THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Hence winning the general election has never been a worry for Umno or the Prime Ministers since the time of Merdeka. It is the internal Umno party elections that give the Umno Presidents cum Prime Ministers sleepless nights. And Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (and now Najib) all felt this heat. (Tun Razak Hussein died ‘early’ before the heat could build up).

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Hence we are going to see a battle to decide not only the new Umno leadership but the direction Umno is to take over these next four or five years leading to the 14th General Election. Those who feel that Umno needs to appeal to the middle ground will back Najib. Those who feel that Najib has ‘sold out’ to the non-Malays will oppose him.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Therefore, for all intents and purposes, it was Dr Mahathir who appointed Najib as the Deputy Prime Minister and not Pak Lah who did so. Pak Lah did not ‘confirm’ Dr Mahathir’s announcement until the following day. Pak Lah really had no choice in the matter after Dr Mahathir had publicly ‘thanked’ him for ‘agreeing’ to appoint Najib as the Deputy Prime Minister.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

And that is the parody of these people. They give a different public image from what they really are. For example both Dr Mahathir and Anwar are republicans and anti-Monarchy. In private and during closed-door meetings they will whack the Monarchy. Publicly, they will whack those who whack the Monarchy.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Hence DAP and PAS did not do too badly in the votes versus seats comparison. It is PKR’s performance that upset these figures. And this is because DAP contested in the predominantly Chinese areas and PAS in the predominantly Malay areas while PKR contested in the ‘mixed’ areas. Hence Pakatan Rakyat’s performance in the mixed areas was not that good, thus bringing down Pakatan Rakyat’s performance.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Malaysia cannot depend on just one source of income -- Petronas. But then even Malaysians (Chinese in particular, but Indians and Malays as well) are moving their money to other countries (and not all is ‘dirty’ money but are legitimate investments). Some are even coming to the UK and billions are being invested here (some of them are my personal friends). How long can this go on before something breaks?

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The whacking of Najib’s brother is the beginning of an onslaught that we are going to see against Najib. And do not clap and cheer too early. If Najib does fall, and unless someone from Pakatan Rakyat takes over, you may not like the alternative to Najib. You may, not long after that, be reminiscing about the ‘good old days’ when Najib was Prime Minister.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

In fact, if you look at ‘Point 1’ of the Agreement, Sabah does not have any State religion. This would mean Islam is not the official religion of Sabah. And this would also mean, if a Muslim lives in Sabah, he or she can leave Islam and become a Christian or Atheist or whatever and there is nothing the government can do about it (unlike in West Malaysia where they can).

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Umno leaders also realized that the British required inter-ethnic cooperation before a further political transition would take place. The Chinese on their part were forced to be restrained in their demands because the Emergency, which was seen as supported largely by Chinese, had placed the community under a political cloud. And after the 1955 elections when they had less seats than Umno, they realized that their bargaining position was weaker. There must be appreciation that the Constitution was drawn up in a context of compromise and consensus so as to forge a united front in the fight for independence. Today there is an urgency to retrieve and regain that spirit of mutual respect and understanding to build a cohesive Malaysia that can thrive in an increasingly globalising and competitive world.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

By Lee Kam Hing, CPI (7 February 2010)

The Umno-MCA alliance could have turned out to be no more than a temporary arrangement of convenience. Given that the first real electoral contest took place in Kuala Lumpur which was largely Chinese-majority, Umno found it necessary to work with MCA to defeat its rival, the IMP. Had elections been held elsewhere where Chinese votes were insignificant, there might not have been a reason for Umno to seek a Chinese electoral partner. Nevertheless in 1952 it was more than just electoral battles that led Umno and MCA to work together. They now had to forge a common front to negotiate with the British on constitutional change.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

By Lee Kam Hing, CPI (6 February 2010)