And the most crucial term and condition, which Dr Mahathir announced in a gathering of about 1,000 Umno members in Petaling Jaya, was that the next Prime Minister after Pak Lah would be ‘guided’ by a President’s Council. Who the members of that President’s Council are and who would be heading it was not revealed in that announcement but everyone in the audience was able to guess the answer.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

That Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah) was going to be ousted soon after the 12th General Election of March 2008 is indisputable. That was the game plan. The needling question, though, was: once Pak Lah is ousted, who is going to replace him?

Barisan Nasional was supposed to do ‘not too good’ in that general election -- after Barisan Nasional’s historical and most impressive performance in the March 2004 general election before that. That, too, was part of the game plan. But for that to happen it would have to be an ‘inside job’. And that is a story that has already been told.

And that is why of late the Umno leaders have been warning its members that the party will not tolerate any sabotage in the coming general election. They are worried that history will repeat itself. They know that for Pakatan Rakyat to bring down Barisan Nasional is not too easy, although not impossible. But if internal sabotage is involved, just like in March 2008, then the possibility increases.

The deal struck between Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Pak Lah soon after the former announced his ‘retirement’ during the Umno general assembly in mid-2002 was that the latter would be a one-term Prime Minister. After that he would step down. Furthermore, he would not ‘disturb’ all the projects and programmes that Dr Mahathir had implemented. In short, Pak Lah would keep Dr Mahathir’s ‘legacy’ intact.

However, after taking the reins of power on 1st November 2003, Pak Lah reneged on his word. The first thing he did was he dismantled Dr Mahathir’s ‘monuments’. Then, with a stiff upper lip, he announced that he is not a one-term Prime Minister.

“Who says I am a one-term Prime Minister?” he indignantly asked. He then swore to prove his detractors wrong.

And that was when Dr Mahathir decided that Pak Lah would have to be brought down. But for that to happen it would have to be Umno that brings him down, not the opposition. If it were the opposition that brings him down that would be bad news because it would have meant that Anwar Ibrahim would be taking over as Prime Minister.

Bringing down Pak Lah was just the first step. More important would be who is going to replace him. Dr Mahathir’s main grievance against Pak Lah -- other than his going back on his word regarding Dr Mahathir’s legacy and the serve one-term only -- was Khairy Jamaluddin. By Pak Lah’s own admission, Khairy and his ‘Fourth Floor Boys’ were running the country. Pak Lah admitted this to his close circle of friends; so that was no secret.

Dr Mahathir’s concern (if this matter were not handled properly) was that it would just be an ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’ situation. They oust Pak Lah to be rid of Khairy and end up getting Rosmah Mansor instead when they appoint Najib Tun Razak as successor. How to ensure that they were not merely replacing Khairy with Rosmah -- an even worse proposition?

Dr Mahathir tried to advise Najib that before he can be considered for the job of Prime Minister of Malaysia he would first need to solve the ‘problem’ of Rosmah. Najib may even have to choose between becoming Prime Minister and staying married to Rosmah. Both are not compatible.

This upset Najib who told Dr Mahathir’s ‘emissary’ to butt out of his personal life. His marriage and the matter of his wife were not open to negotiation. Clearly the subject of Rosmah was a sacred cow (no pun intended). Najib made that point very clear.

Najib would have to be taught a lesson. He was beginning to think that his succession was a God-given right and that once Pak Lah steps down he automatically takes over. Najib will have to learn that whomsoever takes over as Prime Minister would be whatever Dr Mahathir decides and there are no two ways about it.

Dr Mahathir then started talking to Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Ku Li) and Dr Mahathir made sure that Najib knew about it. So now Dr Mahathir had two candidates for Prime Minister and successor to Pak Lah -- Najib and Ku Li. Whom it was going to be would all depend on who is prepared to accept the terms and conditions.

And the most crucial term and condition, which Dr Mahathir announced in a gathering of about 1,000 Umno members in Petaling Jaya, was that the next Prime Minister after Pak Lah would be ‘guided’ by a President’s Council. Who the members of that President’s Council are and who would be heading it was not revealed in that announcement but everyone in the audience was able to guess the answer.

Ku Li was adamant that he would not accept the role of ‘proxy’ Prime Minister with a de facto Prime Minister telling him what to do -- so absolutely no President’s Council to ‘guide’ him. If he becomes Prime Minister then he will decide how the country should be run, not someone behind him pulling the strings and telling him what to do.

A few meetings were held between Dr Mahathir and Ku Li and it appeared like the matter was making no progress. Both Dr Mahathir and Ku Li were very stubborn and were not able to put their very large egos aside. There was also the matter of old wounds that had not quite healed.

Finally it ended with both sticking to their guns and refusing to budge. As far as Dr Mahathir was concerned, if Ku Li wanted the job of Prime Minister, he (Ku Li) would have to crawl to him (Dr Mahathir) and beg for it. Ku Li also felt the same way. If Dr Mahathir wants him as Prime Minister he (Dr Mahathir) would have to crawl to him (Ku Li) and beg him (Ku Li) to accept the job.

The matter appeared to have reached a deadlock and those of us caught in the middle who were putting in a lot of effort to make sure that Ku Li and not Najib takes over as Prime Minister were getting quite exasperated. Why won’t one of them remove his chip from his shoulder and kowtow to the other? This matter will never be resolved if both remain stubborn.

When it appeared that Ku Li was not going to play ball, Dr Mahathir reverted to Najib. In that final meeting of many that we had with Ku Li (one meeting where Haris Ibrahim and Malik Imtiaz attended), he told us that it looks like he is already out of the race. Without a doubt Dr Mahathir is going to make Najib the Prime Minister. It is not going to be him (Ku Li) after all. So we will have to come up with a plan on how to torpedo Najib’s chances.

That ‘plan’ offered itself in the form of the revelation by the Deputy Head of the Special Branch of the Military Intelligence regarding Rosmah’s involvement in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder. And it was decided that I would sign a Statutory Declaration regarding the matter (but that is a story I have already related many times so no need to go into all the details again).

The day after my Statutory Declaration was made public, Dr Mahathir summoned Sanusi Junid to his office to ask him whether he had read what I said in my Statutory Declaration. Sanusi said he had not and Dr Mahathir gave him a copy to read (how Dr Mahathir managed to get a copy so fast I do not know until today).

Sanusi just said, “Oh my God! Why did he do this?” and Dr Mahathir replied, “Raja Petra had just broken the legs of our horse. It looks like we will have to look for a new horse.”

But that ‘new horse’, Ku Li, who saw that Najib’s chances of becoming Prime Minister had reduced somewhat, still refused to play ball. Aiyoh, anak Raja ni! Degil sangat!

“Why can’t you just agree to Dr Mahathir’s terms and conditions and once you become Prime Minister you do a U-turn and tell him to go screw himself, like what Pak Lah did?” we asked him.

But then Ku Li is too much of a gentleman to do that. A deal is a deal and once he agrees to something he would never renege on his word. So he would never deceive Dr Mahathir by saying yes and then shaft Dr Mahathir later once he becomes Prime Minister.

Aiyah! Why so honest one? Politics cannot be played like that! Sometimes we need to use tricks and deception. Say yes and grab the job first. Later we can do a dirty on Dr Mahathir. Once you are Prime Minister and power is in your hands what can Dr Mahathir do about it? If he talks too much just arrest him and put him in jail. That is what I would do.

But that is not Ku Li and he refused to play Dr Mahathir for a sucker. That messed up Ku Li’s chances of becoming Prime Minister and, tainted or not, it would have to be Najib who takes over. But before that they would have to discredit my Statutory Declaration.

And that was when they arrested me and charged me for criminal defamation. As much as I protested and explained that I never made any allegation against Rosmah but instead I made an allegation against the Deputy Head of the Special Branch of the Military Intelligence, they still charged me for three counts of criminal defamation.

Once they succeeded in raising doubts as to what they alleged was my accusation against Rosmah, Pak Lah was forced out of office and Najib took over as Prime Minister.

The question now is: is Najib going to remain the Prime Minister or is he on the way out? Of course, if Pakatan Rakyat takes over in the coming general election, certainly Najib would be out. There is no doubt about that. But what if Barisan Nasional manages to hold on to power? Will Najib still remain the Prime Minister or is he going to suffer the same fate as Pak Lah?

I suppose that will have to be another story for another time, if I decide to write it. Anyway, in the meantime stay tuned, in case.