Do not bother telling us what is in the mind of Umno. Tell us what is in your mind. We do not care what Umno is thinking. We want to know what you are thinking. We know Umno and whether it is good or bad we already know. But we do not know you because thus far you are only talking about what is wrong with Umno but not what is right with you.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
A week ago, I wrote “It Is Mahathir, Not Najib, Who Is Panicking” (READ HERE). Today, Free Malaysia Today reported “Mahathir-Anwar alliance causing panic in Umno, says Dr Dzul” (READ BELOW). Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad is PAN’s strategist or strategic director and he either does not know political strategy or he thinks disinformation is good enough to win elections.
Dr Dzulkefly said Umno is in a state of panic and that ‘the strengthening of the formidable legendary duo of Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim was simply mind-blowing to them’.
When you start believing in your own grandeur this is what happens. In the game of propaganda there is one golden rule you must observe: which is do not start believing your own propaganda. Propaganda is meant to con the other person, not to get taken in by your own con. And Dr Dzul is a victim of his own propaganda.
Dr Dzul is taking ‘the absence of comments’ as an indication that Umno is stumped. I would consider the opposite to that if I were in charge of the party’s political strategy. If Umno makes many comments, especially comments that are apologetic or are trying to justify what happened, then you can probably say they are in a state of panic. But if they just keep quiet I would be worried.
If your enemy keeps quiet it is either they do not fear what you say and feel it is not going to have any affect or they are planning something. I would rather my enemy says or does something so that I know what is up their sleeve.
What gave Dr Dzul the impression that ‘the strengthening of the formidable legendary duo of Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim was simply mind-blowing’? Has Dr Dzul not considered the possibility that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak wanted Mahathir and Anwar to go to bed because there will be more negatives than positives in such a move?
Surely Dr Dzul has not forgotten when Parti Keadilan Nasional (PKN) was launched on 4th April 1999 and the formation of Barisan Alternatif seven months later. Dr Dzul was already the ‘brains’ behind PAS then. Dr Dzul also probably remembers that the Barisan Alternatif coalition almost did not happen and at the eleventh hour they were considering going solo because of two reasons.
Dr Dzulkefly must also explain this video because Mahathir has so far never said that Anwar never committed sodomy and that it was all a lie just to put him in jail
One was that DAP wanted PAS to officially announce that it was going to drop its Hudud and Islamic State agenda. PAS refused so DAP wanted to call off the opposition coalition and go for three- or four-corner contests.
Second was that they could not agree on the seat allocation and there were many overlapping seats which PAS, DAP and PKN all wanted and which would have turned the election into three- or four-corner contests with three opposition candidates versus just one from Barisan Nasional.
Finally, to end the impasse, PAS inserted a full-page advertisement in The Star announcing that PAS was NOT going to implement Hudud or turn Malaysia into an Islamic State if Barisan Alternatif were to win the November 1999 general election and gets to form the new federal government. They also promised to arrest all those who have robbed the country and make them pay for their crimes, such as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
So, from the word go, PAS, DAP and PKN never got along well. Nevertheless, they still formed a coalition because they had a common enemy to defeat. And this enemy was Mahathir. PKN would not have existed if not because of Mahathir. Barisan Alternatif would also not have existed if not because of Mahathir. Basically PKN and Barisan Alternatif were anti-Mahathir movements.
READ MORE HERE
