What was it that Mahathir, Kit Siang, DAP and Pakatan Harapan did that Najib did not want them to do? They did everything that Najib wanted them to do, plus more. So why should Najib panic? Kit Siang should be the one panicking instead. And he is. All Najib did was to hand over a gun to Kit Siang and Kit Siang started shooting everyone in the room, plus himself. So why should Najib panic when Kit Siang did precisely what Najib wanted him to do?
“A lot of people come and ask me whether I still can continue my struggle after they heard the news that I got hurt. I want to guarantee it is not easy for Lim Kit Siang to fall,” said Lim Kit Siang, in response to a question about him hurting his head in a fall recently.
Tan Sri Mohamed Yaacob said the same thing just before Kelantan fell to PAS in 1990 when he rejected Tun Daim Zainuddin’s advise for him to step aside and make way for a younger person to lead Umno Kelantan. In 1999, Tan Sri Wan Mokhtar Wan Ahmad was also told that Terengganu might fall to the opposition because after 25 years as the Menteri Besar of Terengganu the people were fed up with him and he also said it is not easy for him to fall.
Yes, Kit Siang is about to join the ranks of those other veterans who all said it is not easy for them to fall and then spectacularly fell and made history in the way they fell. And, in his heart, Kit Siang knows this and he is extremely worried that he is seeing the sunset of his political career. And when the DAP grassroots wake up from sleep the morning after Polling Day of GE14 and realise that Kit Siang made the biggest strategic blunder of his political career by welding DAP’s fate to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the Chinese are going to discard him faster than you can say, “Adios Señor Kitty!”
Kit Siang has lost the plot and is uttering nonsense and poppycock because he is in a state of panic
The truth is, Kit Siang’s panic first started on 4th December 2016 when Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak revealed that the next general election is a contest between the Umno-led Barisan Nasional and the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan. That was when Kit Siang phoned Mahathir and proposed a deal. And he also invited Mahathir to DAP’s convention the following day after announcing earlier that Mahathir was not invited. Kit Siang needed to deflect what Najib said by showing a Malay face at DAP’s convention. But the number four, which means ‘die’, is not an auspicious number for Chinese and that 4th December decision has, since then, brought Kit Siang and DAP a lot of bad feng shui. Chinese never launch their future on ‘death day’ and, ironically, this is precisely what Kit Siang did.
Kit Siang is in a state of panic. But he wants to make it appear like he is the cool one while it is Prime Minster Najib Tun Razak who is in a state of panic. Kit Siang is not only delusional and living in denial but he hopes he can take the DAP and Pakatan Harapan supporters for a ride and make them believe he is in control of the ball all the way to the goalposts. In reality Kit Siang lost control of the ball the day he fell into Najib’s trap and tied his fate to Mahathir’s. Now Kit Siang realises that what has happened over the last two years was part of Najib’s plan and that he walked right into the quicksand and the more he struggles the more he sinks.
This was what Kit Siang said in Skudai on Friday night:
One of the hottest topics in the country is speculation on the timing for the 14th General Elections and the possible outcomes. But a fortnight night ago, there had been a start of a political hurricane in the country. Now all the bets about the outcome of the 14GE are now off, and Najib and the top UMNO/BN leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers have been in panic in the last two weeks about the possible outcome of the 14GE, which may see them ejected from Putrajaya!
The start of the political hurricane was the Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council meeting on July 14, announcing the Pakatan Harapan structure, logo and new leadership line-up, which re-ignited new hopes and re-inspired Malaysians that there is still a chance of achieving in the 14GE the political change in Putrajaya for a new Federal Government in Malaysia, which the majority of Malaysians rooted for in the 13th General Election but was foiled by an undemocratic gerrymandered electoral system.
For the past two weeks, there is a new air, new hope and new confidence in Malaysian politics which had disappeared in the past four years after the 13th General Election.
Or is this the face of a person who is panicking?
This is the greatest bull Kit Siang has ever uttered since his mistake of adopting Mahathir as Pakatan Harapan’s mascot. Does he believe all these lies? Or does he hope that the voters would believe it. This part of Kit Siang’s declaration is very telling and more or less sums up what is in his mind: “For the past two weeks, there is a new air, new hope and new confidence in Malaysian politics which had disappeared in the past four years after the 13th General Election.”
So Kit Siang admits that it was downhill for Pakatan since post-GE13 and only two weeks ago can they see light at the end of the tunnel. The only thing is that light at the end of the tunnel may be a fast train heading in his direction. Kit Siang did not realise it then but Najib wanted him to tie his future to Mahathir so that when the Chinese rain down stones on Mahathir, Kit Siang would also be on the receiving end. And when the Chinese reject Mahathir they would be rejecting DAP as well.
Kit Siang also said, “Najib had lost a golden opportunity of winning with the best possible results, if he had dissolved Parliament after the Sarawak state general elections in May last year. It was reported today that Najib’s advisers are pushing for early general elections, possibly in late October or early November, as further delays could risk a “perfect storm” against UMNO/Barisan Nasional.”
That was what Kit Siang was hoping: that Najib would call for the GE14 last year. But why should Najib do that? In fact, Najib’s advisers are not pushing for an early general election like what Kit Siang says. Legally the general election need not be held until August 2018, which is a year from now. And that is what Najib should do — drag it as long as it is legally possible so that by the time the GE14 is held Pakatan Harapan would be in a shambles and would be breathing its last few breaths.
Salleh Said Keruak said, “It is Kit Siang who is in a state of panic, not Najib, because his real game is being exposed and is being stripped bare for all to see.”
So, no, Najib is not panicking. In fact, it is Kit Siang who is panicking. And Salleh Said Keruak put it very well today when he said:
“Lim Kit Siang’s greatest fear is that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has proven a better strategist after all and is able to read all his political moves. Kit Siang now realises that Najib has skilfully pre-empted and countered all the moves. On his own Kit Siang is not capable of defeating Najib and that is why he needs ex-UMNO leaders to teach him how to defeat Najib.
It is Kit Siang who is in a state of panic, not Najib, because his real game is being exposed and is being stripped bare for all to see. Kit Siang’s deceit is now as clear as day and is very obvious when he tells one audience that Pakatan Harapan is being led by DAP while he tells another audience that Pribumi and PKR are leading Pakatan Harapan.
Kit Siang thinks that an Ali Baba arrangement can work in politics since it can work in business. And this is where Kit Siang has underestimated the Malays because they will reject his Pakatan Ali Baba even if he puts all the ex-UMNO leaders on the front page as the Malay face of Pakatan Harapan.”
Kit Siang’s Friday speech in Skudai was an admission that Pakatan Harapan is weak and, on its own, has no hope of ousting Najib, Umno and Barisan Nasional. Without the old Umno leaders heading Pakatan Harapan, Najib, Umno and Barisan Nasional will stay in power. So they need to work with the old Umno leaders to dislodge Najib, Umno and Barisan Nasional. Without the old Umno leaders, DAP and Pakatan Harapan might as well close down and don’t bother contesting the general election.
What possessed Kit Siang on Friday to make him admit such a thing? Kit Siang must be mad to confess that Pakatan Harapan has no hope unless the old Umno leaders help them win the general election. In short, DAP and Pakatan Harapan are useless and they have some small degree of hope only if the old Umno leaders come in to the help them. So, DAP’s and Pakatan Harapan’s future lies in the hands of Umno, in particular the old Umno leaders.
The Pakatan Ali Baba leadership lineup
What a silly thing to confess to. Kit Siang is really losing his marbles.
Other than acknowledging that DAP and Pakatan Harapan are weak, Kit Siang is starting to believe his own lies and is hoping that all Malaysians will believe them as well. And he is trying to convince Malaysian that DAP and Pakatan Harapan may have been weak these last four years since since 2013 but now — with Mahathir, the old Umno leaders, and PPBM, as part of Pakatan Harapan — their future is much brighter than it was over the last four years.
So, Mahathir, the old Umno leaders, and PPBM, are going to save DAP and Pakatan Harapan — which had no hope before this until two weeks ago. If Mahathir is the last hope for Kit Siang, DAP and Pakatan Harapan, then that certainly does not build confidence in the opposition. And only a fool will confess to that. And Kit Siang confessed to it.
The original plan was to topple Najib from inside Umno. That was the plan three years ago. When that failed they changed the strategy and are now trying to topple Najib from outside Umno. However, as Mahathir himself said back in 2006, it is impossible to topple the party President and Prime Minister from outside Umno. It must be done from inside Umno. And if it cannot be done from inside Umno then it can never be done…period.
That was what Mahathir said 11 years ago back in 2006. Has anything changed since then? No, nothing has changed since then. The scenario is still the same. But back in 2006 Mahathir was only 81 and had time on his side. Today he no longer has time on his side so he is getting very desperate. And desperate times call for desperate measures because, as they say, a drowning man will clutch at straw. And Mahathir is a drowning man who is clutching at straw.
The Malay face that is going to help DAP destroy Umno, or so Kit Siang thinks
Another thing they say is do not approach a drowning man because he will grab at you and bring you down with him. And this is precisely what Kit Siang did. He approached a drowning man and now Mahathir is dragging him down as well. In this way Najib is able to kill two birds with one stone. Better still, he allows Mahathir and Kit Siang to kill each other.
Kit Siang has only one alternative to stay relevant. DAP must win at least 55 parliament seats in the coming general election while PKR, PPBM and PAN combined must win not less than 60 seats. If this does not happen then Kit Siang is in trouble. He will suffer the same fate that Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi suffered after the 2008 general election.
As Elvis Presley said, “It’s now or never.” DAP and Pakatan Harapan must win this next GE14 or else it is never going to happen in another 100 years. It’s now or never. And ‘now’ is over the next year until August 2018. The window, as Kit Siang himself admitted on Friday, opened just two weeks ago. And it will remain open maybe for the next ten months or so. After that it will close. And if DAP and Pakatan Harapan fail to grab that window of opportunity, which will close again after GE14, then Kit Siang and his entire family, plus Mahathir and his entire family, are dead men/women walking (plus, of course, Anwar Ibrahim and his entire family as well).
That is what is at stake here. And that is why Kit Siang is losing his mind and even fell down and bumped his head in the anxiety. And that is why he made that speech in Skudai on Friday saying that Najib is in a state of panic when the reality is he is the one in a state of panic.
Why should Najib be in a state of panic when everything is working out as he had planned? Najib planned for Mahathir to resign from Umno, and he did. Najib planned for Mahathir to form/register a new party, and he did. Najib planned for Mahathir’s new party to be admitted into Pakatan Harapan, and it was. Najib planned for Pakatan Harapan to be registered, and it was. Najib planned for Pakatan Harapan to come out with a common logo that all parties will use in the general election, just like Barisan Nasional, and they did. Najib wanted DAP’s rocket to disappear, and it has.
What was it that Mahathir, Kit Siang, DAP and Pakatan Harapan did that Najib did not want them to do? They did everything that Najib wanted them to do, plus more. So why should Najib panic? Kit Siang should be the one panicking instead. And he is. All Najib did was to hand over a gun to Kit Siang and Kit Siang started shooting everyone in the room, plus himself. So why should Najib panic when Kit Siang did precisely what Najib wanted him to do?
Did Kit Siang not notice how fast the Registrar of Societies (RoS) approved PPBM’s registration? Did Kit Siang not notice how fast the Registrar of Societies (RoS) approved, in principle, Pakatan Harapan’s registration? The RoS even helped Pakatan Harapan design a better logo by inserting ‘Pakatan’ before ‘Harapan’ to reflect the proper name of the party. Have you ever seen the RoS so helpful as to even help you improve your party logo?
Yes, Najib is not panicking. He wanted PPBM and Pakatan Harapan to be registered because he had done his homework and he knows what will eventually emerge is a Pakatan Ali Baba, which will be rejected by the Malay voters in the Malay heartland. So everything is working in Umno’s favour. So, was it Pakatan Harapan that pulled Mahathir into the coalition or was it Najib who pushed Mahathir into Pakatan Harapan? Has Kit Siang ever thought of this question?
Ex-DAP MP, Kua Kia Soong, said, “Well, now that Mahathir has been made the chairperson of the coalition, Harapan will have to answer for all his scandals. Harapan must be prepared for more than the RM30 billion forex (foreign exchange) losses incurred during Mahathir’s term. He is not sorry for the white terror of Operasi Lalang, for the political conspiracy against Anwar and saying on record that the latter is morally unfit to be PM because he is a womaniser and sodomiser, for squandering more than RM100 billion in the financial scandals during his term in office through crony capitalism and bailing out failed businessmen including his son…”
Yes, Kia Soong knows that Kit Siang has swallowed a poison pill while DAP and Pakatan Harapan have drank from a poisoned chalice. Pakatan Harapan is now a party of ex-Umno multi-millionaires and billionaires who acquired their wealth the corrupt way. And is that not Kit Siang’s battlecry? Kleptocracy? How can Kit Siang keep screaming kleptocracy when the top leadership of Pakatan Harapan became wealthy through robbing the country of its wealth?
Kit Siang knows that the Chinese votes have maximised. In 2008 DAP won 28 seats and in 2013 they won 38. In the next general election they need to win 55 seats. Now Kit Siang is not so sure that is going to happen. Because of their unholy alliance with Mahathir, many Chinese are very disgusted and if DAP is not careful they may be down to just 35 seats instead. Furthermore, the Chinese now realise that DAP’s perjuangan is not about better governance but about the Lim political dynasty, while Mahathir’s perjuangan is about his wealth and his dynasty as well.
So DAP can no longer depend on just the 55 Chinese seats. Even if they can still win 55 Chinese seats, PKR, PPBM and PAN need to win another 60 seats combined. And for that to happen they need Malay and Bumiputera votes. And if DAP wins only 35 or 40 seats instead, then PKR, PPBM and PAN need to win another 75-80 seats combined. And the only way that can happen would be for the Umno seats to fall to Pakatan Harapan. And if Kit Siang thinks that is going to happen then he is even more an idiot than he looks.
* The views expressed in the article are the author's and do not necessarily represent that of this publication.