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Tuesday, February 25, 2020

King Cobra became fallen squirrel


From the FB of Bakri Musa


[inserted images/photos below have been by kayteemoc]


The Flying Squirrel That Missed His Last Branch

[News item: There had been endless distracting speculations since the 14th General Elections of May 2018 on when Mahathir, who became Prime Minister for the second time, would make way for Anwar Ibrahim. That was apparently settled at a meeting on Thursday, February 20 when leaders of the ruling coalition agreed to give Mahathir the freedom to choose his timing. All that ended when on the very next day Anwar’s putative deputy in his Keadilan Party, Azmin Ali, schemed to derail the plan and have Mahathir join the opposition coalition and sideline Anwar and Pakatan

That resulted in Mahathir’s unexpected resignation as Prime Minister as well as leader of his party. Azmin is kicked out of the his party and government when his nefarious scheme was exposed.]

Had Mahathir been satisfied with only getting rid of Najib Razak in the May 2018 elections and not “volunteered” himself to be Malaysia’s seventh Prime Minister, his stocks would have soared and remained in the stratosphere. He would have been anointed a national hero for having saved Malaysia.

Malaysians would also have overlooked if not forgiven him for his role in Najib’s rapid ascent and rapacious greed. Najib was but Mahathir’s political child, his ugly legacy.


the pompous imperialistic arrogance of Mahathir had him claiming he chose Najib as PM when the then-outgoing PM had been AAB 

Najib’s 1MDB mess, together with his unprecedented greed and obscene ostentation, is but a variation on the theme of Mahathir’s many earlier sordid scandals. Remember the Bank Bumiputra debacle, London Tin fiasco, and Pernas’ expensive bailout of his son’s teetering shipping company? Those and many others as yet unrevealed are all Mahathir’s unmitigated blunders, so well captured by reformasi’s vote-getting phrase of a few decades ago–korupsi, kolusi dan nepotisme (KKN, or corruption, cronyism, and nepotism).

Malaysia is still reeling from that. Look at Malaysia Airlines. The difference between Najib’s greed and Mahathir’s cronyism is only quantitative, not qualitative; matter of degree, not kind.


Today, barely over a month into his much ballyhooed Vision 2020 dateline when Malaysia should have been celebrating her entry into the elite club of developed nations, Mahathir has thrown the country into an unwanted, unneeded, and very destabilizing political crisis. It was your typical Third World variety leadership tussle.

Where was Mahathir at this moment of crisis? Holed up in his The Mines luxury estate. His Deputy Azzizah, together with leaders of the Pakatan coalition, had to chase him down, first at his office (he had ponteng that Monday morning), then his official residence, before finding him holed up in his private home.

A man who always had been at ease with the media suddenly found himself desperate to escape it. None of the usual smooth press conferences with his trademark silly snide grins and snickering belittling sarcasms on those who disagree with him. The man who only a week earlier had the gumption to tell President Trump to resign, suddenly found himself tongue-tied and camera-shy.




Two iconic pictures capture best the silly and futile drama of this past few days. One was of Deputy Prime Minister Azzizah sitting on the bench outside Mahathir’s private residence, with Anwar standing, arms folded, exuding confidence. The other coalition leaders with him, Lim Eng Guan, was casually standing at the side, while Mat Sabu was busy texting on his cellphone. The implied message from their body language: You old rat; we have you cornered. We can wait here all day.

That snapshot eerily reminded me of the scene when the American troops finally trapped Saddam Hussein in his desert rat-hole hiding place. They had cornered their slimy target. They could wait all day; he could come out and surrender, or rot in there.

The other searing sight was of Mahathir in the back seat of his limousine, alone, sans his wife who usually accompanies him on such important missions, his face glum, with defeat smeared all over it. He was on his way to the palace to hand in his resignation. That was far from the portrait of a victor.


What a way to cap your career, the hitherto agile flying squirrel who had missed his last tree branch.

In personally confronting Mahathir at his home that Monday morning, Anwar had shown that he was not in the least cowered by the old man’s usual antics and silly scheming. Anwar however described the meeting as “very satisfying.” That’s confidence verbalized.

Make no mistake. This past weekend’s sandiwara or contrived drama could have ended badly for Malaysia. The endless frightening chatters on What’sApp and other social media brought back ugly reminders of the horrors of May 1969.


In my reckoning, Anwar had saved Malaysia from that. He also saved Mahathir from committing his third and possibly irremediable blunder or strike-out.

Mahathir’s first was his having the incompetent and soporific Abdullah Badawi succeed him back in 2003. Abdullah dozed away while his “Fourth Floor “ boys were busy self-aggrandizing themselves and destroying Malaysia in the process. Credit Mahathir for owing up to that error and successfully undoing it.

Mahathir’s second strike-out was his aggressively promoting Najib Razak to overthrow Abdullah. Najib did nothing to advance himself. He was just happy to be the instrument and beneficiary of Mahathir’s effort.


dei budak, you failed to report to me every now and then 

Credit Mahathir for once again recognizing his error and going about to remedy his second mistake, but not before Malaysia was saddled with 1MDB and other crushing loads.

Whether Mahathir was responsible for Najib’s Barisan defeat at GE 14, or whether Mahathir was merely the flying squirrel who flickers his tongue claiming credit when the coconut fronds above swayed in the breeze, does not interest me. I am just relieved that Najib and his ilk are now facing serious criminal charges.

Ponder this. Had Anwar not confronted Mahathir this past Monday morning and exposed his scheming to his face, Mahathir was set to commit his third strike-out.

Drive around KL today and plastered all over town are tall billboards with faces of Mahathir and Azmin Ali, with privilege and a smug sense of entitlement pouring out of their pores. No mistaking the implied message there and elsewhere–Azmin would be Mahathir’s successor.



penyelidekan ditangguh karena PDRM tidak mampu mengenalipastikan sesiapalah digambar ๐Ÿ˜œ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜‚ 

This Azmin character, with his degree from an ulu American state university, fancies himself an expert in economics, but he could not manage his family’s microeconomics. He skipped out of paying on his family’s luxurious travel bills.

There’s more! Even his mother has disowned him. His relations with his own siblings are dysfunctional. That is understating it. Nonetheless Azmin deludes himself into thinking that Malaysians would trust him to bring harmony to Malaysia’s diverse society.


penyelidekan ditangguh karena PDRM tidak mampu mengenalipastikan sesiapalah digambar ๐Ÿ˜œ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜‚ walaupun Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz dah mengakui dia seorang di gambar tersebut dan 'partnernya' (wakakaka) adalah ... ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‰

The only saving grace to this weekend’s third-rate political drama is that Malaysia is spared Mahathir’s third strike-out. This deadbeat pengkhianat (traitorous) Azmin is now out. That is reason enough to celebrate. If Mahathir is anywhere as smart as he thinks he is, he should thank Anwar and the other Pakatan leaders for that.


The writer’s books, Race, Religion, And Royalty: The Barnacles On Malay Society and The Plundering Of Malaysia: Najib Razak And The 1MDB Debacle, will be released in April 2020.

8 comments:

  1. That's Dead Right.

    Toonsie is indebted to Anwar and Guanee for saving his arse. He was caught red-handed organising (or at the very least be in the know and allowed to happen) an illegal coup de etat. Toppling a Democratically Elected Government (Malaysian-speak).

    By quickly giving Toonsie the support to be PM (now interim as declared by the Agong) Anwar and Guanee saved his skin and "took possession" of his fate. Soon after even Bersatu, Warisan, and everybody else jumped in and supported Toonsie to be PM as well.

    Now wasn't this a gracious act by Anwar and Guanee, the very men he had given a black eye and put behind bars? Heck even Anwar's wife Wan Azizah gave way to Toonsie when the previous Agong offered her the post of PM.

    This Old Fart knows no gratitude, neither does he deserve any.

    The way forward is simple in my eye. Go Back To the Mandate given by the rakyat in GE14. We voted for DAP, PKR, Amanah, Bersatu and Warisan.

    Now Bersatu (and Azmin's PKR faction) have betrayed the mandate and are out of Harapan. So let the remainder of Harapan take the reigns of government. Harapan is intact. It still exists. Only the rats and vipers have been expelled. It is now a much healthier coalition.

    No need for GE15. We have bigger things ahead of us. Immediate and Urgent: Covid-19, the economy, stock market, cost of living, APEC etc.

    For continuity just re-appoint the existing ministers and fill in the gaps left by the Bersatu and PKR ministers. The Bersatu Ministers (& Azmin and Zuraidah) were the weakest ones anyway.

    Get On With The Job.

    Don't allow any PAS, UMNO, Bersatu MPs into the cabinet. The Rakyat voted them out of government in GE14. Respect the Mandate. Don't start the practice of changing what the Rakyat has voted for.

    We Want a government that practices Democracy (DAP), Justice (PKR) and Trust (Amanah).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anwar and Guanee acted solely to save their soiled arses...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Never Trust the Old Fart.

    APEC's last day is Thursday Nov 12. The Leaders Summit. The next day, Friday the 13th no less, the Old Fart will say:

    “Sarawak elections are around the corner, due by September 2021, we must have stability in order to have best chance to win. I promise to handover after the Sarawak elections.“

    Snake, rat and scorpion.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Why is Toonsie choosing a new Cabinet now when he has promised to leave after APEC 2020, which is in November. The new PM will choose yet another cabinet then.

    Why have an interim cabinet for 9 months? We should have a new PM and cabinet by March 9, when Parliament convenes, to take us to GE15, and this PM must not be Toonsie. If it is Toonsie then the traitors Azmin/Muhyiddin/PAS/UMNO wins.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Why is the Agong and Toonsie both interviewing politicians and MPs.

    Who is in charge here?

    The Agong should have said Toonsie is Interim PM until the next Parliament session, when a new permanent PM and cabinet will be in place. Surely a new cabinet is not that difficult to form. Just put back the old members and just replace the traitors.

    ReplyDelete
  6. An interim PM is just that. Interim. Just a bdy, a person to sign day to day papers but cannot be given power to make new policies or form a new unity government. The Rakyat in GE14 did not vote for that. An interim PM cannot simply override the results of a GE. With no cabinet ministers this interim PM suddenly becomes a dictator...but some will say we always had that....ha ha ha...

    The AG and Agong must put a stop to this.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The next Parliament sitting must convene with a permanent PM and cabinet. Delay the sitting by a few weeks if necessary. We must not have an interim cabinet and PM proposing new laws like MA63, abolishment of mandatory death penalty etc which may later be challenged or changed by a new cabinet in 9 months time.

    No to Unity government. Rakyat did not vote for that in GE14. Respect the Mandate. Respect democracy. No to one-man dictator Toonsie. After a few interviews we simply trash the results of GE14 because Azmin was not happy about something?

    We are in nonsense land. AG and Agong must put a stop to this.

    ReplyDelete
  8. In my new post, I stated:

    The thing we need to watch our for is that an interim (caretaker) PM canNOT issue new policies, programs, budgets etc. He can only administer the day-to-day administrative needs of the government ... UNTIL a new PM and cabinet are established.

    So watch out in particular for any public (govt) financing of Car No 3 or new NEP, or Azmin becoming new Finance Minister and Mukhriz as Home Minister, etc, wakakaka.

    ReplyDelete