If Pakatan Harapan wants to gain any new ground they will need a new and bigger issue to replace the DoJ-1MDB issue. They cannot hope to carry this issue for another year into the next general election. And what happens if by the next general election that “new and bigger issue to replace the DoJ-1MDB issue” is the RCI report on Bank Negara’s US$10 billion forex losses? Something to think about, is it not?
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Next month Pakatan Harapan is going to embark upon a three-month roadshow to ‘explain’ to Malaysians the US Department of Justice (DoJ) announcement of 15th June 2017 plus the earlier one of 20th July 2016. It is going to be a ‘high-powered delegation’ of party leaders who will be shooting with both guns blazing.
Basically, Pakatan Harapan is worried that over the recent Hari Raya weekend no one talked about DoJ, 1MDB or Rosmah Mansor’s jewellery. They did, however, talk about the fuel price, cost of living, etc. The ‘upper crust’ talked about the latest Chanel and about how nice Santorini is this time of the year.
The latest DoJ announcement was supposed to have sent shockwaves throughout the country and convince Malaysians that what Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said is true: which is RM42 billion of 1MDB’s money had disappeared into thin air. (Mahathir later changed his statement and said that the figure could even be more than RM50 billion). But then the DoJ did not mention this figure of RM42 billion.
What Mahathir should do is to use this three-month roadshow to explain to Malaysians why he said RM42 billion (or more than RM50 billion) was stolen from 1MDB when it was not. Was Mahathir lying to the nation or did someone lie to Mahathir? If Mahathir did lie did he think he could get away with it?
When Mahathir first launched his attack on Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in December 2014 — using the 1MDB issue as the weapon of attack — he thought that Najib would be out within six months or so. People would be outraged that Najib stole RM42 billion of 1MDB’s money and they would kick him out. By the time they discover that Mahathir had lied, and RM42 billion was not stolen from 1MDB after all, it would be too late to do anything. By then Najib would be ousted and Muhyiddin Yassin would be the new Prime Minister with Mukhriz Mahathir as his Deputy.
It is like the Iraq-WMD matter. By the time people discover that Saddam Hussein was not building and hiding WMDs it no longer matters. Iraq would be hancur and Saddam would be dead and the US would be in control of Iraq. So the US lied, so what? Iraq is still finished and there is nothing you can do about it.
If Najib had been ousted within six months, as planned, then it really does not matter whether people find out later the allegation that Najib stole RM42 billion of 1MDB’s money is a lie. Even if you find out later that it is a lie so what? Najib is out and you cannot bring him back as Prime Minister. Tough luck for Najib, just like tough luck for Saddam.
But then it did not happen within six months like what was planned. More than 30 months later and Najib is still in power. The July 2015 coup failed. The October 2015 coup failed. The December 2015 coup failed. The July 2016 coup failed. And now the June 2017 coup appears to be failing as well. Five scud missiles and Najib survived them all. Najib appears to have more lives than a cat.
The trouble with coups is they must be swift and final. Coups cannot go on and on with no ending in sight. The July 2015 coup was supposed to be over in a matter of days. However, before they could strike, Najib struck first and beheaded the main players. Then Najib very cleverly neutralised the October and December coups as well by destroying the aircraft as it was still taxiing on the runway and before it could take off.
Mahathir then spent many months and a lot of money on the fourth coup, the July 2016 DoJ announcement. That was supposed to be the final nail in Najib’s coffin. But then not only did it not turn out to be the final nail in Najib’s coffin but Mahathir could not even get Najib to get into the coffin. How to nail the coffin if the victim refuses to lie down in the coffin?
Basically it was a blunder that Tun Daim Zainuddin and Kadir Jasin made. As soon as the DoJ announcement is made they were supposed to go to town with the matter and make it a grand media event. But the media event was supposed to be a surprise bash and a sneak attack on Najib. Kadir, however, stupidly let the cat out of the bag and Najib’s Boffin Boys found out. So, yet again, Najib’s Boffin Boys destroyed the aircraft as it was still taxiing on the runway and before it could take off.
Mahathir was furious. That is why he did not allow Daim and Kadir to handle the second DoJ matter this month. This time he asked Cynthia Gabriel, Matthias Chang, Sivarasa Rasiah and Clare Rewcastle Brown to handle the post-DoJ announcement publicity. And that is the reason the airwaves are now crackling with the story about the DoJ announcement of two weeks ago.
READ MORE HERE
