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Saturday, 26-Jun-2004 11:43 AM Save the captain, sink the ship Yesterday, Malaysiakini, Malaysia’s first and foremost online news portal, carried a story entitled ‘Election petitions ‘deal’ still shrouded in mystery’. The story, which was written by Roshan Jason, said: Confusion abounds over the ‘deal’ between Umno and PAS to forego their election petitions in Terengganu and Kelantan. PAS vice-president Mustafa Ali today also fails to shed any light on the mystery by claiming ignorance over the matter. "As far as I know, there are no deals between leaders from PAS and BN in Terengganu and we are leaving it in the hands of the courts," he said when contacted. Yesterday, Prime Minister and Umno chief Abdullah Ahmad Badawi declined to comment on the issue. On Monday, an exclusive report by Malaysiakini stated that both parties had reached a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ not to pursue their respective election petitions in both these states except for the Pasir Puteh parliamentary seat. On Wednesday the Kota Bahru high court struck out nine election petitions filed by both BN and PAS challenging the outcome of seven state seats and two parliamentary seats in Kelantan. However, the court awarded the Pasir Puteh seat to BN because the Election Commission official had announced the wrong candidate as the winner on polling night. This was not disputed by PAS. The Terengganu election court is due to hear the eight election petitions submitted by PAS and one by BN on July 4. Meanwhile, PAS Youth chief Salahuddin Ayub claimed that he was misquoted by a Malay online daily pertaining to the issue. "The press will have their own interpretation of the things that are said. I am fully aware of that and accept it," he said, choosing his words carefully. "However, I merely suggested to the press that perhaps after the petitions were submitted to the court, the lawyers from both parties saw certain weaknesses in the case and like any legal proceedings, sometimes there are out of court settlements. "I made these statements as a politician making political deductions and assumptions," added the MP for Kubang Kerian. In a report today, AgendaDaily quoted Salahuddin as confirming that both Umno and PAS have agreed to forego their election petitions. On the possible outcome for the election petitions in Terengganu, the PAS leader predicted that the court would strike them out. In the March 21 polls, BN staged a major upset by re-capturing Terengganu from PAS and almost clinching the opposition party’s bastion state, Kelantan. With the election petitions struck out, PAS will continue to rule Kelantan for another term with its wafer-thin three-seat majority. I suppose this turn of events is certainly most puzzling and a mystery to the boys and girls in Malaysiakini. And the fact that many top PAS and Umno leaders from both Terengganu and Kelantan do not seem to really know what is going on and are making conflicting statements does not help matters much. Well, the truth is, some ‘hands’ in Umno are merely trying to save the captain by sinking the ship. And both PAS as well as Umno are extremely unhappy about this state of affairs. The so-called deal was struck between two individuals in the two parties without the knowledge of the party or the top party leadership. But seeing that it is now a fait accompli, not many can do anything about it. What is actually going on is as follows: Mustapa Mohamed, the head of Umno Kelantan, won the Jeli Parliamentary seat in Kelantan (P30) by 16,960 votes against PAS’ Mohd Apandi Mohamad who won by only 9,607 votes. (Incidentally, for those who may have forgotten, Mohd Apandi is one of those opposition Parliamentarians who was recently indicted for allegedly falsifying his claims and is presently awaiting trial). PAS, however, is challenging Mustapa’s win in court and it has evidence that Mustapa abused his authority by using a certain government agency to campaign in the election. With this evidence, it is apparent PAS will win the court case and Mustapa would be disqualified. Now, this is just not on as far as Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah) is concerned. Pak Lah summoned Mustapa and asked him whether the allegation of abuse of authority is true and whether PAS really has a case against him. Sheepishly, Mustapa admitted his guilt. He did abuse his authority and PAS does have evidence of this. With this evidence, PAS will certainly win its case and Mustapa has a good chance of being disqualified. This frightened Pak Lah. Not only will Mustapa now be disqualified and the Jeli Parliamentary seat fall into the hands of PAS, but Mustapa would also have to resign as the Umno Kelantan head which would probably then see the end of his political career. Pak Lah cannot afford this. He needs Mustapa to continue heading Umno Kelantan where he can then use this position to further his political career. Pak Lah wants Mustapa to contest the Umno Vice President’s post in September this year and possibly, by 2007 -- if he makes it into one of the three Vice President’s post -- the Umno Deputy President’s post. But if he is disqualified as the Jeli Parliamentarian and has to resign in disgrace as the Umno Kelantan head, then all these plans would be shattered. The Umno Deputy President’s post is currently vacant and is being ‘temporarily’ held by the Acting Deputy President, Najib Tun Razak, who is also the Acting Deputy Prime Minister. But there is absolutely nothing in common between Pak Lah and Najib. Even their wives hate each other and cannot stand being in the same room. If one walks in, the other would look for an excuse to walk out. This is the extent of the bad blood between Malaysia’s Number One and Number Two. If Pak Lah and Najib despise each other so much, why then is Najib Pak Lah’s second-in-command? Pak Lah did not appoint Najib as the Number Two. Ex-Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad did. And Pak Lah is hopping mad about it. Dr Mahathir in fact had hinted he would prefer Najib as the Number Two. Pak Lah, however, ignored the hint and refused to appoint Najib as the Deputy Prime Minister. After a period of dilly-dallying, Dr Mahathir got so impatient that he announced, on behalf of Pak Lah, that Najib was the new Acting Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. Pak Lah was caught off guard. He did not suspect Dr Mahathir would pull the rug from under his feet. But now that Dr Mahathir has announced Najib as the new Number Two, he has no choice but to reluctantly go along with it. Pak Lah would like to get rid of Najib. But he cannot do it by just sacking him (like how Dr Mahathir did with Anwar Ibrahim) and appoint a replacement. It must be done through the political process. So, someone must be fielded against Najib and this ‘nominee’ must do the job of sacking Najib by challenging the post of the Deputy President of Umno. And this man Pak Lah has in mind, possibly by the year 2007 (if he wins one of the three Umno Vice President’s post this September), is Mustapa. Mustapa must get rid of Najib and replace him as the Umno Deputy President and simultaneously the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. To help Mustapa along, if he wins a Vice President’s seat, Pak Lah would probably appoint him as the Finance Minister. But this is not all. There are two other reasons why Pak Lah wants Mustapa as his ‘running mate’. The second reason has to do with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Ku Li). Pak Lah suspects Ku Li might challenge him for the Umno Presidency. And Ku Li’s home base is Kelantan, the state that Mustapa is heading. If Pak Lah can help Mustapa consolidate his position in Kelantan, then Mustapa can neutralise Ki Li. If, however, Mustapa loses his court case and gets disqualified, this will weaken him, which in turn will make Ku Li stronger. So, to weaken Ku Li in Kelantan, Mustapa must be defended at all costs and Pak Lah has to ensure he stays on as the Jeli Parliamentarian and head of Umno Kelantan. And there is yet a third reason why Mustapa is important to Pak Lah. Pak Lah’s son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin, wants to contest the Umno Youth Deputy Presidency this September. And he is tipped to win uncontested as no one else dares vie for this seat since Khairy wants it. In 2007, Khairy would go for the Umno Youth Chief post. By then he would be only 31 years old. Pak Lah hopes, by then, Mustapa would challenge Najib for the Umno Deputy Presidency. With Mustapa as the new Umno Deputy President and his son-in-law as the Umno Youth Chief, Pak Lah would be secure. No one can then shake him from the Presidency and he can continue as Malaysia’s Prime Minister. To add icing to the cake, Mustapa and Khairy get along very well. Mustapa would go out of this way to serve Khairy’s interest. So, Khairy too is going out of his way to look after Mustapa’s interest. It is certainly a case of each watching the other’s back. And this puzzling and mysterious deal between Umno and PAS on the election petitions was a Khairy engineered deal. He and a certain second-level PAS leader with very strong links to the top party hierarchy sat down to hammer out the deal. Many of the top leaders in both PAS and Umno were not even aware that the deal was being struck. And the deal is for both PAS and Umno to withdraw their election petitions against each other and maintain status quo. The benefit would be:
In this deal, Mustapa, Khairy and Pak Lah are the winners. PAS Kelantan too, to a certain extent, benefits as it can continue to rule the state (and that is why the second-level PAS leader involved in the negotiations comes from Kelantan and is said to be tipped to replace Nik Aziz as the next Chief Minister). The losers are PAS Terengganu and Umno Kelantan. PAS Terengganu and Umno Kelantan are therefore extremely unhappy with this deal. Not only is this a ‘private’ arrangement between certain individuals for their personal benefit but the party and the top leadership were neither a party to the deal nor did they endorse it. This is clearly a case of saving the captain by sinking the ship. And the captain that is being saved here is Mustapa while the ships that are being allowed to sink are Umno Kelantan and PAS Terengganu. There is a danger of a revolt in the ranks. Many know this deal is merely meant to save Mustapa’s neck. But that is still not the ultimate objective. Mustapa’s neck is being saved so that Pak Lah can insulate himself from Ku Li and Khairy can climb the ladder super-fast. Pak Lah is not going to be Prime Minister forever. In ten years or so, he will have to move aside and Mustapa can then take over as the new Prime Minister (if he makes it into the Deputy’s post by unseating Najib in 2007). Khairy, not yet even 40 by then, can then become the Deputy Prime Minister. Yes, there is more than meets the eye in this very puzzling and unexpected deal between Umno and PAS on withdrawing their elections petitions against each other. It has nothing to do with the general election. It is engineered to ensure Pak Lah remains the Prime Minister unchallenged and that his son-in-law is given a clear path to ascend the throne ten years or so from now, starting as the Deputy to Mustapa. Well, that is politics for you. You make a deal with your ‘enemies’ and kill your ‘friends’ if that can further your political career.
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