Aptet II Disgrace - He who cannot be named!

We have discussed in Aptet II Disgrace - all for an alien nation! how 10 years ago, a group of young UMNO hoodlums brought shame to our nation by disrupting the closed-door [by invitation only] Aptet conference, the second of its kind that was held in KL to proposed a peaceful solution to the Indonesian militant oppression of East Timorese in Dili.

We wonder why those young thugs went about abusing our OWN citizens and OUR foreign guests, all for the benefit of an alien nation and at our national expense.

We regretted the unjustified detention of the conference participants by our Police who subjected them to Abu Ghraib-ish conditions.

Indeed, all those abuses our young gangsters did, for the benefit of an alien nation.

And who was at home in charge of the country at that time? Well, before we answer that let’s revisit what respectable Dr Syed Husin Ali, victim of that incident and current PKR deputy president, has to say.

He recognised 3 UMNO blokes who were among the rioters. They were Saifuddin Nasution, Ruslan Khamis and Mustapha Yaakub. He knew them because Saifuddin Nasution and Ruslan Khamis joined PKR subsequently [though the latter returned to UMNO]. It was reported that Dr Husin actually grinned when he mentioned Saifuddin’s name – a sort of ‘hmmm, what a very very small world!’

According to one of those wreckers turned reformed (pun intended) apologist, Saifuddin, who was then No 3 in the UMNO Youth leadership hierarchy but now a PKR member, it was all an UMNO orchestrated attack on the conference. And he puts the blame on (1) Megat Junid, at that time deputy Home minister, (2) Zahid Hamidi, UMNO Youth Chief, and of course the bete noire of PKR, Dr Mahathir.

But at that time, the old man was in Ghana, so who was left at home in charge of the country when the mob raided and disrupted the conference? Strange that not one mention was made of that fact, though of course I personally don’t find it strange at all considering Saifuddin is a PKR member. Well, we all do know who the PKR people, especially those who left UMNO as a bloc like Saifuddin, dislike as No 1 enemy, don’t we?

And why, may we ask, did those people leave UMNO with a huff and a puff to form Keadilan-PKR?

Yes, we ask again – who was in charge of the country when Dr Mahathir was in Ghana? Who was in charge of UMNO when the attack on Aptet II took place?

We know that Zahid Hamidi was also from ABIM. I wonder why he left ABIM to join UMNO?

This has been what Saifuddin said of the people in authority responsible for the disgraceful mob affair:

"I called up Zahid (about the plan) and he consulted Dr Mahathir who gave his support. Hishammuddin also supported the action. I then organised a 1,000-strong team with the order to stop the conference."

Guilty, so accordng to Saifuddin were thus Megat Junid, Hishammuddin, Zahid Hamidi and of course Dr Mahathir.

Then, when Dr Mahathir arrived home from Ghana, Megat Junid and Saifuddin met him, where Saifuddin related "Megat told Mahathir that it was all orchestrated."

Now, isn’t it just strange that, according to Saifuddin, Dr Mahathir who gave the approval for the disruption of Aptet was informed by Megat Junid that, again according to Saifuddin, “it was all orchestrated.” Why would Mahathir who gave his approval in the first place needed to be so informed?

We know that Zahid Hamidi, formerly of ABIM, had a falling out with the ‘former UMNO then PKR’ group. Whatever his motive, Hamidi was no longer considered as a ‘member’.

And who was in charge at home when Mahathir was away in Ghana? Was it possible for this person not to be aware of affairs that Zahid Hamidi and Saifuddin were up to? Aren’t we also aware that Megat Junid had been accused as the architect of one person’s fall from UMNO's grace?

This was what that bloke said of the UMNO disruption of Aptet II:

“Our mission was to stop the conference and we did just that.”

Strange [or should it be] that Saifuddin didn’t mention his name.