The move to oust Azmin started in 2013
So, in 2013, Anwar’s move to oust Azmin started and in 2016 Mahathir made sure Anwar lost his appeal and got sent to jail. Now, fast-forward to September 2018. Does not what’s been going on since 2013 between Azmin and Mahathir give you a hint as to whether Anwar is going to take over as Malaysia’s Eighth Prime Minister in May 2020? The many pieces in this jigsaw certainly give an impression we have not seen the full tapestry yet.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
In December 2016, Anwar Ibrahim lost his appeal and was sent to jail for sodomy. He was supposed to have served at least 40 months of his 60 months jail sentence and would have been freed by April 2020.
Nevertheless, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad freed Anwar soon after GE14 on 9th May 2018 — two years earlier than scheduled — as part of the deal for PKR making him the Prime Minister. The deal Mahathir made with DAP is that Lim Guan Eng would be acquitted of the corruption charge he was facing.
Now, when you want to establish a motive, you first need to establish the timeline. The timeline can reveal the motive of any action that is taken and prove or disprove ‘criminal intent’.
Rafizi Ramli’s The Kajang Move backfired when Azmin Ali became the new Selangor Menteri Besar instead
Rafizi Ramli’s The Kajang Move was planned in 2013 but happened after the Kajang State Assemblyman, Lee Chin Cheh, resigned on 27th January 2014.
On 26th August 2014, Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim offered to resign to make way for Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to take over as the new Selangor Menteri Besar.
On 23rd September 2014, Azmin Ali was sworn in as the new Selangor Menteri Besar. PKR and DAP wanted Wan Azizah as the new Menteri Besar but PAS supported Azmin.
Azmin got the post, much to the chagrin of DAP, who then decided to kick PAS out of Pakatan Rakyat to punish them for supporting Azmin instead of Wan Azizah.
Lim Kit Siang was so angry Azmin became the new Selangor Menteri Besar that he kicked PAS out of Pakatan Rakyat
Now, the impression given is that Rafizi Ramli is challenging Azmin Ali because he had ‘hijacked’ the Selangor Menteri Besar’s post from Wan Azizah and had used the Selangor Palace and PAS to achieve this.
In other words, it was Azmin who started this whole thing.
This is actually not true.
In December 2013, Saifuddin went up to Manchester to discuss the possibility of Malaysia Today publishing dirt on Azmin, which he would supply
In December 2013, Saifuddin Nasution (PKR) met Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar (the current PAS Menteri Besar of Terengganu), Mustafa Ali (PAS), Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (the Deputy President of PAS), Dr Syed Azman Syed Ahmad Nawawi (then with PAS and now with Amanah), Saifuddin Abdullah (then with Umno and now with PKR) and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (the current Umno President) in London.
The meeting was arranged by Anwar Ibrahim and the purpose of the meeting was to launch a new Unity Government with Barisan Nasional, PAS, and PKR — but without DAP. The PAS President, Abdul Hadi Awang, however, opposed the idea and the Unity Government failed to take off.
After that London meeting, Saifuddin Nasution came up to Manchester to meet me where he stayed the night. The purpose of the Manchester meeting was to discuss how to bring down Azmin Ali. Saifuddin would provide all the dirt on Azmin and Malaysia Today would run the stories. The impression that Saifuddin gave was that Anwar either endorsed this or had requested it.
I have great respect for and am very close to my old boss, Kamarul Baharin Abbas, who in turn is very close to Azmin. I knew if I attacked Azmin, Kamarul would not be pleased and I did not want that. So I refused to take up that assignment.
Anwar arranged a meeting with Umno, PAS and PKR in London in December 2013 to discuss the setting up or a Unity Government that would not include DAP
The point to all this is, as early as 2013, Saifuddin, Rafizi and Anwar (plus Wan Azizah and Nurul Izzah) were already plotting to get rid of Azmin. In December 2013, The Kajang Move had not happened yet and Azmin was not yet the Selangor Menteri Besar. All this happened between January and September 2014. But the move to oust Azmin had already started in 2013.
So, what happened?
In 2016, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad asked Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to lead the prosecution against Anwar and to make sure he gets sent to jail. Mahathir was not confident that the Attorney-General, Gani Patail, can succeed and Mahathir cannot afford for Anwar to walk free.
The perception they created is that it was Najib Tun Razak who wanted Anwar in jail. The truth is, it was Mahathir and not Najib who wanted Anwar in jail. That was why Mahathir asked Shafee to handle Anwar’s prosecution.
So, in 2013, Anwar’s move to oust Azmin started and in 2016 Mahathir made sure Anwar lost his appeal and got sent to jail. Now, fast-forward to September 2018. Does not what’s been going on since 2013 between Azmin and Mahathir give you a hint as to whether Anwar is going to take over as Malaysia’s Eighth Prime Minister in May 2020? The many pieces in this jigsaw certainly give an impression we have not seen the full tapestry yet.
