TTF: Datuk Ibrahim Ali implied yesterday that Barisan Nasional paid the price for Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak’s refusal to heed his advice. According to him, the former premier should never have encroached Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s privacy (see news item below, in Malay) and should have stayed focused on 1MDB instead.
Well, let’s see:
1. In 1999, a year after Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim was sacked from government, Mahathir led Barisan National to a comfortable two-thirds win a mere seven months after Anwar was sentenced to jail.
2. The ruling coalition bagged a 148-seat majority despite being scorned by hundreds of thousands of angry citizens who turned up at street rallies demanding that Mahathir resign as Prime Minister.
3. These people were convinced that the Malays and Chinese would deliver Barisan a “Tsunami defeat” during the (then) upcoming 10th general election.
4. However, both the Malays and Chinese stuck on with Barisan despite the chatter in town that Mahathir was anti-Islam and a ruthless dictator.
5. Then, in September 2004, the Federal Court overturned Anwar’s sodomy conviction.
6. The verdict resulted in his release from prison and allowed him to mend ties between PAS and the DAP, then somewhat strained.
7. Anwar cajoled the late Tuan Guru Nik Abdul Aziz Nk Mat into softening PAS’ Islamic State stance and managed to get the DAP, PAS and PKR to align themselves strategically to avoid three cornered fights.
8. The strategy cost Barisan Nasional its two thirds streak during the 2008 general election (GE12).
9. The coalition’s dismal performance was attributed to a Chinese Tsunami that hurt both the MCA and Gerakan badly.
10. It was later theorised that the Chinese had long supported the DAP but were skeptical of its administrative capabilities.
11. According to this theory, the 2008 Tsunami was attributed to Anwar’s release from prison and his willingness to work with the DAP.
12. The Chinese were convinced that the DAP would not mess the economy given Anwar’s experience both as deputy premier and Finance Minister.
Here itself, you can see that the Chinese had long opposed government and were merely tagging along with the MCA and Gerakan to safeguard their interests. Then, the minute Anwar came into the picture, they said their goodbyes to Barisan and blamed UMNO for every ill there was in the country.
But the Malays didn’t budge.
13. Seeing how Anwar was willing to ‘liberalise Islam’ just to accommodate Lim Kit Siang’s fancies, many found him to be a hypocrite and refused to allign themselves with PKR or the DAP.
14. Their aversion towards him became manifest during the 2013 general election when UMNO gained nine parliamentary seats despite Barisan’s poor showing at the poll.
15. The coalition’s poor performance was attributed to a second Chinese Tsunami that saw more and more Chinese aligning themselves with the DAP, PKR and PAS.
16. By the time GE13 was over, Malaysia was split politically into two distinct groups – the nationalists, and the liberalists.
17. The nationalists comprised almost entirely of Malays, while the liberalist group was somewhat capitalistic and dominated by the Chinese.
18. When PPBM came into the picture, the nationalist group saw the new party to be an UMNO surrogate and began seeking reasons to trust Pakatan Harapan.
19. That reason came on the 14th of July 2017 when Dr Mahathir Mohamad was named Pakatan Harapan chairman.
20. The nationalists knew that the old man had stuck a deal with Anwar and would be calling the shots in the coalition.
21. That conviction turned a majority of them into senseless critics who began to blame Najib for the rise in cost of living.
22. Then, the minute Pakatan pledged to abolish GST and tolls, they aligned themselves with Mahathir and decided to teach Najib a lesson.
23. So you see, nothing that Najib could have said or done would have helped Barisan win the election.
24. Contrary to what many an analyst is saying, not even 1MDB was the reason Pakatan whacked Barisan stupid during the 14th general election (GE14).
25. To keep voters angered with Najib, Mahathir deliberately fused 1MDB rhetoric with anti-GST sentiments and spoke extensively about the rise in cost of living.
26. That helped register in the minds of voters that the man who made it very expensive for them to survive “would be punished should Pakatan come to power.”
27. That, in a sense, is how Mahathir stole the 14th general election (GE14).
28. The whole business of raiding Najib’s house isn’t to imply that the former premier “would be punished for looting 1MDB.”
29. On the contrary, the raids were choreographed to have Pakatan supporters believe that “Mahathir will never let Najib go for living the life of a King while the people suffered.”
30. That explains why Mahathir keeps harping on the non-existent “RM1 Trillion debt” and why ‘special’ cameramen are dispatched the minute bags are carted out from condominiums.
31. Yes, either Ibrahim Ali got it all wrong or he’s trying to gain mileage by riding on Najib’s predicament.
32. The fact remains, that nothing he or anyone could have said or done would have prevented Barisan from falling.
33. We have to come to terms with this reality and concede that many of us are still relying on old school logic to analyse new school outcomes.
34. Even I screwed up big time and may actually have helped Mahathir win the election.
35. The more I attacked him, the more his supporters thought of me as a “fat, overpaid writer” who benefitted immensely from the man who “made it very expensive to live in Malaysia.”
36. Even if I had come out to say that I wasn’t being funded, nobody would have believed me.
37. So you see, Mahathir succeeded in turning people like me, RPK, SeaDemon and Lim Sian See into ‘weapons’ that helped him finish Najib off once and for all.
40. As far as Ibrahim Ali is concerned, he was just a very noisy and irritating mosquito in the background that everyone wanted to swat the first chance they got.
KUALA LUMPUR: Presiden Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa (Perkasa), Datuk Ibrahim Ali mendedahkan pernah menegur bekas Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak dan barisan pimpinan UMNO lain agar tidak menyerang peribadi Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
Jelasnya, teguran yang dibuat kira-kira dua tahun lalu itu bagaimanapun ternyata tidak diendahkan Najib sehinggalah kerajaan ditadbir Pakatan harapan.
“Semasa saya jumpa beliau dua ke tiga tahun dulu di mana 1MDB sudah meletup, apabila beliau sebut bahawa Tun Mahathir mengkritik beliau mengenai 1MDB, saya nyatakan kepada beliau Datuk Seri sendirilah yang selesaikan. Cuma saya cakap saya beritahu supaya beritahu pemimpin-pemimpin UMNO dan orang sekeliling supaya jangan serang peribadi Tun Dr Mahathir,” katanya dalam sidang media di Ibu Pejabat Perkasa di ibu negara.
Malah tindakan menyerang Tun Dr Mahathir seolah-olah mengulangi kesilapan yang dilakukan Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
“Semasa zaman pentadbiran Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Tun Mahathir ada membuat teguran, kemudian akhirnya Tun Mahathir dipinggir dan beliau diserang bertubi-tubi pada waktu itu dan kini Datuk Seri Najib mengulangi perkara yang sama,” ujarnya.
Beliau berkata, Najib dan orang sekelilingnya ketika itu sepatutnya membuat teguran secara berhemah terhadap Tun Mahathir.
“Teguran sepatutnya dibuat seperti budaya kita orang Melayu, bukan semberono saja. Keadaan tidak berubah (sepeti zaman Tun Abdullah) kerana bertubi-tubi serangan dibuat ke atas Tun Mahathir.
“Saya jumpa Menteri-menteri ketika itu, saya pun ada sebut jangan maki hamun Tun Mahathir kerana ia akan membawa kepada satu kemusnahan,” tambahnya.
Kata beliau lagi, Najib lupa bahawa rakyat melihat jasa Tun Mahathir tidak terbilang kepada negara.
“Ada menteri yang cukup angkuh, biadap, sombong dan tidak segan serang Tun Mahathir yang menyebabkan ramai marah kepada UMNO dan menolak parti itu pada PRU14,” kata beliau.
Sumber: Astro Awani
