The Daim link: Zaid has to get his act together or wither away

Written by K Suresh, Malaysia Chronicle

Kita President Zaid Ibrahim has done it again! He has now decided in a rather dramatic about-turn to stay out of the forthcoming 13th General Election and back the opposition alliance, Pakatan Rakyat (PR), instead.

Yet, hardly weeks ago, Zaid couldn’t wait to turn up in Kota Kinabalu and declare that Sabah Kita, the local chapter, would field candidates in all 60 state seats and 26 parliamentary seats – including one in Labuan. He was brimming with supreme confidence on arrival at the airport. By a stroke of luck, reporters who had earlier gathered there for another function, covered his arrival too, no doubt “for old times’ sake”

Except in Sarawak, Zaid had also made some noises along similar lines – “we will contest many seats” - in Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak watchers say, had he declared in Kuching that his recycled party would take on the Taib Mahmud regime in every seat in the state, the Ibans in particular would have "all died laughing".

East Malaysian rebuff

The poor reception in Sabah and Sarawak in recent days must have made Zaid come to grips with the political realities on the ground. His past popularity in the two states, during his Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) days, is now nowhere in evidence. He’s no longer feted like royalty in the two states and local reporters are avoiding him like the plague.

Zaid couldn’t get a crowd of even 20 people to attend his recent political ceramahs (lectures) in Kota Kinabalu and in the outskirts, and little wonder, given the 'newness' or his party and the baptism of fire in which it was formed after leaving PKR in a cloud of controversy.

So far, Kita has only been able to attract political has-beens. There was a time when 200 to 500 people would turn up to hear Zaid speak, wherever he went. These numbers must have gone to his head and persuaded him finally to quit PKR in a huff.

Zaid also had pretensions, at one time, to lead the 3rd Force in Malaysian politics. This was a no-brainer of an idea put in his head by some bloggers in Peninsular Malaysia and other bogus characters passing themselves off as cyber-journalists.

3rd Force and Waythamoorthy

Zaid saw the 3rd Force as ushering in a three-party system like in the United Kingdom. He flew to London in a great hurry and tried to get Hindraf Makkal Sakthi chairman, P Waythamoorthy, to support such a platform under his leadership. Waythamoorthy reportedly listened politely but didn’t commit himself. Waythamoorthy has been one disappointed man ever since Zaid quit PKR suddenly; dashing his earlier hopes that here was a man he could talk to in the party.

Not that it was national politics Waythamoorthy was keen on, but more so, he was in agreement with activists in Sabah and Sarawak that Malaysia needed a Malaysian Borneo-based a national coalition to compete with Pakatan Rakyat and the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN), both Peninsular Malaysia-based national coalition. The 3rd Force, Waythamoorthy agreed, would give meaning to the 1963 Malaysian Agreement and stand up for the autonomy promised therein to Sabah and Sarawak.

Any takers - would anyone dare?

Over in Malaysian Borneo as in Peninsular Malaysia, what has been particularly galling of late has been Zaid’s tendency to praise Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak at every opportunity he gets. If he doesn’t get an opportunity, he creates one and comes out shamelessly in gushing praise of Najib’s latest gimmick or hype.

Since Najib didn’t take the bait as often as he expected, Zaid has decided to sulk in PR’s corner of the ring. It’s anybody’s guess whether there will be any takers, given that barely 3 months ago in September, Zaid had wanted to gon on a roadshow for Najib!

Meanwhile, in a statement posted on its website, this is Kita's reason for its sudden change of heart. "Whilst we disagree with some of the opposition’s policies, we believe that despite these shortcomings the opposition will not destroy racial harmony in Malaysia ... unity demands that smaller parties, such as ourselves, give way to larger political parties to ensure optimum results in the election,” it said.

The Daim factor

Zaid clearly needs to get together in politics and decide once and for all whether he’s in or out. If he’s in, he should stop vacillating and say what he means and mean what he says.

There are many doubts about him in the minds of the voters and ex-Pakatan colleagues. He has to clarify and clear up these doubts planted single-handedly by himself since the days of the old Umno.

For starters, Zaid cannot shake off the sneaking suspicion of late that he’s actually not his own man. This due largely to the fact that he was Umno's chief lawyer and from there had built the nation's biggest law firm. There has also been speculation that he’s a proxy for former Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin.

Daim is the man who never became Prime Minister because his “kuda” (horse), Mahathir Mohamad, turned against him one day and soon after kicked him out from the Federal Cabinet.

One will never know for certain what actually brought Daim – the executor of Mahathir's hare-brained scheme to create Malay millionaires – to finally come to blows with the former PM. But Mahathir was the ultimate 'user'. He used issues with the same ruthless disregard as he did with people. And once done, he discarded them with impunity.

Party grapevine has it that Zaid had impressed Daim, when the latter was Treasurer of both Umno and Umno Baru. Zaid, the lawyer, it appears had a role to play somewhere in the accounting of the old Umno assets. Perhaps, this is why many in the party see a link between the two men.

Deliberately created chaos for Anwar

But whatever the merits or otherwise of the alleged Daim-Zaid association, it’s clear that this factor more than anything else drove the latter out from PKR although the excuse given was “the tainted party polls”.

No election is free from irregularities, even fraud, but the legitimacy of any election stems from the line in the sand: was any evidence of irregularity, or fraud, serious enough to affect the outcome of the result. If not, irregularity or fraud is not an issue. Zaid, as a lawyer, chose not to know and instead compromised PKR’s image by mindlessly alleging voting fraud at every opportunity and to the great delight of Umno.

If bygones are to be bygones, Zaid should for one apologise for imputing sinister motives to those were responsible for conducting the PKR polls late last year. it paved the way for Najib to go to town with his theories and allegations.

Eyeing slot in Pakatan?

Zaid should also state whether Kita plans to apply for membership in Pakatan and thereby establish his credentials and credibility. In a way, this will be a homecoming of sorts for him, whether he is accepted or given the boot.

Zaid should also clarify whether Daim is the grand puppet master behind his party. This factor, if true, will not go down well with Anwar Ibrahim, the de facto PKR chief and former deputy prime minister, who had also taken on Daim's job as Finance minister in the mid 90s.

The two men get along like oil and water, and Daim is believed to have been one of the masterminds behind the first round of bogus sodomy charges pressed against Anwar by the Umno-led federal government.

The bottomline is that Zaid’s and Kita’s support for Pakatan must be unconditional if it’s to be seen as sincere and worthy of consideration.

Everyone makes mistakes. To err is only human. But at this point in time, it’s more than a little difficult to accept that to forgive is divine.

Malaysia Chronicle

A morning session with The Oracle of Syed Putera — Sakmongkol AK47

August 06, 2011

AUGUST 6 — Once again, I have the pleasure to share with readers, the current thoughts of the Oracle of Syed Putra.

To refresh the minds of readers, the Oracle is the alter ego of Tun Daim Zainudin. You can almost say what the Oracle says is what Tun Daim thinks. It seems now, whatever Tun Daim says is carefully analyzed. And Tun Daim is a dangerous seer. In 2008, he predicted the loss of BN in 5 states. The UMNO generals were up in arms. They vilified him, describing him with all sorts of disrespectful terms. Daim is a pensioner. Daim is out of touch. Daim is irrelevant. When the results came, what Daim predicted was generally true. So how does Daim see the future?

According to the Oracle, it’s a grim future for Umno and BN. the country has no leadership. Announcements were made continuously without understanding what were said. The PM reads the budget in parliament but when it comes to Q&A, Nor Yaakob does the answering. Some people prepare the text and PM who has no time to understand the context, will just read it.

The Oracle related the many occasions when Tun Daim answered he doesn’t understand what the New Economic Model or the various economic initiatives are all about. He only understands basic business models- 2+ 2= 4.

Now if a wily business man like Daim doesn’t understand Najibnomics, what chance do common folks have? Civil servants complained to Daim about having to implement policies which they have no part in giving inputs.

Our economic models are prepared by consultants under the commissar-ship of people like Omar Ong or Idris Jala. The PM’s rating says the Oracle has been sliding precipitously since the Bersih Rally. He handled that one badly. The NGO was already declared an illegal one, yet he allowed them to have an audience with the Agong.

The man who was instrumental in brokering Ambiga’s audience with the Agong was Pak Lah, the former PM. When asked the PM said Pak Lah wanted to help out, but that kind of help hastens his plummeting rating.

The Malays have a saying for this — sokong membawa rebah. All is not well with our country. The majority of the Chinese are not going to vote BN. Moving from one Chinese based party (MCA) to another( DAP) presents no mental hurdle for the Chinese. They are businesslike in their decisions. One, the Chinese are aware that Chinese interests are better looked after by a more aggressive political party.

Two, stepping out from Umno’s shadow offers some satisfaction for the Chinese because doing so, remits a form of punishment to their cocky big brother. The Chinese have long wanted to teach MCA a lesson. MCA will not be able to stop this rising disenchantment. Most important of all, the general economic independence of the Chinese gives them the luxury of choice. They can choose and Umno and BN don’t appear on their radar screen. MCA will probably be left with 5 parliamentary seats. MIC will be completely annihilated. It will be reduced to another PPP and IPF and operates on the same level as Nalakaruppan’s party. The more pragmatic Indian parties will chose to work with whoever comes into power for the sake of the Indian community. The Indian parties do not have friends. They have only permanent interests.

But let’s see what the Oracle says are Daim’s prognosis about my party, Umno. It seems Umno people continue to enthrall themselves into believing that all is still well. They have no inkling that the next GE will be the most formidable fort them.

Some commentators in my blog say, the Pakatan people can never influence the Kampong people. What keeps the kampong people loyal at the moment are the reasonably good prices of rubber and palm oil. They couldn’t care less about the quality of BN and Umno’s leadership. They are worried about the roofs over their heads, food on the table, schooling for the children, jobs for them.

The bumper years of good rubber and palm oil prices are slowly and painfully being cancelled out by the rising cost of living. The price of essential goods keeps in rising while incomes remain stable. Once that tenuous balance is dislodged, then the full wrath of the people will be seen.

So don’t go on banking on the steadfastness of kampong people. Their own political perceptions are continuously being leavened and moderated by those of their more socially and politically conscious children. Sons and daughters come back to kampongs to debrief parents.

The younger generation’s views are shaped by the new media of the internet, twitters and Facebooks. They tell a different story from those which parents are accustomed to. The new stories the children bring demolish the once captive minds of the older generation- minds that were once shaped unchallenged by the old tired and boring media.

The Oracle has been away for quite some time. He has been with Daim on an extended overseas trip. So when I asked the Oracle yesterday (Thursday) where has he been — all he said was somewhere out of Malaysia. I asked why? Nothing to do here in Malaysia. But were you keeping abreast of what’s happening in Malaysia? Of course I do. What’s your thinking on the current political and economic situation? So here are some of the things he said. Najib’s personal rating has plummeted since the Bersih March. It has plummeted alarmingly. Suddenly people realise that Najib is all poster boy, long on popularity, unfortunately short in ability. His handling of the Bersih march was done in a very whimsical way. You can say, the quality of the person handling the Bersih case is like the leadership of a pengerusi JKKK.

A year ago when Najib took over Pak lah, the general perception was that Najib is much better than Pak Lah. He has the looks and better articulation. A few months ago, the Oracle told me, Najib is slightly better than Pak Lah. Now, the perception is Najib is even more terrible than Pak Lah. The PM must be having some communications problem with the Agong.

I was told that Daim recommended the PM speak to Agong before the Bersih event. How the recommendation got transmitted, I am not privy nor did I asked the Oracle.

He (Najib) should have advised the Agong at that time to declare that the King is ready to meet up with Bersih reps and received the memo. While at that, the King could have advised Ambiga and others, as responsible and law abiding citizens that maybe no rally was necessary as now the memo has been received. Or if the march were to be allowed even after an audience with the King, make Amibiga and others responsible for the conduct of marchers.

The police could simply be ordered to step out of the way, save for those looking out after traffic management. Then if anything disorderly did take place, the organisers of the rally will be held accountable.

But the problem is, Najib has too many advisers. They don’t have the political savvy. Their responses are the kind you take directly out from the textbooks read mostly by 3rd world despots. Rally marchers? Use teargas and batons. Get physical with them! Jail them! But the problem here is we no longer lived in a bordered world. It’s now border-less.

If FBC dishes out sycophantic and pandering rendition of events, other media practitioners are more critical and more believable. Najib may say with a poker face about minimal force being applied and while talking to Defterious, scenes depicting actual physical altercations and teargassing are being shown worldwide.

That would make Najib looked like a liar. To be continued……………….how many states will fall. — sakmongkol.blogspot.com

* Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de plume of Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz. He was Pulau Manis assemblyman (2004-2008). http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/a-morning-session-with-the-oracle-of-syed-putera-sakmongkol-ak47/