AAB's Empire Strikes Back

AAB’s chief hatchet man, minister Nazri Abdul Aziz came out swinging in defence of his boss after the latter was still attacked by the Grand Ole Man. He accused Dr Mahathir of attempting to unseat the government, and criticised the doctor’s continued verbal assaults on AAB during the Hari Raya break.

He averred: "We all know that he wants to bring down the government, bring down Pak Lah. I don't know what's wrong with him. It is Hari Raya and we should be coming together, asking for forgiveness."

UMNO, initially upbeat about a possible reconciliation between the party’s two top blokes is now crestfallen, with fears of divided loyalties because Dr Mahathir is not without his supporters.

On balance, KTemoc sees also no compromise on AAB’s side. For example, there is yet no result from the so-called investigation into the Kubang Pasu UMNO divisional delegate election scandal, where allegations of money politics and abusive use of threats and government machinery were employed to block out Dr Mahathir. The lack of activity in this regard has been disgracefully so despite AAB’s personal promise that that it would be done.

Undoubtedly it has been swept under the carpet, what more when the investigating panel is filled by personalities hostile to Dr Mahathir. Even if the finding is eventually and painfully extracted like a rotten tooth, we may all expect it to be Hutton-ised, a whitewash.

I can hardly blame Dr Mahathir for feeling AAB or at least those behind AAB had been the ones not playing on a level field. The Grand Ole Man is hitting back in the only way left for him, with his supersonic megatonnage mouth.

Brendan Pereira, editor for the government-linked New Straits Times newspaper, a bloke that Dr Mahathir had attacked openly in recent times as an un-UMNO-ish import, unsurprising claimed that some Malaysians had experienced a colossal letdown after the talks.

He wrote in his column: "For many Malaysians, this has been an uneasy few months - watching two respected leaders slugging it out in public. For many Malaysians, it has been a difficult time - having to choose sides."

Not so, I must disagree. Malaysians did not expect much from the talks. In fact, most of us knew both sides had used that to ‘buy time’ and to avoid presenting the perception (to UMNO members) that any one side was unwilling to engage in the so-called reconciliatory discussions. If anyone was disappointed that Dr Mahathir would continue his ‘shock & awe’ I would say it’s the AAB side, with supporters like Brendan Pereira.

We independent bloggers are actually rapt, because we want to see the UMNO dirty linen being washed in public, and who better than Dr Mahathir as the dhobi.