Raja Petra Kamarudin: Najib Razak’s “top blogger”
So, yes, by 2015 I had transformed into what the Pakatan Harapan Chinese call “Najib’s Top Blogger”. But then, by 2015, Najib was a friend of PAS while Pakatan Harapan was bent on destroying PAS. And, in politics, an enemy of my enemy is my friend. Now, which part of that doctrine do the Pakatan Harapan Chinese not understand?
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Suara Tian Chua a.k.a. Malaysia Chronicle calls me “Najib’s Top Blogger”. I suppose that was meant as an insult but if you look at the reverse side of the coin (and a coin has two sides) it can also be taken as a compliment since that sort of places me as number one on the list.
Come to think of it, what list? There is no list of “Najib Bloggers”. I’m the only one. So, Suara Tian Chua a.k.a. Malaysia Chronicle should not call me “Najib’s Top Blogger”. They should call me “Najib’s One and Only Blogger”. I am “Najib’s Top Blogger” because I am “Najib’s One and Only Blogger”.
Anyway, that is the trouble with these Pakatan Harapan Chinese such as those from Suara Tian Chua a.k.a. Malaysia Chronicle. They are so myopic in their views. On the one side we have DAP people like TK Chua condemning the Malays for being too religious and for not being materialistic enough. On the other hand, we have PKR people like Suara Tian Chua a.k.a. Malaysia Chronicle looking at things from just one dimension.
Pakatan Harapan Chinese are very myopic
Apalah semua Cina ni! Bukalah sikit mata dan hati. Jangan jadi macam katak di bawah tempurung. Kalau tidak, dunia ini akan dilihat kecil dan sempit.
I became a PAS supporter soon after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. At that time Abdul Hadi Awang was not yet famous and was just about to become popular. The Islamic Revolution in Iran also triggered what can be said to be an “Islamic Revival”.
Many of us were awed by this “Islamic Revival” and we abandoned our beer in exchange for the Qur’an. My wife, Marina Lee, and I called in an Ustaz to teach us how to read the Qur’an and within a few months we were already reciting the Qur’an every night from Maghrib to Isyak plus just before the Subuh prayers after our Tahajjud prayers.
It was a sort of total transformation or U-turn. But that was what the “Islamic Revival” in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution of 1979 did to many of us.
The 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran transformed many of us and we exchanged our beer for the Qur’an
When Anwar Ibrahim abandoned the ABIM caused and defected to Umno in 1982, we, too, abandoned him. That was the same year I performed my first Haj (I went to Mekah nine more times after that) — and that was also when I joined the anti-Saudi Arabia/anti-US demonstration in Mekah organised by the Iranian pilgrims.
In 1983, the ABIM boys in Terengganu asked us to support Anwar in his bid to contest the Umno Youth leadership and we did. But we supported Anwar not because of Anwar but because of ABIM. In fact, while we supported Anwar, we also condemned him.
It was the cause and not Anwar who we cared about. Anwar could go to hell as far as we were concerned and many ABIM people felt the same way (at least as far as the East Coast states were concerned).
In 1993, when Anwar became the Deputy Prime Minister, we broke off from him totally. We could no longer support someone who spent RM600 million to become the Deputy Prime Minister. That was political corruption of the highest level.
Anwar used PAS to become famous as an “Islamic firebrand” and then betrayed PAS by defecting to Umno
From then on, for the next six years, we became Anwar’s greatest critic, right up to 1999.
When Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad sacked and jailed Anwar in September 1998, many of us did not care. I did not come out to support him or join in the anti-Mahathir demonstrations (a.k.a. “Reformasi” demonstrations). I mean, those so-called “Reformasi” demonstrations were as much about reforms as a prostitute protesting against sex before marriage.
Then, on 4th April 1999, they launched Parti Keadilan Nasional (PKN). I spoke to some friends in PAS and they said we should find ways to work with PKN since they would be able to attract ex-Umno members and sympathisers, something that PAS would never be able to do.
In short, PAS could use PKN to split Umno and then get the Umno dissidents to defect. Hence, if PAS and Umno had an “understanding”, electoral pact, alliance or coalition, PAS could benefit from it indirectly since directly the Umno dissidents would never defect to PAS.
The launching of the Reformasi movement in September 1998 meant PAS could now be taken to the next level of national politics
That was how we ended up becoming friends of PKN and/or Anwar. And when PSM and DAP also joined the new coalition called Barisan Alternatif (BA), it suited us well because now it meant we could also tap the non-Malay voter bank.
So, we did NOT become PKN, DAP, PSM, BA or Anwar supporters because we loved PKN, DAP, PSM, BA or Anwar. We became PKN, DAP, PSM, BA or Anwar supporters because we loved PAS. And, supporting PKN, DAP, PSM, BA or Anwar furthers the interest of PAS, not the interest of PKN, DAP, PSM, BA or Anwar.
And this is what the Pakatan Harapan Chinese do not understand. Yet they support PPBM and Tun Dr Mahathir because it serves DAP’s interest and not because they love PPBM or Mahathir. In fact, the Chinese hate PPBM and Mahathir. So, what’s the difference?
In 2014, DAP and PKR wanted to oust Khalid Ibrahim and replace him with Dr Wan Azizah Ismail and when PAS did not support the move they turned on PAS
Then, in 2014, DAP and PKR betrayed PAS. So that means DAP and PKR were now our enemies. Then, in 2015, DAP, PKR and Amanah teamed up with Mahathir to try to oust Umno and Najib Tun Razak.
So now DAP, PKR and Amanah are enemies of our enemy, Umno. However, by 2015, Umno had stopped attacking PAS while DAP, PKR and Amanah were attacking PAS all out. Hence, the pragmatism of realpolitik meant we should unite with Umno and Najib to fight DAP, PKR and Amanah in what was by then called Pakatan Harapan.
So, yes, by 2015 I had transformed into what the Pakatan Harapan Chinese call “Najib’s Top Blogger”. But then, by 2015, Najib was a friend of PAS while Pakatan Harapan was bent on destroying PAS. And, in politics, an enemy of my enemy is my friend. Now, which part of that doctrine do the Pakatan Harapan Chinese not understand?
