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Dr Jeffrey is
quite upset that Anwar is currently engaged in negotiations with a few
Barisan Nasional leaders about the possibility of them jumping after the
next general election. This would mean the opposition would have to
‘give way’ to these people and allow them to win the elections. That
would be one issue. The second would be: what if after they win they
change their minds and decide not to jump after all because Barisan
Nasional has counter-offered a higher price?
Raja Petra Kamarudin
The
Federal Hotel in Kuala Lumpur was the first international-class hotel to
be built in Malaysia -- then called the Federation of Malaya. It was,
in fact, built purposely for the Merdeka (Independence) celebrations and opened for business just three days before Merdeka of 31st August 1957.
It
was said that Low Yat, a rags-to-riches junk dealer turned millionaire,
built the hotel at the request of the First Prime Minister of
independent Malaya, Tunku Abdul Rahman. Stories were told about how Yow
Yat used to cycle around Kuala Lumpur collecting old bottles, and
thereafter made his millions from his humble beginnings.
I
had earlier that day received a phone call from Mutalib M.D. who told
me that Dr Jeffrey was in town and that he would like to meet me for
dinner. I told Mutalib that I would agree to have dinner with one of the
most illustrious sons of Sabah only if I could play host and pay for
the dinner. I suppose I felt I had a certain bond with Dr Jeffrey who
spent a stint under ISA detention for fighting for the independence of
his homeland from federal ‘occupation’.
I
was certainly most honoured plus curious that a man of his stature would
want to meet me so that evening my wife and I went over to meet the
delegation of three from Sabah for dinner in the Bintang Revolving
Lounge on the rooftop of the Federal Hotel. The dinner conversation was
mostly small talk and chitchat but after dinner we adjourned for coffee
where the more important discussion of the night was conducted.
Dr
Jeffrey told me that he was meeting Anwar Ibrahim the following day
about him joining PKR but he did not totally trust Anwar and he thought I
might be able to give him some pointers on how he should handle the
negotiations with Anwar. Dr Jeffrey did not want to walk into the
‘lion’s den’, so to speak, unless armed with the knowledge on what to
expect. Isn’t this what Sun Tsu also said, know your enemy? And the fact
that Dr Jeffrey regarded Anwar as such speaks volumes about what the
former thought of the latter.
I told Dr
Jeffrey what little I know of Anwar and about my opinion and impression
of the kind of political animal that Anwar is. Not everything I said
about Anwar was complementary, I must admit, but my purpose was not to
play the role of public relations officer for Anwar but to prepare Dr
Jeffrey on what to expect and how he would have to handle Anwar.
Dr
Jeffrey’s own opinion and impression of Anwar was not too far a
departure from mine, though. His main reservation was that Anwar was
just going to use him to gain a foothold into Sabah and that there might
be another agenda up Anwar’s sleeve. Dr Jeffrey also lamented that
Anwar was the culprit who had brought Umno into Sabah and that the
current dilemma facing Sabah was actually Anwar’s doing. Anwar,
therefore, is more the disease rather than the cure, as far as Dr
Jeffrey was concerned.
Dr Jeffrey’s primary
concern was regarding Anwar’s Islamic agenda and whether Anwar had
changed much from the old days when the Islamic card was used as the
vehicle to bring down the ‘Christian’ government of Sabah. Dr Jeffrey
was also concerned that Anwar may not share the aspiration of the Sabah
people in seeing the 20-Point Agreement honoured and implemented.
Federalisation
was being viewed as a backdoor colonisation of Sabah and most Sabah
politicians want more self-rule and a degree of autonomy. This was
supposed to be the spirit of the 20-Point Agreement (or the 18-Point Agreement
of Sarawak) but would Anwar agree to what the Sabahans wanted? That was
the crux to the whole matter and what would have to be thrashed out in
the meeting with Anwar the following day.
I
told Dr Jeffrey that I had met a few of the Umno Sabah leaders and they
had expressed exactly the same sentiments. When I asked them why then
were they still in Umno, they replied that they were in Umno mainly
because Umno was in power. However, they hoped that Ummo could be
defeated so that, one day, Sabah would gain real independence.
Yes, what an irony, even the Umno Sabah leaders want to see Umno ousted from Sabah.
They
did not mind still being part of Malaysia but they resented being
treated as just one of the 13 states of Malaysia, at par with the 11
states of Peninsular Malaysia (Semenanjung). Sabah and Sarawak are not
at par with the 11 states of Semenanjung but should instead be at par with Malaya, a Federation of 11 sates created on 31st August 1957.
I
told Dr Jeffrey that I totally agree with this sentiment and therefore
he should press this point home in his meeting with Anwar the following
day. If Anwar is prepared to commit himself to the 20-Point Agreement (and the 18-Point Agreement for
Sarawak), and if Anwar can assure him he would not further his Islamic
agenda, then Dr Jeffrey may have himself a deal. That would mean, in
short, that Anwar should not press for a Muslim to head PKR Sabah (plus
Sarawak, of course).
Things appeared to have
worked fine for a while and the fact that Dr Jeffrey did join PKR and
headed PKR Sabah in the beginning is testimony to this. But the
honeymoon did not last very long. And this is what Dr Jeffrey and I was
concerned about. We both suspected that Anwar was not really interested
in strengthened the opposition in Sabah and Sarawak but had another
agenda in mind.
This suspicion was not
something new but already existed since Anwar was first released from
jail in 2004. And this was confirmed last year when Wikileaks
released a report that quoted Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
(Pak Lah) as saying that Anwar wanted to rejoin Umno but Umno would not
accept him. The Wikileaks report was regarding a cable from
the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to Washington detailing the discussion
they had with Pak Lah concerning the matter.
The
meeting between Anwar and Pak Lah was arranged by the Sarawak Chief
Minister, Taib Mahmud, and was held in Pak Lah’s house in Kepala Batas
on the second day of Hari Raya that same year. The close links between
Anwar and the Sarawak Chief Minister is further confirmed by the recent
helicopter crash that took the lives of three people, the PKR Sarawak
leader included. The helicopter is owned by Dato Sng Chee Hua, the same
man who set up the meeting between Anwar and Taib.
Hence
the most unfortunate deaths a few days ago just strengthens this
suspicion even further, that is if the photograph of Anwar, Pak Lah and
Taib sitting at the same table in Kepala Batas is not proof enough.
Signs
that things were not working out surfaced about two years ago. One
incident was the attempt to remove Baru Bian as the head of PKR Sarawak
and replace him with a Muslim. There was a revolt for a few days, and
when Sarawak Report and Radio Free Sarawak closed down as a mark of protest, Anwar relented and did a U-turn.
Anwar did the same thing in Sabah earlier, which triggered a conflict between Dr Jeffrey and Kuala Lumpur. This was what Borneo Review reported in February 2009:
Dr Jeffrey Kitingan's ultimatum to Anwar Ibrahim revealed
There are four proposals which contain numerous points of highest relevance to Sabah, its future, and hence Malaysia's future:
1.
Understand that the problem in PKR Sabah is not about the appointment
of Thamrin Jaini as PPN (Pengerusi Perhubungan Negeri) but much more. It
has to do with how the Party is being run by remote control from KL
through proxy leadership and how decisions are made without practicing
the Party philosophy of Justice and Democracy.
The Party in Sabah has been run much like UMNO is running Sabah UMNO except worse - at least UMNO trusts the Sabahans.
DSAI's
(Anwar) attitude towards Sabah is the same as his old UMNO attitude.
Race and religion still cloud his mind and perception. This has to
change!
2. To improve Sabah PKR and permanently solve the Sabah PKR problems, the following must take place:-
(a) Let there be autonomous PKR Sabah and PKR Sarawak.
(b) The leadership of PKR Sabah should be elected by the members/delegates in Sabah.
(c)
The management and operations of PKR Sabah should be left to the
elected leadership guided by the same national PKR facts and
philosophies but focussing on local issues, etc...
(d)
There should be a consistent chain of command and leadership
relationships between national leaders and state leaders for
coordination and operating purposes (it is shown in a chart Dr J gave to
Anwar but not made available in this blogsite for space constraints).
(e) The current situation should be reorganised to maintain stability before further changes are made.
3. The National leadership should take the necessary steps and commitment to effect the above.
4. The TAMBUNAN DECLARATION must be adopted publicly by the Party.
5.
A National IGC Review Committee should be established to examine and
monitor the compliance of the Malaysia Agreement and the 20 Points.
However, things just got from bad to worse and in January 2011 Dr Jeffrey resigned from PKR.
Dr
Jeffrey has not talked much about his differences with Anwar but those
close to him are very bitter about the whole matter and allege that
Anwar is acting just like Umno with absolutely no regards for the
sentiments and feeling of Sabahans. That is basically their main bone of
contention.
They say Anwar has no desire
in building PKR in Sabah and Sarawak and that his game plan is to woo
the current crop of Members of Parliament from BN to jump ship and join
PKR. In other words, Anwar does not plan to win the elections in Sabah
and Sarawak. He wants to ‘steal’ the Barisan Nasional Wakil Rakyat after the next general election and form the government via crossovers.
Dr
Jeffrey, of course, is opposed to this because it would merely be old
wine in a new bottle and there would be no guarantee of loyalty. As
Perak had proven: if you could buy Barisan Nasional Wakil Rakyat
that would mean they are for sale and hence it would also mean that
Barisan Nasional could always buy them back at a higher price. Hence Dr
Jeffrey told Anwar he is not prepared under any circumstances to accept
these Barisan Nasional turncoats. That basically put a spanner in
Anwar’s works.
Dr Jeffrey is quite upset
that Anwar is currently engaged in negotiations with a few Barisan
Nasional leaders about the possibility of them jumping after the next
general election. This would mean the opposition would have to ‘give
way’ to these people and allow them to win the elections. That would be
one issue. The second would be: what if after they win they change their
minds and decide not to jump after all because Barisan Nasional has
counter-offered a higher price?
The thing is
they will not be jumping to the opposition now, before the general
election. They will only be jumping after the general election and after
they have won their seats. And the opposition would have to help them
win these seats, which is very risky. Hence Dr Jeffrey is violently
opposed to the idea and has told Anwar so in no uncertain terms.
Anwar
knows he is going to have huge problem with Dr Jeffrey so he is using
Ansari Abdullah to check Dr Jeffrey. Hence it has now become a Muslim
leader versus a Christian leader issue. Anwar is telling them that a
Muslim and not a Christian must lead the opposition in Sabah, although
the Muslims are not the majority in Sabah (or in Sarawak).
Talk
on the ground is that Ansari is being financially-backed by the Chief
Minister, Musa Aman, through his brother, Anifah, who is also closely
linked to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. With Najib’s nominee in Sabah,
Anifah Aman, and Anifah’s brother, Chief Minister Musa, all playing a
role behind the scenes, is Ansari working for Anwar or for Najib?
That
is what Dr Jeffrey’s people are asking. Or is everyone in the same
team? This is a new ‘Sabah mystery’ that may be answered after the next
general election. But then is this not what Machiavellian politics is
all about, leaving the battle lines blurred?
Anwar
is not just talking to the Umno Sabah leaders. He is also talking to
those in SPDP and PRS, as well as those in Taib's PBB party. And this
has infuriated the Sarawak Chief Minister who suspects that Anwar is
trying to do a dirty on him. Taib’s other concern is that this may end
up as Umno’s backdoor entry into Sarawak, something he has been
resisting for a long time but may now be possible if Anwar has another
deal with Umno up his sleeve. What a suspicious person Old Man Taib is!
Of
course, if Anwar can pull this off this is going to be the greatest
political coup in Malaysian history. But it is an extremely dangerous
game that can backfire and blow up in Anwar’s face. And for this to work
Anwar has to sacrifice the opposition in Sabah and Sarawak, in
particular PKR. But the end result would be Pakatan Rakyat would get to
form the next federal government with Anwar as Prime Minister.
Meanwhile,
while Anwar is trying to ‘buy’ the elections, in particular the
kingmakers from Sabah and Sarawak that Barisan Nasional calls their
‘fixed deposit’, Umno has not been idle either. They too are seeing whom
from amongst the Pakatan Rakyat people they can buy. And meetings are
being held between Umno and those in Pakatan Rakyat who are prepared to
jump, but for a generous price.
But then
maybe I should reserve this as another story for another time. Or maybe I
should just keep quiet and let it happen and then write a story that
starts with 'I told you so'.
Would it not be
funny if both Anwar and Najib succeed in their shopping spree and both
sides manage to buy people from the other side and we end up with a
status quo? That would certainly be most funny indeed. Everyone would
then end up where they started. And I, for one, will be laughing the
loudest because I will be shouting ‘I told you so!’
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