Stabbing with a borrowed knife

How did the infamous Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK) arrive at the conclusion that Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was complicit in some imaginary plot to block Najib from becoming PM? That conclusion has a higher probability of being false than true.

He alluded to a meeting of some 30 bloggers at Tengku Razaleigh’s house some time ago.

RPK was not at the first meet, which was proposed by a number of bloggers, Umno bloggers mostly.

Some people wanted to meet up with Tengku Razaleigh and the latter consented to their request. As to why he agreed to play host, there could be a variety of reasons, none of which runs afoul of the law. A politician would like to patronise a group of luminaries that could prove to be advantageous in future. There’s nothing sinister about that.

At the first meeting, the only agenda was to discuss what to do with former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah). It wasn’t at all about Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

We know some of the prime movers behind the 30 bloggers who wanted to meet up. They actually wanted some legitimacy for their own agenda to kick out Pak Lah.  Actually, they wanted to borrow the credibility of Tengku Razaleigh. They wanted to stab another with a borrowed knife.

Cooked-up story

If Umno people really want to get the truth of who wants to block out Najib, then they should ask those people who went over to Tengku Razaleigh’s house trying to persuade him to stand for election for the Umno presidency with Muhyiddin Yassin as his running mate.

Those who supported the idea included a former much adored PM and his faithful Man Friday of a former senior minister.

Why should we now succumb to RPK’s invitation to us to believe this cooked-up story? Umno leaders do all kinds of political fratricide that make this allegation by RPK a walk through the park. It’s a non-issue.

RPK may have his own personal reasons for dragging in Tengku Razaleigh. And Umno people should not dismiss their own thinking that Tengku Razaleigh is way past his prime to be of any serious threat to Najib. Look elsewhere for the source of threat.

As for the growing chasm between RPK and his onetime MCKK (Malay College Kuala Kangsar) colleague, the colourful Anwar Ibrahim, he has his own personal reasons. Maybe it was because Anwar didn’t want to support his MCLM. Maybe Anwar didn’t lend a helping hand to a man on the run. Maybe RPK has 1001 reasons for saying what he is now saying about Anwar.

Whatever the reasons, we find it hard to attach credibility to them without dismissing our own belief that RPK is a charlatan.

(The writer is an Umno member and a former state assemblyman. This is an excerpt from an article appearing in his blog, sakmongkolak47.)