as paramount and one is supposed to take into consideration the good of the community before embarking on anything. That is why, in Islam, doing something as a jumaah is always placed above doing a solo.

Muslims are taught that prayers are for the benefit of he or she who offers them. You attract a sin if you do not do them and your soul will be saved if you do. The same goes for those other rituals and practices. However, fasting is for God. You do it not for the rewards that you would normally get when you perform the other religious obligations. You fast for God, and only God knows how you will be rewarded. This is the article of faith of a Muslim.

In this spirit, political activities normally slow down during the month of Ramadhan. There are hardly any ceramahs or rallies. One would not want to spend the night hours slamming one’s political opponent when one should instead be at the mosque performing the optional Tarawih prayers. Even if you see no wrong in slandering another during the month of Ramadhan, you would not attract the normal enthusiastic crowd, so it would be futile if all you get is a smattering of curios onlookers instead of the normal tens of thousands.

But this does not mean all political activities come to a standstill. Politicians stop being politicians only when you lay them down in their graves. As long as they are still breathing the politicking never stops. It would only be more underground and less visible during Ramadhan, that’s all, but it will continue nevertheless. While Ramadhan is the month you take stock of the previous 11 months of your life and make amends for any ‘shortages’ you may have chalked up, it can also be the month you take stock of your political moves and prepare for Shawal when again all hell can break loose.

Ramadhan will end at the end of October and after the two-week or so Hari Raya festivities, which will bring us to early November, Umno will be facing its Annual General Assembly. This year is not an election year but will still be crucial nevertheless. In November, both Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and previous Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will have to decide, once and for all, who is the Boss who will decide the direction this country is going to go for at least the next decade or so.

At this point of time it is very difficult to gauge who is the hunter and who is the hunted. Is Abdullah Mahathir’s prey or is it the other way around? Battles do not count. You can win many battles but, in the end, he who wins is he who wins the war. No doubt battles are a good yardstick to forecast the eventual winner. Nevertheless, Germany won many battles and sent the Allies packing, but if was the Allies and not Germany who eventually won the war. Such is the reality of the situation.

Kubang Pasu is one such battle and Mahathir lost that battle though the talk behind the scenes is that he wanted to lose that battle as a Red Herring. What better way to expose the true Abdullah than to let him do a dirty on Mahathir. Some are saying what Abdullah did to Mahathir was something very much expected from the likes of Mahathir but never in a million years from a man of Abdullah’s stature. And what stature do they mean? Well, one of a religious scholar, an ulamak, a man of the cloth. The fact that he can resort to underhand and dirty tactics and reduce himself to a street fighter bursts the bubble that Abdullah is a man of Islam.

Is the image of Abdullah as a man of Islam a fact or fallacy? In Mahathir’s days, he would not tolerate any American nuclear ships berthing in a Malaysian port. Since Abdullah took over, the visits by American ships has been all too frequent. Considering that Malaysia is Chairman of the OIC, you would imagine that the last thing Malaysia would want is to allow American ships on the way to or from the Middle East to berth in Malaysia. After all, are not these same ships the ones that are blasting the shit out of the Muslims in the Middle East? And we are not talking about mere terrorists here. We are talking about women and children. Abdullah’s commitment to Islam seems to be suspect. When he met President Bush recently, he ignored the issue and did not raise the matter of the fate of the two Malaysians being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Does he therefore agree that the US detain Malaysian citizens on the allegation that they are Muslim terrorists? Islam is a four-letter word in the west and it looks like Abdullah agrees with this.

Mahathir seems to have many issues to use against Abdullah but he appears to be holding back. In the meantime, Abdullah’s camp is raising many issues against Mahathir and it looks like Abdullah has got Mahathir on the run. The perception is that Abdullah is winning and he may soon have Mahathir trapped in a corner. This will again raise the issue of winning battles versus winning wars. Who is winning the battles and who will win the war?

One thing that Mahathir does not have is a team. This, Abdullah has. When you are in power, there are many who will do your bidding. Such is the advantage of those who walk through the corridors of power. Mahathir himself has admitted he is now all alone. Those who used to kiss his hand, said Mahathir, now will no longer even take his calls, let alone phone him or come to meet him. Anwar Ibrahim found this out the hard way as well. When he was slotted to become the next Prime Minister, there were many who thronged around him. However, the minute he fell from grace, they would not even whisper his name lest someone heard them and reported to the boss that they are Anwar sympathisers.

Anwar fell when he turned against his boss. As far as Mahathir is concerned, “I made you, so I can break you.” And made Anwar he did. And break Anwar he did as well. It must be remembered that Anwar was never Mahathir’s choice. It was Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah who coaxed and eventually managed to persuade Mahathir to bring Anwar into Umno. It was of course to Mahathir’s benefit that he nurtured Anwar and groomed him as the successor. Anwar had Islamic credentials which would be useful against PAS. The Islamic party would be hard-pressed to run Umno down if the likes of Anwar were the number two.

Abdullah is almost like history repeating itself. He too was not the first choice. This, Mahathir said so. But he thought that the real choice, Najib Tun Razak, was still a bit too young so Abdullah should take the chair maybe for a term or two. Abdullah’s Islamic credentials were again useful to fend of any challenge from the only real threat to Umno, PAS. Mahathir did not see Parti Keadilan Rakyat as any threat because it was not a Malay party like Umno or PAS. Furthermore, Mahathir did not consider Anwar seriously committed to the opposition cause. Mahathir suspects that Anwar’s real intention is to go back to Umno, so the opposition is but a stepping stone in achieving this objective.

But how would Anwar go back to Umno? Why would Abdullah want him back in Umno? Would the Umno grassroots agree to Anwar coming back? Would not Anwar be a threat to Abdullah if he was back in Umno?

Sure, Anwar would be a threat to Abdullah. But how much more a threat can he be compared to Mahathir? It is between the devil and the deep blue sea. Better one takes one’s chances in the sea because at least you can swim and you could most probably make it. With the devil you would lose your soul. Anyway, Anwar has an agenda and if this agenda can be met there would at least be some compromise. Anwar is not beyond compromising if there are certain benefits to him. Mahathir, it appears, is beyond compromise, so Anwar would still be the safer bet.

But how would they bring Anwar back to Umno? What mechanism would they use? Surely Anwar would not want to apply to become an Umno member and start all the way from the bottom again and work his way up? And how would the members take this?

The members really do not care a damn one way or another. They all agree that Mahathir is better than Abdullah. They all agree that Abdullah is bad news for Umno and the country. But Abdullah is Prime Minister. Abdullah walks through the corridors of power. Mahathir may be twice or thrice what Abdullah is. But the fact that Abdullah holds the highest office in the land makes him ten times what Mahathir is. It is not the man but the position that counts. Mahathir admits this. Anwar admits this. And Abdullah knows this as well and that is why he does not fear Mahathir. His position alone can beat any man even ten times better than him. That is how it works.

Abdullah will face Mahathir and accept any challenge he throws his way. He will face challenge with challenge. And he knows if all else fails, when the chips are down, he can still play one last card, Anwar Ibrahim. He can bring Anwar back to Umno to deal with Mahathir. And Anwar has many scores to settle with Mahathir. And settle them he will. Anwar need not submit any application to become an Umno member. Anwar need not start from the bottom again and work his way up. He can just continue where he left off, as the Deputy President of Umno and Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. Najib knows this as well. He knows he can lose his job to Anwar with a flicker of any eyelid. And that is why he is very careful about which side he chooses. He may be number two by the grace of Mahathir. He knows that Abdullah did not want him and that it was Mahathir who gave him the job. But he can lose his job to Anwar if Abdullah so chooses.

Mahathir sacked Anwar as Deputy Prime Minister on 1 September 1998. The next day he was sacked as the Deputy President of Umno. But both sackings can be regarded as unconstitutional if someone would like to declare them so. It is whether anyone would like to raise these issues and get them reviewed. The Umno issue has already been previously covered in this column. Anwar was sacked without the benefit of a proper ‘trial’ by Umno’s Disciplinary Board.

No doubt, one can argue that the Umno Supreme Council made this decision and the Supreme Council is the highest body in Umno and above the Disciplinary Board. But the grounds for his sacking can now be questioned even if the manner can be regarded as legitimate. Mahathir said that he had interviewed those people alleged to have had sexual relations with Anwar and he is satisfied beyond any shadow of doubt that Anwar is guilty. He does not need any police investigation or a court trial to convince him that Anwar is guilty, said Mahathir. But the court has now acquitted Anwar from that charge on grounds that the prosecution did not successfully prove his guilt. And is not one innocent until proven guilty? On this score alone, Umno’s Supreme Council can review Anwar’s sacking and turn in a verdict of unjust sacking.

On his sacking as Deputy Prime Minister, again the Federal Constitution of Malaysia comes into play. Mahathir sacked Anwar as the Deputy Prime Minister whereas the appointment of the Prime Minister and the entire Cabinet should be done by the Agong (King). The Prime Minister is appointed by the King from amongst those who command the majority seats in Parliament while all the others, including the Deputy Prime Minister, are appointed by the King on the advice of the Prime Minister. This in short means that the power of hiring and firing lies with the King and not with the Prime Minister. This is clearly spelt out in Article 43 of the Constitution. The King should have sacked Anwar, not Mahathir.

There are moves being made to dig into this matter and to find out whether the King had been ‘advised’ to sack Anwar or whether it was Mahathir who sacked him. Did the King issue any letter terminating Anwar and did Mahathir make the announcement only after this letter had been issued? This does not in any way mean that Anwar will soon be back in Umno as the Deputy President and Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. But it would be a very handy weapon to use against Mahathir. If Mahathir persists, then the Anwar spectre can be raised and used against him. Sometimes the threat is more effective than actually carrying out the threat.

Mahathir of course knows all this. He realises that there is a danger of Anwar being brought back to Umno if he continues to engage Abdullah. Forget about the 1988 judicial crisis and the many other issues under Mahathir’s rule that are presently being resurrected. These are not the killer blows. These are merely small punches to keep Mahathir busy. The knockout punch would be Anwar Ibrahim. This, Abdullah can use if it is the last straw that is needed to break Mahathir’s back. It is the ace up Abdullah’s sleeve. But it is a very dangerous ace that could be the proverbial ‘senjata yang makan tuan’. So Abdullah would have to be very careful before he uses it and he would use it only when absolutely necessary. And it will only be used when Abdullah is certain that Mahathir is more dangerous that Anwar. Currently, both are equally dangerous so Anwar will have to wait in the wings while Abdullah decides whether to make this last move to finish Mahathir off once and for all. And once Abdullah decides, Anwar may yet, again, walk through the corridors of power. But would this instead spell the end of Abdullah?

Article 43

(1) The Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall appoint a Jemaah Menteri (Cabinet of Ministers) to advise him in the exercise of his functions.
(2) The Cabinet shall be appointed as follows, that is to say -
(a) the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall first appoint as Perdana Menteri (Prime Minister) to preside over the Cabinet a member of the House of Representative who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House; and
(b) he shall on the advice of the Prime Minister appoint other Menteri (Ministers) from among the members of either House of Parliament;

but if an appointment is made while parliament is dissolved a person who was a member of the last House of Representatives may be appointed but shall not continue to hold office after the beginning of the next session of Parliament unless, if he has been appointed Prime Minister, he is a member of the new House of Representatives, and in any other case he is a member either of that House or of the Senate.

(3) The Cabinet shall be collectively responsible to Parliament.
(4) If the Prime Minister ceases to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives, then, unless at his request the Yang di-Pertuan Agong dissolves Parliament, the Prime Minister shall tender the resignation of the Cabinet.
(5) Subject to Clause (4), Ministers other than the Prime Minister shall hold office during the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, unless the appointment of any Minister shall have been revoked by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the advice of the Prime Minister but any Minister may resign his office.

posted 10:52 PM

Website - http://www.malaysia-today.net/CorridorsPower/2006/09/hunter-hunted.htm

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