Primary Target - Najib Razak!

You know, I have always asserted that Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK), blogger supremo of Malaysia-Today, is an Anwar Ibrahim supporter – mind you, not just an ordinary supporter but I suspect, in the innermost circle.

RPK is not only an interesting, entertaining and brilliant writer but a very very very clever strategist of the pen – all for Anwar of course. That's what I believe.

When he criticises Anwar Ibrahim (and he often has) or posts anything unfavourable to the former DPM (and indeed there were some), very much to the great consternation of Anwar’s most ardent supporters, I believe (criticise me for bull if you wish) RPK had cleverly positioned those articles to Anwar’s strategic interests.

I bet too when those naïve but earnestly alarmed Anwaristas wrote in to beg RPK to cease and desist from posting adverse comments about Mr Reformasi, RPK would be chuckling quietly away at their lack of perception of his strategic intentions. It’s all brilliant smoke and mirrors stuff.

OK, go ahead and call me an unmitigated suspicious conspiracy-theorist ;-)

But read my earlier posting Raja, thou doth protest too much! to understand why I am convinced RPK does it all for Anwar Ibrahim.

The recent RPK posting is about the pending trial of Razak Baginda in the murder case of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu and its, oh woe and doom, consequential dire impact on DPM Najib Razak.

According to RPK, Daim Zainuddin met AAB recently at the latter’s request. RPK claimed that when Daim asked the PM why the trial of Razak Baginda had been brought forward by a year, from 10 March 2008 to 4 June this year.

RPK’s article has AAB revealing to Daim that it was not his (AAB’s) decision but someone else in his office. RPK averred that ‘someone in his office’ can only mean one person, the world’s most famous SIL.

Then, taking the matter further, RPK shared with us even more juicy titbits, that AAB confided to Daim that he (AAB) would be more comfortable and could work better with Johorean UMNO VP Muhyiddin Yassin rather than Najib.

Then, to lend credence to his amazing revelation, RPK said that “Muhyiddin’s house, which used to be deserted, is today packed with Umno people who already detect that this is the man who is going to replace Najib as the Deputy Prime Minister and they want it known that they are amongst the first to rally behind him even before he gets the job.”

Then (but predictably) RPK asserted the Razak Baginda murder trial will not be good for Najib because incriminating evidence against Najib is likely to be brought out.

To cut the story short, the advancing of the trial to June this year is, according to RPK, a coded warning for Najib to ‘retire’ soon or face the prospect of being incriminated with whatever, which according to RPK, would be “… if he [Najib] resists [voluntary early retirement], this evidence can be adduced in court and Najib may risk more than just his job as Deputy Prime Minister."

So, we take it from his juicy article that SIL has planned the move (by bringing the Razak Baginda trial forward) to oust Najib, confronting the latter with the legal Sword of Damocles.

This tends to tie in with the discussion in my earlier posting Prince Anwar ‘Hamlet’ Ibrahim where I had rejected an earlier notion that there was an Anwar Ibrahim–SIL nexus to oust Najib.

In that posting I stated I had had second thoughts about SIL’s complicity, and believed Anwar’s sole targeting of Najib could be a unilateral decision.

A couple of days back I saw another piece of Anwar’s gesture to the AAB camp when Mr Reformasi, in an interview with the BBC, soft-pedalled his criticism of AAB by stating that poor AAB "has inherited a [corrupt] system …”. Anwar then stated that AAB appears not to want to change the system, and also added the PM is "a very decent, placid man" – now, wouldn't that be excusing AAB’s lack of action for his “decent placid” attributes?

But leaving that aside, RPK’s article raises many questions.

I am not an UMNO person nor do I have the sort of connection that RPK has. But I do wonder whether in the first place, AAB as the PM would even confide to Daim that it was not him but ’someone else in his office’ who brought Razak Baginda’s trial forward, assuming it was indeed ‘someone else in his office’, and then again assuming that indeed 'someone else' had instructed the trial be brought forward.

Yes, the blazing question is, would AAB ever confide to Daim on such matters in such self-depreciative fashion? Would a PM say, "It's not me, it was him"?

Then, would an UMNO VP house be ever deserted. If Muhyiddin Yassin’s house is today packed with UMNO people, then I would say it’s normal and business as usual, as to be expected at an UMNO VP's place.

And why couldn’t the fast forwarding of the trial be due to other reasons?

Now here is a fact, which RPK might have forgotten to mention, that it had been Razak Baginda’s own lawyer, Wong Kian Keong, who sent a letter to the Shah Alam High Court requesting the trial be brought forward.

Wong said the case was of public interest and should be heard as soon as possible.

“The third accused (Abdul Razak) had also filed an affidavit to help expedite the trial ... I have strict instructions from my client to seek the earliest possible trial date.”

Karpal Singh, who has been holding a watching brief on behalf of Altantuya’s family, sought further clarification because he wasn’t satisfied with the fast forwarding, and that the originally nominated judge, Justice KN Segara won’t be presiding at the rescheduled trial. There's widespread suspicion that the experienced Justice KN Segara was conveniently removed from the case.

All these demolish RPK’s suggestion that there could be a SIL’s conjured conspiracy to get rid of Najib, by covert threat or overt criminal prosecution.

All the anti-Najib noises thus far have come mainly from Anwar Ibrahim, and speculations about sticky problems for Najib are posted on Malaysia-Today.

Besides, there are two other considerations: (1) do we for one instant believe Najib Razak would be sitting still while there’s a possible conspiracy against him? – this bloke may appear to be wishy-washy, but he isn’t exactly a spring chicken in UMNO politics, and he's notorious for his amazing survival instincts, and (2) RPK’s theory presupposes that AAB and thus SIL are as powerful as … well … Dr Mahathir was during his PM’s days to bring about such a shadow play? – the fact is AAB himself is uncertain of his own party presidential position.

Recently I have blogged on lots of Trojan Horses but there are other equine activities too – like horse trading. I could argue that I have detected signs of ‘overtures’ to AAB and SIL, but whether those attempted equine bartering ‘gestures’ have been perceived as ‘overtures’ … well … I can’t answer because I don’t have the connections that former insiders seem to have in abundance.

But this I can tell – that with election date just around the corner, someone’s getting frantic … (Oh, my Kingdom for a bloody horse!) ... for remember what I’ve said, it’s no bloody fun being in the Opposition, unless you’re Lim Kit Siang & Co.