So, yes, our job is to topple the government. Let’s not deny that and be apologetic about it. And there are many ways to topple the government. Some of you may choose one way while I may choose another way. To each his own! If you think that you can achieve this through the ballot box then carry on and try to do that. And if you think that we need Bersih rallies to achieve that then also carry on and do that as well.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Mustapa: Priority is to topple PAS-led govt in Kelantan

(The Star) - The Barisan Nasional's candidate for the mentri besar's post in Kelantan has not been determined, state Umno chief Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said.

Stressing that the priority was to topple the PAS state government, he said he would work hard to carry out his responsibilities and achieve the objective of a Barisan victory.

Asked if he would be defending his Jeli parliamentary seat or contesting a state seat, Mustapa said no decision had been made.

“I do not know yet as the list has not been finalised,” he told reporters after attending the monthly meeting of the state Fire and Rescue Department here yesterday.

Kelantan has been under PAS rule since 1990.

Mustapa, who is International Trade and Industry Minister, said he had helped initiate federal projects in Kelantan to ensure the people would not be deprived of development.

“The Federal Government has never sidelined Kelantan and this can be seen from the projects which have been implemented,'' he said.

Mustapa also said that the Federal Government had allocated RM250mil to build six new government buildings in Kota Baru.

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If I were asked whom from Umno I would respect I would probably name Mustapa Mohamed as one of them. And my reason for respecting him is because he can be regarded as quite a gentleman (in fact, I wish he was in PAS instead of Umno).

I first knew Mustapa back in the days when he was Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin’s Political Secretary. When Daim resigned and Anwar Ibrahim was appointed the successor, Mustapha was made the Deputy Minister of Finance.

I always suspected that Mustapa’s appointment as Anwar’s deputy was at Daim’s request and was a move to keep a close watch on Anwar. Daim never trusted Anwar although they both had a very close ‘working’ relationship. Nevertheless, their close working relationship made them allies.

Daim had his deals and as long as Anwar, as the new Finance Minister, did not ‘disturb’ Daim’s deals then Anwar could do his own deals and Daim would reciprocate by not disturbing Anwar’s deals.

It was a sort of live and let live policy. You do your thing and I do mine. You do not infringe my territory and I will also not infringe yours. Only when they start hijacking each other’s deals would there be problems. However, since there are so many opportunities available they could each pursue their own thing without needing to steal each other’s projects.

This close-one-eye policy worked well. Daim had his cronies and nominees and Anwar had his. So they could each focus on their own interests with many opportunities still left to go around.

The only problem is Daim picked established businessmen that were already millionaires in their own right and turned them into billionaires. Anwar, however, did not have this same pool of people to work with and most of those he picked did not have the financial resources to fund their multi-million projects. So in the end they had to turn to Daim’s cronies and nominees and that meant Anwar’s deals finally ended up in Daim’s hands.

I suppose the saying that money makes money holds true here. And if you have no money then you have to turn to those who have. And in this case those who have money were already in Daim’s team. Hence you have to go back to Daim if you want to see your projects get off the ground.

And while Daim and Anwar carved up the country, Mustapa sat there as the Deputy Finance Minister and watched with great interest, wondering when this marriage of convenience between Anwar and Daim would eventually break down.

Mustapa knew that his role was to play watchdog over Anwar. But he kept his nose clean and his fingers out of the till. Even when he lost the 1999 general election he accepted it with grace. When it was clear that he was going to lose his Jeli seat by about 700 votes he refused the offer of 2,000 military-postal votes to help him win (which means he would have won by 1,300 votes).

He does not want to win through fraud, he said. If he wins it must be on a fair basis. Najib Tun Razak too lost that 1999 election by 1,800 votes. And the 2,000 military-postal votes helped him win the Pekan seat with a majority of about 200 votes.

And that is what makes me respect Mustapa. How many Barisan Nasional or Umno people would reject an offer to help them win the election with the aid of military-postal votes?

Anyway, what I really want to talk about today is what Mustapa said in the The Star news report above. The priority is to topple the PAS state government, he said, and he would work hard to carry out his responsibilities and achieve the objective of a Barisan victory.

That is an honest statement from Mustapa. The objective or priority is to topple the government. And that is what politics is all about: toppling governments. Mustapa never pretended that the priority is to serve the people or whatever. It is to topple the government.

So why is Barisan Nasional making so much noise about the opposition’s objective of trying to topple the government? Of course this is what the opposition is trying to do, to topple the government. That is what political parties do -- topple governments. Mustapa has admitted that. It is time that all the others admit it as well.

If you are in politics then it is with only one aim in mind. And that would be to grab power. And to grab power you need to topple the government in power. So let’s stop being apologetic about it. Let’s stop bullshitting and pretend that our objective is to serve the people. It is not to serve the people. It is to topple the government. It is to grab power.

And this is why most politicians are hypocrites and cannot be trusted. They lie to us and tell us that they just want to serve the people. Podah! No politician wants to serve the people. They only want power. And they try to gain power by toppling governments.

At least I am honest about it. When asked why I make so much noise and scream from the outside instead of entering politics and contest the elections, I reply it is because I am not interested in power. You can’t serve the people in politics. You have to grab power by toppling governments.

Sure, I too want to topple the government. I make no secret of that. I am not apologetic about that. I do not pretend and deny that this is my objective and that I merely want to serve the rakyat. I want to topple the government in any way that I can.

Of course, there are many ways to topple the government. You can do it through the ballot box. You can do it through a coup. You can do it through an armed revolution. You can do it though insurgency. You can also do it through civil disobedience. It all depends on what you are faced against. Sometimes it can work through the ballot box. Sometimes you need guns to achieve that.

Can Malaysia achieve a change of government through the ballot box? Maybe and maybe not! It all depends on how many percentage of the voters vote for the opposition. If it is 50:50 then it will not happen. If the opposition garners about 60% of the popular votes then it may happen. But can the opposition garner 60% of the popular votes?

So, yes, our job is to topple the government. Let’s not deny that and be apologetic about it. And there are many ways to topple the government. Some of you may choose one way while I may choose another way. To each his own! If you think that you can achieve this through the ballot box then carry on and try to do that. And if you think that we need Bersih rallies to achieve that then also carry on and do that as well.

This is almost like religion. Some of you feel that Christianity is the road to salvation. Others may disagree and may choose Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism or whatever. We all choose our own road to salvation and which you may consider actually a road to damnation rather than salvation.

The same applies to politics. While some of you have your preference in how you feel political change can be achieved this does not mean I must agree with you. You can scream ‘ABU’. You can scream ‘Bersih’. You can scream ‘GE’. You can scream anything you want. Just don’t expect me to also scream the same -- just like you scream ‘Jesus Christ’ and this does not mean I will also scream the same.

The trouble is you have your ideas on what needs to be done to see change in Malaysia. And you cannot accept that I may not agree with your views. And because I do not agree with your views you get angry and start becoming very insolent. Do I curse you because you believe Jesus Christ is your saviour? That is your belief. I also do not curse you when you believe that ABU is the country’s saviour.

Just like I may not believe that Jesus Christ is my saviour (in fact, I may not even believe that Jesus Christ existed just like in the case of King Arthur or Robin Hood) I may also not believe that ABU is the saviour of the country. And while I resent you forcing your belief of Jesus on me I will also resent you forcing your belief of ABU on me.

And if you try to force your Christian belief on me I will resist you profusely just like I will resist you profusely if you try to force your ABU beliefs on me. If you think that Jesus will guarantee you paradise then well and fine. Go on believing that if it makes you happy. And if you cling to ABU and think that Malaysia will become paradise on earth if we kick Umno out, then carry on believing that as well if that also makes you happy. Just don’t get upset because I reject all these beliefs of yours.