Will UMNO walk into PKR's trap?

Mahathir wants Najib out as PM, but of course not UMNO-BN from being the government. Indeed, two weeks ago I posted Ambiga's proposed action plan in which I mentioned I had been amused by her plan, sincere as it might have been, because I can see the contents or requirements of her plan appealing only to the 'converted', to wit, the Pakatan side of politics who are currently on the 'outer'.

alamak, how long do we have to hold our smiles?

wakakaka

Her proposed plan required the following 3 core elements:

1. Najib takes a leave of absence
2. a "national government" be formed with MPs from both sides of the political divide
3. an election to be held within 18 months of the setting up of the new government.

I mentioned that it's not just Ambiga or Pakatan who wants Najib to go but also Mahathir, Muhyiddin, Mukhriz and the M faction of UMNO and its associates including some in the Special Branch of the Police, wakakaka. For further background on the SB, read RPK's The police decide who becomes prime minister.

But the 2nd core element of Ambiga's proposed action plan to save Malaysia, namely, to form a "national government" with MPs from both sides of the political divide, is unrealistic and something only the Pakatan side would canvass earnestly for, wakakaka.

Indeed, why would BN include Pakatan MPs in a government, meaning the cabinet, when it currently holds 132 parliamentary seats in a Dewan Rakyat of 222 and can continue to rule unimpeded?

And indeed, why would the BN (effectively UMNO) hold a fresh election within 18 months when it can legally hang on until 2018?

Ambiga might have been too demanding of BN though she must have sensed those in UMNO opposing Najib growing desperate and frenetic.

Don't you love the word 'frenetic'? It means 'frantic' or 'frenzied', which in turn mean 'desperately or violently agitated or wild with fear, obsession or passion'. An older meaning would be 'insane', wakakaka.

And 'frenetic' would be an apt word to also describe the bizarre desperate antics of some headless chooks in the DAP who despite being 'headless', could still cluck away to sound out past UMNO leaders for collaboration against Najib, when these very past UMNO leaders were whom they detested most.

Yes, another word to describe such songsang behaviour would be 'bizarre', wakakaka.

By the by, 'bizarre' means 'unusual style involving incongruous elements' wakakaka again.

And I could go on and on in this vein by further defining 'incongruous' as 'inappropriate' or 'unbecoming', eg. it's incongruous for a political party which claims to have a reformist ideology or character to promote party hopping through financial inducements, wakakaka, indeed an incongruous behaviour which the late Karpal Singh described sneeringly as 'unethical' and 'immoral'.

But to be fair, I must also criticize DAP's Lim Kit Siang for appealing to his archfoe Mahathir to, first, head a Royal Commission of Inquiry into 1MDB where our Uncle Lim had obviously ignored all considerations of 'conflict of interests', even if those would be for Najib.

Talking about 'conflict of interests', we are once again reminded of the classic case, that of Tun Salleh Abbas, the former Lord President of the Malaysian Supreme Court, who was terribly dismissed by a tribunal headed by Hamid Omar, his deputy who stood to gain from his (Abas) dismissal. That's what 'conflict of interests' means.

This is what Wikipedia has to tell us:

In 1988, Tun Salleh Abas was brought before a tribunal convened by the then Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad on the grounds of misconduct. The tribunal was chaired by Tun Hamid Omar. In response to the tribunal, Tun Salleh Abas filed a suit in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur to challenge the constitutionality of the tribunal. While proceeding with the suit, Tun Salleh Abas applied for an interim stay against the tribunal until 4 July 1988. The request was denied.

Later however, five judges of the Supreme Court convened and granted Tun Salleh Abas an interlocutory order against the tribunal. Upon receiving the order, Tun Salleh Abas' solicitors proceed to the Parliament to present the chairman of the tribunal the interlocutory order. The gate leading to the Parliament however was locked* and Tun Salleh Abas' representative had to call in the police to be guaranteed a passage into the Parliament. Eventually, the order was presented to the tribunal chairman.

* doesn't this reminds us of Sabah in 1994 when such a 'locked gate' to the YDP Negeri's residence turned Pairin from CM-elected into the opposition leader? Hmmm, I wonder who was the BN director of election campaign then, wakakaka

Soon after, the five judges were suspended. The judges were Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin, Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdoolcader, Tan Sri Wan Hamzah Mohamed Salleh, Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawanteh and Datuk George Seah. This effectively suspended the Supreme Court. With the Supreme Court suspended, the challenge toward the legality of the tribunal could not be heard. The tribunal later removed Tun Salleh Abas from his office. Tan Sri Wan Sulaiman and Datuk George Seah were also removed from office. The other three judges were later reinstated.

The irregular dismissal of Tun Salleh Abas led the Bar Council of Malaysia refusing to recognise the new Lord President. Around the same time, the Federal Constitution was amended to divest the courts of the "judicial power of the Federation", granting them instead such judicial powers as Parliament might grant them.

As if forgetting that wasn't bizarre enough, wakakaka, Lim KS then proposed for Mahathir, Musa Hitam and Ku Li to form an UMNO leadership troika to take over from Najib.

Is Najib, notwithstanding outstanding questions on 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion 'donation' in his account, such an invincible anathema to Lim KS that the DAP leader has been more than willing to support his old archfoe to lead a leadership movement to oust the PM?

And apart from the sad dismissal and humiliation of Tun Salleh Abas, for which at least AAB has the decency to apologize on behalf of you-know-who, has Lim KS forgotten that in an earlier political period he had resoundingly condemned Mahathir's 22-year prime ministerial rule for the wastes and unaccountable profligacy in the use of public monies, eg. in the matters of Maminco, BMF, MAS, Forex trading, Perwaja, PKFZ, the total unaccountability of money from Petronas, cronyism in the devolvement and privatisation of services and multi-billion dollar projects, etc, and of course the use of the draconian Ops Lalang to stifle democratic dissent, and also regular amendments of the federal constitution at the government's whims and fancies.

Then there was the distortion of the federal constitution to unilaterally proclaim what Lim KS himself, none other, condemned as the 929 and 617 Declarations which turned secular Malaysia into some ambiguous fundamentalist Islamic nation.

So, has Lim KS forgotten all these?

Looks like he has! Bukan saja Melayu yang mudah lupa!

Surely it might have to be said that in his eyes Najib must have been a far greater evil PM, so much so as to convince him to forgive former PM Mahathir (not unlike medieval popes giving 'indulgences' to fat cats sinners which automatically by papal fiat cleansed those sinners of all sins) and to even eat humble pie to manja-sayang Mahathir into a proposed plan to take over rule from Najib.

Okay, back to Ambiga's proposed action plan - Haven't we learned from Ambiga's proposed action plan that UMNO is unlikely to accept it as it demands their utmost altruistic characteristics when none exists.

So, what do we have today when FMT reported in its PKR wants share of power to vote out Najib (extracts):

Parti Keadilan Rakyat has committed its 20 MPs to vote against Prime Minister Najib Razak, if the party is part of a transition government to take over with immediate effect media, electoral and economic reforms to be carried out.

PKR demanded that a transition government be formed until the next general election which must be held by 2018

The transition government must comprise members of both the Barisan Nasional and the opposition, and must carry out immediate reforms for free elections, free the media, strengthen parliamentary democracy, and take measures on the economy.

Apart from the economic angle, it's the same old same old as per Ambiga's proposed action plan. PKR has merely echoed Ambiga.

The Malay Mail Online put it as if PKR has been fantastically bipartisan and cooperative, as follows:

In a rare declaration of solidarity with their political foes in Barisan Nasional (BN), all 20 PKR federal lawmakers said today they are willing to support a bipartisan no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the Dewan Rakyat.

Now, what's really so rare in its so-called 'declaration of solidarity' when all along it has been PKR's aim to sneak into federal government since 916? Or, perhaps even earlier when someone offered his incredible 'expertise' to help AAB out in the crooked bridge affair, wakakaka - for more, read my post Zaid Ibrahim's Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid.

And do you still remember how in the early evening (if my memory serves me well, around 1930 hours) on 05 May 2013, Anwar Ibrahim declared Pakatan had won the federal general election, wakakaka.

Yes, Anwar and PKR has never accepted that it lost the last general election, ignoring the Westminster (no doubt gerrymandered) electoral system by asserting Pakatan won 52% of the votes as if it was a presidential style election.

Since then, PKR has participated in various means and rallies to perpetuate what I see as a climate of political instability in Malaysia, not unlike a sulking petulant little spoilt brat who lost his junior badminton match at kindergarten, wakakaka.

Its current so-called 'declaration of solidarity' with the required minimum 25 BN MPs is nothing more than self-serving, to enable its own MPs to get into the federal government, meaning some of its MPs hope to get ministerial posts. And hasn't one of PKR's 'solidarity' (wakakaka) conditions been 'the formation of a transition government to be shared between members of both BN and the opposition once Najib is removed from office.'

"To be shared between ...". I suppose that means 50:50 ministerial positions, wakakaka. I really doubt any UMNO person will accept that, for the same reasons I mentioned in regards to Ambiga's proposed action plan.

But if some UMNO-BN MPs, preferably at least 25 wakakaka, give their nod to PKR's enticement plan to oust Najib, then of course it's marvellous news for Pakatan, for that will start the snowballing of steps to finish off UMNO-BN. But I suspect Mahathir may not want that in order to protect and preserve UMNO in power, at least for his "legacy", wakakaka if you know what I mean, and Mahathir has a lot of say in such matters.

But still, it remains to be seen whether Mahathir is desperate enough to want to get rid of Najib that he will be willing to allow UMNO to form a 'unity' government with PKR and Pakatan. Decision is a bitch, ain't it, wakakaka.

But you know, if UMNO collaborates with PKR and Pakatan to oust the PM via a vote of no confidence, that's the same as showing a vote of no confidence in the BN government. I believe there is no such parliamentary procedure where such a vote of no confidence can be confined to only the person of the PM yet exonerate his government.

The way to get rid of or depose of the person who is the PM should be done in the UMNO leadership council, where its deputy president, VP and Supreme Council members vote to remove Najib from being the party president. That will automatically remove him from the PM post, and without affecting the BN government.

I don't think Najib if so voted out by UMNO leadership echelon will play at being another 'Khalid Ibrahim', wakakaka. But the trick is to get UMNO to sack him. Can Mahathir do that?