(Artikel asal dalam bahasa Inggeris diletakkan dibawah terjemahan ini)
{ ORANG MELAYU, AHLI DAN PENYOKONG UMNO WAJIB BACA }
Mahathir, Dalang Disebalik Tsunami Cina (bahagian 2a dari 2)
29 January, 2016
Kuasa Ketiga
"Jahanam."
Mungkin itulah perkataan yang berdesing keluar masuk dari sudut hati Tun Dr. Mahathir, berulang-ulang kali seumpama mentera. Ia mungkin terlalu kuat, sehinggakan penganalisis politik dapat merasakan kekecewaan beliau. Bulan itu adalah bulan April dan tahunnya, 2006. Sudah ada desas-desus mengenai gelodak ketegangan diantara Perdana Menteri Tun Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi dan pemimpin sebelumnya, Mahathir.
"Mahathir mula mencari kesalahan kepimpinan Abdullah seawal tahun 2005, walaupun ketika itu, Perdana Menteri tidak pernah disebut secara langsung. Isu-isu yang timbul termasuk pembatalan projek jambatan bengkok Johor, kepimpinan yang melemahkan Proton dan pembelian MV Agusta, yang tidak berdaya maju, syarikat Eropah yang teruk dibebani hutang yang dibeli oleh Proton dengan alasan yang meragukan."
Pada 31 Oktober 2003, selepas majlis penyerahan tampuk kerajaan kepada Abdullah, Mahathir berjanji tidak akan mencampuri urusan kerajaan, atau seperti yang mengerti ramai, tidak melibatkan diri dalam politik.
Tetapi tidak satu pun dari kata-katanya benar.
Tetapi tidak satu pun dari kata-katanya benar.
Genap dua tahun, tujuh bulan dan tujuh hari kemudiannya, Mahathir menodai janji-janjinya, melaungkan sikap tidak tahu mengenang budi seolah-olah lebih teruk dosanya daripada melakukan sihir - dosa mengkhianatinya. Beliau mengejutkan seluruh negara dengan dakwaan rasa tidak puas hati terhadap apa yang beliau dakwa kegagalan penggantinya untuk menunaikan janji-janjinya.
Dalam banyak-banyak perkataan yang diucapkan, Mahathir akan menyimpulkan - Abdullah tidak layak meneraju kerajaan. "Saya mempunyai tabiat memilih orang yang salah," katanya.
Ia adalah pukulan langsung. Serangan itu memberi penghinaan kepada Abdullah - soalannya bukan lagi jika, tetapi bila beliau akan dijatuhkan. Dalam beberapa bulan berikutnya, Abdullah bersikap tidak ambil peduli, bersikap acuh-tidak-acuh dengan Mahathir, dan seumpama memperingati ulangtahun pertama serangan terhadapnya, dia berkahwin semula.
Dan selama itu juga, Mahathir selagi boleh menaburkan segala macam tohmahan dan menanamkan perasaan bersalah kepada Abdullah, sehinggakan pengikut setia Abdullah seperti tertekan kesatu sudut, tidak berdaya untuk bertindak. Krisis ini memadamkan semangat neo-liberal Abdullah yang dipandang sangat sesuai disatu ketika dulu kesatu tahap, yang dalam masa dua tahun sahaja, telah dianggap lebih merupakan satu penipuan.
"Islam Hadhari, ide yang pada asalnya diasaskan oleh Allahyarham Tunku Abdul Rahman, sebenarnya adalah lanjutan daripada Islam Madani, satu konsep lama yang diperjuangkan oleh Nabi Muhammad (SAW) dan para sahabat karibnya. Tetapi Mahathir tidak mahu menerimanya, dan mengkritik hebat Abdullah kerana telah "mengelirukan rakyat." Dalam kata-katanya sendiri, "... Nabi membawa hanya satu Islam. Beliau tidak pernah menyebut apa-apa tentang Islam Hadhari ... (disambut dengan ketawa oleh penonton)"
Tetapi soalan yang masih kekal - apakah yang mendorong seseorang yang sangat berpengaruh dalam politik Malaysia menghentam pengganti yang dipilihnya sendiri sebegitu teruk sekali? Lebih penting lagi, bagaimana semua ini berkait dengan Tsunami Cina 2013, sedangkan tuduhan liar mendakwa ianya berpunca dari inspirasi Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak?
Pertembungan kerabat terdekat
Ketua Pemuda UMNO sekarang, Khairy Jamaluddin pernah dianggap sebagai satu 'benda besar baharu selepas Mahathir'. Terdesak untuk mendapatkan sedikit kontroversi, wartawan memainkan ayat tersebut dan mengandaikan kenaikan mendadak dan terkenal beliau dengan satu nota aneh - Khairy adalah anak politik Mahathir.
Tetapi ia memberi makna yang tidak terfikirkan - kedua-dua Khairy dan Dato' Seri Mukhriz Mahathir adalah 'saudara-tiri' politik. Khairi merupakan menantu Perdana Menteri yang (ketika itu) memerintah, sedangkan seorang lagi adalah anak bekas Perdana Menteri.
Dengan sentuhan rasa persaudaraan yang tercorak, apa yang sangat diperlukan adalah apa yang berkurangan - satu gambaran yang lebih besar. Ini dimainkan oleh media sosial dengan cukup berkesan, menghasilkan desas desus dimana Khairy dan Mukhriz telah terkunci dalam satu pertembungan persaudaraan yang sangat licik bagi menonjolkan diri secara ketara dalam sayap Pemuda parti.
Sindiran jelas yang kurang enak - yang muda daripada 'saudara-tiri' adalah pelakunya, manakala Mukhriz yang lebih tua 'lambat-memberikan sebarang kesan'. Memang diakui, ada satu macam dorongan yang membuatkan Mukhriz terlalai sedangkan, saya rasa, dia boleh melakukan satu tugas baik untuk mendapatkannya dengan cara tersendiri, melalui salah satu cara yang berbeza.
"Semasa pemilihan UMNO 2009, Khairy menewaskan Mukhriz dalam pertandingan kepimpinan Pemuda. Walaupun Dato' Seri Mohd Ali Rustam hilang kelayakan untuk bertanding jawatan timbalan presiden parti selepas didapati bersalah menggunakan politik wang, Khairy terlepas, membingungkan para pengkritik dan pemerhati"
Menjelang akhir 2004, spekulasi bertiup kencang bahawa wujud satu rantaian arahan yang merentasi diluar koridor kuasa. Cerita ini mengesahkan sehinggakan pembawa berita baik sekali pun diperlukan bertemu Khairy dahulu sebelum dibenarkan berjumpa Perdana Menteri. Lebih buruk lagi - ada yang mengatakan, jika Abdullah masih lagi memegang jawatannya walau pun untuk seketika, ia juga bermakna berakhirnya Mukhriz, sesuatu yang Khairy akan betul-betul lakukan tanpa sedikit pun merasa ragu.
Serangan panik
Sekali pun Mahathir sentiasa terkesan oleh semua ini, dia hanya mendiamkan diri.
Secara bersendirian, dia mula menapis dan menyimpan baik berita-berita rasuah yang membabitkan kedua-dua Abdullah dan Khairy. Bagi mencari satu alasan kukuh, untuk menghapuskan rintangan, dia memohon bantuan pembantunya, yang, pada tahun 2005, membisikkan empat perkataan yang membuatnya jadi seputih sehelai kertas - "Khairy adalah seorang perisik."
"Mahathir telah dibisikkan bahawa Khairy bukanlah sepertimana yang diketahui. Apa yang amat merisaukan Mahathir adalah bisikan tentang penglibatan Khairy dengan Perisikan Singapura, dimana getarannya menyerap jauh kedalam perasaan dan mungkin juga kedalam mimpinya, berulang-ulang kali"
Tuduhan itu memang benar belaka - Khairy didakwa direkrut semasa beliau belajar di United Kingdom (UK) oleh MI6, sebuah agensi yang membekalkan kerajaan British dengan maklumat perisikan asing. Dan jika itu belum lagi mencukupi, Dato' Seri Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan, satu nama besar yang satu ketika dulu dikaitkan dengan The New Straits Times dan The Malaysian Insider, telah dikenal pasti sebagai orang yang bertanggungjawab merekrut Khairy kedalam satu lagi agensi lain - perisikan Singapura.
Sepucat salji, Mahathir merapatkan diri dengan golongan penulis blog dan membincangkan apa yang diperlukan untuk menukarkan pandangan dari menantu-mertua supaya terlihat seolah-olah sebagai pelaku-jenayah (outlaws). Tetapi walaupun baru sebahagian dari rancangannya berhasil, beliau telah melepaskan serangan pertamanya pada 7 Jun 2006, apabila beliau menuduh Abdullah tidak berpegang pada ikrar-sulung perlantikannya untuk menegakkan dasar-dasar kerajaan.
Ini, sudah tentu, membuatkan penganalisis politik kecelaruan, dalam erti-kata lain sama ada hendak memanjangkan ketidak-puasan hati tersebut, atau pun mendiamkannya sahaja. "Khairy Jamaluddin telah menjadi ancaman kepada Mukhriz, kerana itulah mengapa, Mahathir mahukan Abdullah berundur," atau "Tiada apa yang serius. Apa Abdullah perlu buat adalah mengawal Khairy, dan semua akan kembali baik semula."
Menjelang 2006 bagaimanapun, telahan dikalangan pemerhati politik adalah sependapat dan sindiran petunjuk itu bermatlamat satu - Khairy terpaksa pergi bagi menyelamatkan kepimpinan negara.
Permulaan kepada serangan terhadap orang Cina
Dengan cakap-cakap seperti itu, tidaklah menghairankan Khairy telah menjadi bualan hangat dikalangan rakyat dimana-mana sahaja. Setelah melakukan serangan curi melalui pintu belakang secara licik, melalui para penulis blog, yang diketika itu telah mula menampakkan keberkesanannya, segala komisen yang terselindung dalam kerajaan telah mula dipersoalkan.
Sebabnya?
Ada banyak. Satunya yang mendapat perhatian khusus adalah keputusan Kementerian Kewangan (MoF) meluluskan penggabungan tidak kompetitif, perkembangan satu entiti yang telah disusun semula dan lebih memihak untuk memberi keuntungan kepada Khairy, dan yang menariknya, Kalimullah.
Penggabungan ini membantu ECM Libra Capital Berhad - satu perniagaan Kalimullah - menyatu-padukan kawalan keatas Avenue Capital Resources Berhad, anak syarikat pegangan Kementerian Kewangan, Ministry of Finance Incorporated. Perjanjian itu dirundingkan melalui pertukaran saham yang tidak hanya menguntungkan ECM, malah ia memberikan firma sekuriti tersebut akses kepada lesen- lesen yang ia sendiri mungkin tidak mampu miliki.
"Skandal penggabungan ECM-Avenue telah dianggap sebagai konspirasi paling nekad abad ini. Yang menimbulkan kehairanan para pengkritik bukan sahaja hakikat bahawa Khairy merupakan menantu kepada orang yang telah meluluskan penggabungan tersebut, tetapi faktanya adalah penggabungan itu dibuat dengan cara yang tidak masuk akal dari sudut-nilai ekonomi."
Pengkritik menggigit kuku membayangkan bagaimana sebuah firma sekuriti kecil boleh menelan sebuah syarikat sebesar empat kali dari saiznya. Tetapi kekusutan yang terhasil dari lonjakan akrobatik turun-naik harga pasaran menjalankan peranannya - ia membantu merapatkan jurang nilai teras antara kedua syarikat, membawa 'goodwill' ketahap minimum dan menjadikannya seumpama kisah 'seorang pengemis membeli gula-gula dikedai gula-gula' .
Terdapat banyak petunjuk dimana perjanjian mungkin telah diputuskan melalui pintu belakang - Khairy dan Kalimullah dipercayai telah merundingkan syarat-syarat timbal balik antara perkongsian dan penggabungan sebelum cadangan dikemukakan kepada Kementerian Kewangan, portfolio yang (ketika itu) dipegang oleh bapa mertua Khairy.
Rundingan tersebut membawa kepada pengumuman oleh lembaga pengarah dan ahli pengasas ECM - Lim Kian Onn, David Chua dan Kalimullah - dimana setiap dari mereka akan menjual satu peratus pegangan saham dalam ECM kepada Khairy. Pengumuman itu dibuat beberapa hari sebelum kenyataan oleh ECM pada 19 Januari, yang bukan sahaja bercakap mengenai penggabungan - ia memperlihatkan adanya unsur rasuah dan kelicikan muslihat politik yang mungkin telah memainkan peranan.
Pemfailan Bursa kemudiannya mendedahkan transaksi bernilai 71 sen sesaham, terkumpul sehingga RM 9.2 juta untuk pembelian 12,990,000 saham oleh Khairy. Apabila ditanya bagaimana beliau mampu melakukan pembelian, Khairy dengan selamba menjawab, "Saya meminjam RM 9.2 juta untuk membeli saham."
Tak lama selepas dia berkata begitu dia mendapati dirinya berada ditengah-tengah satu lagi kontroversi. Desas desus meniupkan satu cerita konspirasi yang sangat buruk dimana anak menantu, di bawah pengaruh kuasa-kuasa yang boleh dipersoalkan, memperdayakan Perdana Menteri seorang bapa mertua meluluskan bukan sahaja penggabungan, tetapi menetapkan cara bagaimana untuk melaksanakannya.
Penetapan pelaksanaan tersebut terbabit pula dengan satu lagi khabar angin yang berlaku disekeliling - tentang RM 9.2 juta yang diperolehi melalui rundingan-rundingan yang berkait-kait dan berbelit-belit dimana Khairy, dan didalam kes ini, Kalimullah yang kurang disebut, sengaja bersekongkol melakukan kecuaian dengan penglibatan sekutu-sekutu mereka.
Serangan pertama terhadap orang China
Walau apa pun khabar yang bertiup, kedua-dua Mahathir dan pembantu yang paling dipercayainya, peguam Matthias Chang, mula menghentam Khairy secara meluas didalam media dengan soalan dan sindiran yang melibatkan amalan beretika dan moral yang amat sukar untuk dipertahankan. Pada 27 Jun 2006 dan pada satu majlis yang dihadiri ramai, Mahathir telah berkata;
"Tingkat empat (satu sindiran kepada Khairy dan orang-orangnya) adalah lebih berkuasa daripada tingkat lima (pejabat Abdullah) kerana tingkat lima tidak pergi ke University Oxford ... Kadang-kadang kita pergi ke Singapura bermain golf dan menepuk antara satu sama lain dibelakang atas setiap perkara kecil, kemudian hantar anak menantu ... "
Kata-kata itu bukan hanya sekadar mengundang tepukan gemuruh - ianya juga merupakan satu kebimbangan besar. Sesuatu memberitahu Mahathir bahawa republik jiran, dimana pentadbirannya yang dia ketahui masih lagi bertelagah sejak dari zaman Tunku Abdul Rahman, telah menggunakan tekanan dalam beberapa bentuk kuasa keatas Abdullah. Sejak dari itu, segala-galanya nampak semakin menjadi-jadi. Beliau nampak faktor hubungan Khairy dengan Singapura dalam setiap projek yang telah dibatalkan. Meluap dengan kekecewaan dan keinginan untuk bermain sama-rata, beliau mengambil keputusan untuk memusnahkan terus mercu-kuasa Khairy sekali dan untuk segala-galanya.
"Ada satu jenaka, yang mengatakan, tingkat empat adalah dimana segala-galanya ditempatkan ... daripada mesin penyalin, mesin faks, meja, kerusi, dan sebagainya ... sehinggakan, semua pembantu dan menteri-menteri Abdullah duduk dipejabat kosong mereka menunggu telefon, satu-satunya benda yang mereka punyai didalam bilik mereka, untuk berbunyi"
Selain daripada para penulis blog yang memperkuatkan kenyataannya, bekas perdana menteri itu menimbulkan syak wasangka hubungan Khairy dengan Singapura, mengandaikan bahawa Khairy mempunyai kedudukan baik dalam 'kalangan berpengaruh' direpublik tersebut. Serangan itu berterusan - ditambah dengan tohmahan daripada para penulis blog, Khairy akhirnya berjaya diperkecilkan kelibatnya daripada seorang menantu Perdana Menteri kepada seorang yang telah merosakkan maruah Perdana Menteri.
Selepas menerima serangan berapi dari kedua-dua Mahathir dan Matthias, Khairy berpaling arah kepada kerajaan negeri Pulau Pinang tadbiran Gerakan dengan isu panas mendidih - untuk Ketua Menterinya, Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon. Dengan nada kasar dan kata-kata kesat, orang nombor dua dalam Pemuda UMNO itu menyifatkan kerajaan negeri secara positifnya adalah cauvinis cina, dimana menurut beliau, akan merugikan orang Melayu dinegeri itu.
Tetapi dia tidak berhenti disitu. Khairy seterusnya mencadangkan satu sistem giliran bagi jawatan Ketua Menteri, tanggapan yang mencetuskan kekalutan dikalangan ahli UMNO yang mula mempertikaikan kepimpinan Gerakan. Kenyataan-kenyatan keras yang berbeza-beza dari seluruh peringkat parti berteras Melayu itu bergema atas satu tema - kerajaan negeri Pulau Pinang sepatutnya dipimpin UMNO.
Ledakan yang Khairy tujukan secara tiba-tiba kepada Cina Pulau Pinang menghasilkan gelombang yang sedikit sebanyaknya memberi kesan pada hasil prestasi Gerakan dan MCA pada pilihan raya umum 2008. Serangan itu dilihat secara umum sebagai topeng untuk mengaburi mata, hasil daripada keputusan yang beliau buat pada 12 Ogos 2006 untuk melupuskan seluruh kepentingan beliau dalam ECM pada harga 61 sen sesaham.
Keputusan (jualan) tersebut, ramai percaya adalah disebabkan oleh rasa bimbang, yang ia boleh menaikkan lebih rasa marah daripada cara pembelian saham itu sendiri. Dalam mempertahankan diri, Khairy dengan bijak menyatakan perlunya menyekat pencairan pegangan saham oleh orang Melayu, dan menjadikan ia sebagai sebab mengapa beliau menjual kepentingannya kepada usahawan Melayu dalam kerugian. Sepertimana yang dia selalu andaikan, orang Cina sentiasa cenderung untuk mengambil kesempatan daripada kelemahan UMNO dan menindas orang Melayu, ianya sudah cukup dijadikan alasan untuk membuat suatu pertukaran kepimpinan di Pulau Pinang.
"Hanya beberapa bulan selepas serangan keatas orang Cina di Pulau Pinang, seorang ahli perniagaan Cina tertentu dikatakan telah melepaskan pegangannya dalam perniagaan usahasama yang menampakkan kegagalan dan telah diletakkan didalam sebuah parti pembangkang Cina. Ahli perniagaan tersebut yang telah bertukar menjadi ahli politik juga dikatakan telah dibiayai oleh seorang hartawan Cina tertentu, seorang proksi Mahathir"
Ia tidak begitu jelas sehingga kehari ini mengapa Khairy memberi tumpuan utama pada Pulau Pinang. Desas desus mengatakan, bahawa ia ada kaitan dengan hakikat kedua-dua Singapura dan DAP memang meletakkan harapan pada negeri-pulau tersebut untuk Pilihan Raya Umum 2008. Ia bukan rahsia lagi bahawa orang kuat DAP Lim Kit Siang selama bertahun-tahun, sejak tahun tujuh puluhan, mengintai-ngintai negeri-pulau tersebut atas sebab yang saya akan nyatakan dengan terperinci, dengan penuh cermat dan berfakta ('with no stone unturned'), dalam satu siri artikel yang akan mula dikeluarkan lewat Mac tahun ini.
Jadi biarlah ia begitu, perkara sudah terjadi - orang Cina telah terkena bahana, dan begitu juga dengan kepimpinan Gerakan. Ia merupakan satu bonus tambahan apabila Khairy membuat tembakan-rambang pada kerajaan negeri pimpinan orang Cina, seperti satu petanda baik apabila ianya seiring dengan perancangan seorang ahli politik tertentu yang sudah pun berjaya sebelah kaki - rancangan untuk menyerahkan Pulau Pinang kepada DAP menjelang Pilihan Raya Umum Ke-12.
Akan disambung…
January 29, 2016
The Third Force
“Damn.”
It may have been the word whizzing in and out of Tun Dr. Mahathir’s conscience, again and again like a mantra. It may have been so loud, even the pundits felt his chagrin. The month was April and the year, 2006. Already, there was talk of simmering tensions between then Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi and his predecessor, Mahathir.
“Mahathir began to pick holes in Abdullah’s leadership as early as in 2005, although back then, the Prime Minister was never referred to directly. Issues that cropped up included the cancellation of the Johor crooked bridge project, the undermining of Proton by the leadership and the purchase of MV Augusta, an unviable, debt ridden European company that was purchased by Proton under dubious pretexts”
On the 31st of October 2003, right after handing over the reins of government to Abdullah, Mahathir vowed never to stick his oars in government, or as many had understood him, dabble in its politics.
But none of that was for real.
Exactly two years, seven months and seven days later, Mahathir rolled back on that promise, citing ingratitude worse than the sin of witchcraft – the sin of betraying him. He shocked the whole nation with expressions of discontent over what he claimed was his successor’s failure to deliver on his promises.
In the many, many words he spoke, Mahathir but implied this – Abdullah was not fit to run government. “I have the habit of choosing the wrong people,” he said.
It was a direct hit. The attack brought such disrepute to Abdullah – the question was not if, but when he would be brought down. In the next few months, Abdullah stayed apathetic, had a cow-to-mule session with Mahathir, and almost as if to commemorate the first anniversary of the attack, got remarried.
And all the while, Mahathir poured every ounce of scorn and guilt he could on Abdullah, such that the latter’s onetime loyalists retreated to a corner, afraid to move an inch. The crisis moderated the enthusiasm over Abdullah’s once neoliberal ideals to such an extent, that in just two years, he was regarded a fraud and a half.
“Islam Hadhari, an idea that was originally founded by the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, was really an extension of Islam Madani, an age old concept that was advocated by the Prophet Muhammad and his faithful companions. But Mahathir would have none of that, and strongly criticized Abdullah for “confusing the people.” In his own words, “…the Prophet brought only one Islam. He never mentioned anything about Islam Hadhari…(laughter by audience)”
But the question remains – what had prompted the grand old man of Malaysian politics to pound on his hand-picked successor with sledgehammer fists? More importantly, how does this all relate to the 2013 Chinese Tsunami, which Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak was falsely accused of inspiring?
The battle of the kin
Present day UMNO youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin was once touted ‘the next big thing since Mahathir’. Desperate for a sliver of controversy, journalists hearkened on that saying and began to caption his meteoric rise to prominence on a queer note – that Khairy was Mahathir’s political son.
But that meant the unthinkable – that both Khairy and Dato’ Seri Mukhriz Mahathir were in fact, political ‘step-brothers’. While the former was the son in-law of a (then) reigning Prime Minister, the other was the son of a former Prime Minister.
With a touch of kinship stroked onto the canvas, all that was needed was what lacked – the big picture. This, the social media did with ingenuity, resulting in the rumour that both Khairy and Mukhriz were locked in a battle of cunning and kinship for a greater presence within the party’s youth wing.
The insinuation was clear – the younger of the ‘step brothers’ was the doer, while the elder Mukhriz was the ‘late-bloomer’. Admittedly, there had been a drive of sorts to push Mukhriz to the brink of an oblivion which, I think, he would have done a fine job getting to on his own, one way or the other.
“During the 2009 UMNO elections, Khairy defeated Mukhriz in a contest for the youth leadership. While Dato’ Seri Mohd Ali Rustam was disqualified from contesting the party’s deputy presidency after being found guilty of money politics, Khairy was spared, which baffled critics and observers”
By late 2004, speculation was rife that there existed a chain of command that stretched beyond the corridors of power. The story goes that even a bearer of good deed was required an audience with Khairy before being admitted to the Prime Minister. Worse – it was said, that if Abdullah stayed any longer at his post, it would spell the end of Mukhriz, something Khairy would have made absolutely sure of without a moment’s hesitation.
The panic attack
While Mahathir was invariably affected by all of this, he remained silent.
Privately though, he began to sift the rumours of corruption that involved both Abdullah and Khairy to the bottom. Looking for that single, powerful reason to throw down the gauntlet, he turned to his aide for help, who, in 2005, whispered the four words that turned him white as a sheet – “Khairy is a spy.”
“It was whispered to Mahathir that Khairy was not who he seemed. What bothered Mahathir most was the whisper of Khairy’s involvement with the Singaporean Intelligence, the echo of which crept up in his conscience and probably even in his dreams, over and over again”
The accusation was outright – Khairy had allegedly been recruited while he studied in the United Kingdom (UK) by MI6, an agency that furnished the British government with foreign intelligence. And if that wasn’t enough, Dato’ Seri Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan, a dignitary once associated with The New Straits Times and The Malaysian Insider, was fingered as the person responsible to have recruited Khairy into yet another agency – the Singaporean intelligence.
As pale as snow, Mahathir approached the blogging roundtable and discussed what it would take to turn the in-laws into the outlaws. But even as the plot hatched on the anvil, he delivered his first salvo on the 7th of June 2006, when he accused Abdullah of backtracking on his pre-inaugural pledge to uphold the policies of government.
This, of course, got political pundits busy, in a sense that they were either explaining the outburst, or explaining it away. “Khairy Jamaluddin had become a threat to Mukhriz, which is why, Mahathir needs Abdullah to go,” or “It’s nothing serious. All Abdullah has to do is to keep a check on Khairy, and everything will be alright.”
By 2006 however, the chatter among political railbirds was congenial, and the insinuation was one –that Khairy would have to go in order to salvage the nation’s leadership.
A prelude to the attack on the Chinese
With such talk, it was no surprise that Khairy had become the most quoted man on the street. After having delivered the low on his backstairs cunning, the blogging roundtable, which had by then begun to work its miracles, called into question his cloaked commission in government.
The reason?
There were many. One in spotlight was a decision by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to sanction a non-competitive merger, the outgrowth of which was a restructured entity that weighted heavily towards the favour of Khairy, and interestingly, Kalimullah.
The merger helped ECM Libra Capital Berhad – a Kalimullah concern – consolidate control over Avenue Capital Resources Berhad, a subsidiary holding of the MoF’s Ministry of Finance Incorporated. The deal was negotiated through a share swap that didn’t just beef ECM up, it gave the securities firm access to licenses it probably would never have been able to own.
“The scandalous ECM-Avenue merger was touted the conspiracy of the decade. What irked critics was not only the fact that Khairy was the son in-law of the person who ultimately sanctioned the merger, but the fact that the merger made absolutely no sense from an economic standpoint”
Critics were chewing nails trying to figure how a meagre securities firm could swallow up a company four times its size. But a convolution of market acrobatics took care of that – it helped narrow the gap between the core values of the companies, bringing ‘goodwill’ right down to a minimum and making it the story of ‘a beggar purchasing a candy at a sweetshop’.
There was every indication that a deal may have gone through the kitchen door – both Khairy and Kalimullah were believed to have negotiated terms of reciprocity between partnership and merger before a proposal was put to the MoF, the portfolio of which was (then) held by Khairy’s father in-law.
The said negotiation resulted in the announcement by ECM’s board and founding members – Lim Kian Onn, David Chua and Kalimullah –that they were each selling one percent of their stockholding in ECM to Khairy. The announcement came days before a 19th of January statement by ECM, which not only spoke of merger – it put into perspective an element of corruption and political chicanery that may have been at play.
Exchange filings later revealed transactions worth 71 sen per share, accumulating to RM 9.2 million for the purchase of 12,990,000 shares by Khairy. When asked how he afforded to make such a purchase, Khairy simply answered, “I borrowed RM 9.2 million to buy shares.”
No sooner did he say that than he found himself in the thick of another controversy. Rumour mills chugged the un-heavenly tone of a conspiracy in which the son in-law, deemed to be under the influence of questionable forces, coaxed his Prime Minister of a father in-law to sanction not only the merger, but the fix to get there.
The fix may have had to do with yet another rumour that was going around the block – about RM 9.2 million being secured though knotty and roundabout negotiations in which Khairy, and in this particular case, a lesser mentioned Kalimullah, acted with wilful negligence in a complicity that involved their affiliates.
The first attack on the Chinese
Notwithstanding the rumours, both Mahathir and his most trusted aide, lawyer Matthias Chang, began to tear Khairy apart in the media expanse with questions and insinuations that implied practices that were ethically and morally difficult to defend. On the 27th of June 2006 and at an event that was well attended, Mahathir had this to say;
“Fourth floor (an insinuation to Khairy and his boys) is more powerful than the fifth floor (Abdullah’s office) as the fifth floor did not go to Oxford University…Sometimes we go over to Singapore to play golf and pat each other on the back over every little thing, then send the son in-law…”
Those weren’t just his biggest applause lines – they were his biggest fears. Something told Mahathir that the neighbouring republic, the administration of which he was known to have been at loggerheads with since the days of Tunku Abdul Rahman, had wielded some form of authority over Abdullah. From then on, everything seemed to add up. He had Khairy’s links to Singapore factored into every other project that was cancelled. Seething with frustration and a desire to get even, he decided that the Khairy edifice needed to be destroyed once and for all.
“There was a joke, where it was said that the fourth floor was where everything was…from the copiers, fax machines, desks, chairs, etc…that so much so, all of Abdullah’s assistants and ministers stood in their empty rooms waiting for their phones, the only thing they had in their rooms, to ring”
Standing apart from bloggers in the intensity of his remarks, the former premier evoked suspicion over Khairy’s links to Singapore, insinuating that the latter was well placed within the island republic’s ‘sphere of influence’. The attacks were relentless – coupled with mudslinging from bloggers, Khairy was quickly reduced from being the Prime Minister’s son in-law to being the Prime Minister’s flaw.
After taking fire from both Mahathir and Matthias, Khairy turned to the Gerakan run Penang state government with buckets of hot soup – for its Chief Minister, Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon. With an abrasive tone and ill-chosen words, the UMNO youth second in command implied that the state government was positively Chinese chauvinist, which according to him, was to the detriment of the state Malays.
But he didn’t stop there. Khairy went on to suggest a rotary system for the post of Chief Minister, a notion that sparked frenzy among UMNO members who began to decry Gerakan’s leadership. Strongly worded statements of dissent from all corners of the Malay based party resonated on one theme – an UMNO -led Penang state government.
The bolt from the blue that Khairy delivered to the Penang Chinese sent ripples that impacted on Gerakan and MCA’s performance during the 2008 general elections to some extent. The attack was widely perceived to be a smokescreen, the result of a 12th of August 2006 decision by him to relinquish all of his stakes in ECM at 61 sen a share.
That decision, which many believe was out of fear, incurred him more wrath than did the purchase of the shares itself. On the defensive, Khairy ingeniously declared the need to prevent the dilution of shareholding by the Malays, and put it as the reason why he sold his stake to a Malay entrepreneur at a loss. As he more or less implied, the Chinese were prone to take advantage of UMNO’s weakness and trample over the Malays, which was reason enough to effect a leadership change in Penang.
“Just a few months after the attack on the Chinese in Penang, a certain Chinese businessman was said to have relinquished his holding in a failed business venture and was planted in a Chinese based opposition party. The businessman turned politician was also said to have been funded by a certain Chinese tycoon, a Mahathir proxy”
It isn’t clear to this day why Khairy had zeroed in on Penang. Rumour has it, that it had something to do with the fact that both Singapore and DAP had their eyes set on the island state for the 2008 General Elections. It is no secret that DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang had for years, since the seventies, eyed the island state for a reason that I shall articulate, with no stone unturned, in a series of articles that will start to appear sometime late in March this year.
Be that as it may, the die was cast – the Chinese were hit, and so was the Gerakan leadership. It was an added bonus that Khairy had taken a pot-shot at the Chinese led state government, as it augured well with a plan by a certain politician that already was afoot – a plan to deliver Penang to DAP come the 12th General Elections.
To be continued…
(Dari blog Malaysia Today)
