That Azmin Ali's overt covert dinner meeting

In a Star Online article (opinion) by Sweetie Joceline Tan titled ‘Controversial’ meet has tongues wagging, the narration has been about Azmin Ali's dinner meeting with 17 UMNO MPs to elicit the opposition's support for Mahathir (post Tanjung Piai) to continue full term as PM - indeed, an Azmin 'Special Backstabbing' of his own party president Anwar Ibrahim, wakakaka.

I have extracted certain parts of that article for our discussion, as follows:

... the dinner party was apparently held for Azmin to explain why Dr Mahathir should continue as Prime Minister.

The stunning outcome of the Tanjung Piai by-election had resulted in a shift of public opinion against Dr Mahathir and there has been a crescendo of calls for him to make way for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Dr Mahathir has come under a lot of stress and his nose bleed in the midst of a press conference yesterday – some of those present saw little red dots on his white handkerchief – was a hint of the stress he may be going through.

Eff Anwar 

Azmin felt that he needed to reassure them that Dr Mahathir is staying put. He told them that Dr Mahathir is still alert and healthy and has a lot to contribute.

According to those present, Azmin did it in quite a polished manner and did not once run down Anwar or talk openly about blocking Anwar from the dream job although that was the aim.

Azmin also stressed that Dr Mahathir was still needed to hold the coalition together and revive the economy.

He used an argument now popular among Bersatu PRIBUMI politicians – the Opposition failed in the 2008 and 2013 general elections when Anwar was the prime minister candidate and only won in 2018 when Dr Mahathir was presented as the next prime minister.

Sources at the dinner party said that more Umno MPs could be expected to openly come forward to declare support for Dr Mahathir in the coming days.

There are a couple of points in above extracts that I wish to discuss, namely:

Firstly, Joceline contradicted herself when she said (admittedly only quoting those present at the overt covert dinner-meeting) that Azmin in praising Mahathir and arguing the Old Man should continue as PM, did not once run down Anwar or talk openly about blocking Anwar from the dream job although that was the aim.

Yet in the following but next paragraph, she quoted Azmin saying (using a fave PRIBUMI point): ... the Opposition failed in the 2008 and 2013 general elections when Anwar was the prime minister candidate and only won in 2018 when Dr Mahathir was presented as the next prime minister.

Wasn't that running Anwar Ibrahim down, in saying DSAI failed to win the GE's in 2008 and 2013 in contrast to Mahathir acing it in 2018?

I know that she quoted PRIBUMI as well as those who attended Azmin's dinner-meeting, but she could have added that Pakatan wasn't strong enough in 2008 and 2013, and that the rakayat wasn't then quite ready for a tsunamic change in the polls.

Then, the alleged 1MDB rort hasn't as yet taken hold of the rakyat's imagination in 2008 and 2013, but only in 2018.

Therein lies the difference, not because Mahathir had been better than Anwar in winning elections. There had been discussions by many political observers and DAP party people that Pakatan could have won 2018 GE14 without Mahathir - after all, his own party won only 13 seats, showing he contributed insignificantly to the Pakatan victory.

But alas, the Old Man has the luck of the Devil in coming into the fray at the right time - then again, he IS the Devil, wakakaka.

Secondly, the paragraph: Sources at the dinner party said that more Umno MPs could be expected to openly come forward to declare support for Dr Mahathir in the coming days: is hardly credible now, though we can make a guess as to its source, wakakaka.

The thing is that, after the BN's tsunamic win in Tanjung Piai, there is a sense of rejuvenation in UMNO, where its members are now more confident of their party's comeback. Given thus, why then would UMNO MPs even want to frog over or just back Mahathir?

Of course there is always the 'quid pro quo' where charges can be kowtim-ed (bisa diatur) for left field support. But how many need this type of kowtim-isation at the risk of ostracisation by their own party?