In an earlier posting "Somebody, please shoot this Jeff Ooi for good"? I made mention of Edge group executive editor P Gunasegaram making a report on Jeff Ooi to the Multimedia Content Forum (CMCF) agency under the communications ministry. Gunasegaram was fairly upset by a visitor’s comment on Jeff Ooi’s Screenshot and refused to withdraw his complaint even after Jeff Ooi had removed that comment.
Gunasegaram had written two articles that’s decidedly unfavourable to Dr Mahathir. First, he came up with the 22 years of Mahathir’s premiership, questioning Mahathir on an incident for each of those years. Then he followed up with ‘The myth of Mahathir’s invincibility’.
Well, he’s back again. However, this time no one could or should be so suspicious as to claim Gunasegaram has stepped in at a coincidental time to fill up AAB’s elegant but Grand Canyon-ish silence. Gunasegaram was speaking as a panellist at a public forum on Pak Lah vs Dr M: Clash of Personalities or Crisis in Governance, organised by the Strategic Information and Research Development Centre.
He claimed that one of the reasons Dr Mahathir has been shooting (excuse the unintended pun) angry public criticism at PM AAB could be AAB’s release of Anwar Ibrahim. Gunasegaram thought the Grand Ole Man could be unhappy with that. He alleged that Dr Mahathir did not want to see the return and rehabilitation of Anwar Ibrahim.
However, Gunasegeram gave the forum some assuring views that Dr Mahathir would not succeed in unseating Abdullah because it would be difficult to unseat the incumbent president in UMNO. It seems, according to Gunasegaram, the party follows the leader of the day - like Tengku Abdul Rahman post-May 13?
His views were refuted by another panellist, Kadir Jasin, the former editor-in-chief of the New Straits Times (NST). Kadir said he did not think the objective of Dr Mahathir in speaking out was to remove AAB. Kadir stated the whole exercise of Dr Mahathir speaking out was to get the current PM to reinstate certain policies and projects and to admit mistakes – if mistakes had been made.
I am inclined to rely more on Kadir’s views. But that is not to say Gunasegaram’s views are completely out, except for the release of Anwar Ibrahim.
The release of Anwar Ibrahim was not recent. If Mahathir wanted to register his objections he would have done so earlier when AAB was still pretty tentative in his new job as the PM. My belief is that the release of Anwar Ibrahim was agreed at the highest level in UMNO (even by Dr Mahathir) to improve AAB’s and UMNO's 2004 election prospect, a move to neutralise any sympathies that Anwar (and thus PKR) had enjoyed as a prisoner.
When Anwar Ibrahim was imprisoned, many (even those who dislike UMNO) marshalled around him, somehow forgetting or pretending to forget that Anwar was an UMNO man, afterall the No 2 in UMNO and virtually the prime minister in waiting. They did so because of their immense dislike for Mahathir, rightly or wrongly. In war and politics, 'the enemy of my enemy' approach is not unusual. Anwar Ibrahim was a convenient rallying post.
AAB’s or perhaps UMNO's release of him was brilliant, denying Anwar any further grounds for sympathy, as evident by the near annihilation of PKR in the last general election.
If Anwar Ibrahim had succeeded Mahathir as PM, would he have become what he claims now to be, a political reformer? I have difficulty in visualising him as a new leaf the moment he became PM. Why not UMNO business as usual? Indeed except for some day dreamers in PKR, no one believes so too. In all likelihood, he would have just perpetrated the status quo.
Anwar Ibrahim was a useful tool also for the West which wanted to diminish Dr Mahathir’s position then and the doctor's domestic support. They saw in Mahathir an annoying thorn in their side, not yet a blatant enemy but a damn vocal and frighteningly succinct one. That has been why the West promoted Anwar Ibrahim as a political reformer and democratic saviour, as a counterweight to Mahathir, who was viewed by the West as a loose cannon.
As for Gunasegaram’s other point – that Dr Mahathir would not succeed in unseating Abdullah because it was difficult to unseat the incumbent president in UMNO, because the party followed the leader of the day – for a start, the man is 81 years old. Even Mahathir himself knows his natural life is nearing the end, and he has said so himself. Why would he want to be PM again?
Mahathir has said, and supported by Kadir Jasin, that his (Mahathir’s) grouse has been about the issues of sand, airspace, bridge and thus an apparent national subservience to much-disliked Singapore.
I believe this to be true (though not necessarily supporting Dr Mahathir’s emotions about disliking Singapore, although it’s hard to ever like Singapore) because UMNO people have had an envious dislike of Chinese Singapore since 1965. I welcome anyone to dispute that.
Other factors such as business people, who had lost out to the new mob under AAB, instigating Mahathir to 'persuade' AAB to maintain Mahathir's economic policies should not be ruled out.This is a more likely case than Mahathir wanting to overthrow AAB.
If I was cynical, which of course I am not ;-) I would be inclined to imagine that Gunasegaram is rooting for AAB. Naah, it’s just a crazy thought!
And by some weird coincidence, Nazri Aziz, minister in the PM’s Department and the establishment man leading the counter-attacks at Mahathir, claimed he has heard enough from intelligence on conversations the former prime minister had with some of his friends, to believe that Dr Mahathir indeed wants to unseat AAB as PM. He said he reached this conclusion based on those information he received.
That’s sheer no-name dropping without any concrete evidence but what the hey, it’s politics where even hornets can be trained.
But in complete contrast to what we have been reading in Malaysiakini and sometimes in the Star Online, Nazri alleged that Dr Mahathir had not refuted newspaper reports which said that he was more interested in sending AAB out of office than obtaining answers to his list of grievances. Nazri’s accusations have been the exact opposite. Now, which newspaper reports has he been reading?
Then he asserted what we already know: “If he continues his actions to destroy UMNO, to bring down the president, I will be at the forefront as a warrior to defend the party.” The new jantan-ish Hang Tuah who would get rid of Hang Jebat on orders of the Sultan.
Additional reading: Hang Jebat lives again, but ...!
And of course the NST reported that there was no shortage of party leaders who lined up firmly behind AAB’s leadership yesterday. The NST claimed that none other than UMNO deputy president Najib was leading the warriors for AAB. It also claimed Najib said that all levels of the ruling party were rallying behind the PM.
Additional reading: NST reporting on Dr Mahathir
Looks like Mahathir is a wee bit like Lebanon, facing 4 levels of what appears to be just a purely-coincidental coordinated attack, from the air, ground, sea and subsurface as exemplified by the public statements (and reports).
Maybe Dr Mahathir might yet Hezbollah-ise the situation?
Guess who was the keynote speaker at a forum (which was still held like nobody's business despite the PM's direction) over the weekend?
ReplyDeleteOh, of course the jantan bloke would speak something. Why wouldn't he, after tossing and turning in his bed after this news.
Many politicians who agreed with PM and the cabinet to cancel the scenic project had only spoken about Costs and Risks but never about Benefits and Opportunities that Johore Bahru would have received if the project had gone ahead before Singapore demanded concessions for sand and airspace. The potential Costs and Risks had been exaggerated in such away these criteria would have overwhelmed the Short term Benefits and Long Term Opportunities.
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