Friday, February 07, 2014

THE KAJANG STRATEGY. IS THIS THE REASON WHY?



Malaysian Chinese are still celebrating the Year of the Wooden Horse. Noticeable, there were fewer shoppers this year. The main culprit – high prices of goods. Instead of spending and showing off at restaurants, many chose to spend time at home during reunion dinners. Instead of chatting about (*yawn*) skyrocketing cost of living at the dinner table, they found a new “refreshing” topic – Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition de-facto leader, as the new Selangor Menteri Besar.

Yes, many were caught in surprise over the shocking resignation of Anwar’s own party assemblyman Lee Chin Cheh, in a so-called strategic move to enable Anwar to contest the seat. Tons of speculation are choking the cyberspace over the motive of such a bizarre move. Was it to resolve the infamous feud between existing Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim and ambitious PKR Deputy President Azmin Ali? Was it to punish the efficient but stingy Khalid? Was it to wallop all the billions stashed in the state’s coffer?
Kajang by-election - Multiple Reasons
Was it because power-crazy Anwar couldn’t wait any longer thus wanted to taste the power of a Chief Minister now, since he couldn’t possibly become the prime minister? Was it because of Anwar’s sodomy case hence the needs to make him as indispensable as possible? Was it because the federal government BN succeeded in the Selangor Langat 2 water treatment plant project, indirectly portraying MB Khalid as a weak leader when comes to negotiation?

Perhaps the answer is all of the above. That would kill many birds with a stone. But that would put Anwar in the same league as Lim Guan Eng or Mukhriz Mahathir. That’s a demotion and this is not something which is very auspicious especially when you’re welcoming the new Year of the Horse (*grin*). Come on, Anwar is better than that. If he wanted the smell of a Chief Ministership, PM Najib can offer something much more better than that – any senior minister portfolios – in exchange for Anwar’s entire PKR party defection.
Kajang by-election - Selangor Richest State for Grab
Heck, PKR can even retain the present chief minister post in addition to some federal ministership if they’re ready to defect. To hell with Mahathir’s resistance. So, why would a giant such as Anwar be fielded to contest in Kajang, and presumably he could defend the seat, be proposed as the new Menteri Besar? Why would Anwar agreed to such a so-called “strategic” move and in the process be called power crazy ciplak no better than the dirty corrupt Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders? Heck, that is worse than calling him a homosexual ready to pounce on any cute boys on the street.

Sure, the present Menteri Besar Khalid is no angel but he’s well liked by many due to his transparency and efficiency. But that’s all about him. He’s merely a corporate person. He’s not a politician. In fact, he’s a novice politician whom the federal government BN loves because whenever the latter unleashes dirty politics of race and religion, Khalid will be stunned and can do nothing as can be seen by the latest “Allah” controversy. Khalid does not know how to counter BN’s dirty politics and that’s a big no-no in this country’s politics.
Kajang by-election - Anwar New Menteri Besar
Besides boasting about Selangor state’s billions of dollars in reserve, there’re not much changes that otherwise can be associated with the PR state government. There’re pros and cons of having gigantic amount of money in the coffer. A surplus means you do not have to worry about operation and development costs. However it won’t do any good if you’re too prudent (or rather too stingy). To rival cash-rich BN, PR (Pakatan Rakyat) government needs to spend. Well, at least once in a while, you need to throw in some free dinners here and there (*grin*).

Well, at least that was the perception by PR leaders. Furthermore, weren’t PKR members once UMNO diehard fans? Yes, state funds management is another reason why Anwar was not really happy with Khalid. What if the state were to fall to BN one day? In Chinese, it’s call digging a well so that others can drink its water. All the hard work of preserving the billions will be gone in a blink of an eye in case of a major defection and BN comes back to power in Selangor.
Kajang by-election - Anwar Kajang Satay
So, is there any other compelling reason why Anwar suddenly fell in love with Kajang Satay? Perhaps the answer can be found within Rafizi’s explanation to the public as to why Anwar needs to become a Selangor assemblyman. Rafizi, said to be the architect of this latest stunt warned that once PM Najib is removed, Selangor state could fall. If you still couldn’t smell what’s cooking, perhaps you can get further hints from veteran newsman Kadir Jasin, who happens to be Mahathir mouthpiece. Kadir claimed it was to prevent defections from disgruntled Selangor assemblymen.

It seems the mighty Pakatan Rakyat (PR), with its more than two-thirds majority (PKR’s 14 seats, DAP’s 15 seats and PAS’s 15 seats) in Selangor, could crumble if the right button is pressed by minority BN. We have said this before and we would like to repeat this again – PAS is as strong as the longevity of Nik Aziz and PR’s strength relies heavily on Anwar gelling the three parties together. Even as we speak, BN is still rubbing shoulders with PAS leaders persuading them to leave PR and “re-join” BN. That’s BN’s first priority – to entice PAS away from PR.
Kajang by-election - Selangor Seats
It’s near to impossible in getting DAP to leave PR, so the second priority is to “buy” as many PKR assemblymen as possible. Let’s relook at the score-chart from last year’s general election results. If PAS were to leave, PKR and DAP would have a razor thin simple majority of 29 seats. Throw in some loose change and you can easily get more than two assemblymen from PKR or DAP or both to defect and voila – BN gets to form a new state government. Could Anwar be informed that UMNO and PAS almost strikes a deal where PAS gets the Menteri Besar post (*grin*)?

Even if the above plan fails, the trick to buy over Azmin Ali and his boys (assemblymen) is equally poisonous. With Azmin Ali’s defection to UMNO, PAS would not think twice about demanding the Menteri Besar post since PAS would have many more seats than PKR. That would make PKR party irrelevant since it also means it does not control any state, drying it from the much needed “rich resources”. Can you see how desperate the situation is in the background? Anwar needs to become the new Selangor Menteri Besar to prevent such coup.
Kajang by-election - Emergency Declaration
Of course the possibility of federal government declaring emergency and subsequently toppling PR Selangor state government is indeed real, considering the federal government doesn’t seems to be serious about ending the highly controversial “Allah” issue. That was the reason Anwar didn’t bother to discuss with either DAP or PAS about his Kajang battle. And the fact that PAS was foaming at mouth demanding for the Menteri Besar post, before even Anwar has the chance to explain his objectives, proves how greedy PAS is.

With Anwar as the new chief minister, Azmin would think twice about jumping over. It’s not because Azmin admires Anwar’s six-pack abs, but rather the latter’s willingness to spend money to make everyone happy. PAS would be equally delighted with a new flow of funds into their respective coffers. That would make UMNO extremely worry because ex-UMNO Anwar knows how to create more problems to UMNO when he has billions of dollars at his disposal.
Kajang by-election - Putrajaya Panic
Already, UMNO is panic as they didn’t expect Anwar’s latest stunt. They keep pulling rabbits out of hat, from bitching about Anwar wasting public money to even declaring Selangor Sultan has absolute power and would not agree to Anwar being the new Menteri Besar. If two-thirds majority of Selangor assemblymen agreed to Anwar becoming the next chief minister, would the sultan simply throws this out of the window? Today is the age of social media and not the iron-fist rule during Mahathir’s era, so go figure what the sultan would do.

Heck, Najib administration is in such a disarray over Kajang by-election that they couldn’t even decide which party within its coalition to contest till today, let alone the candidate itself. If it’s true that Kajang folks are super angry with Anwar triggering this by-election as alleged, UMNO can simply field Ibrahim Ali, Chua Soi Lek or even Samy Vellu and expect a landslide victory. Just read more silly bitchings from Najib administration in the coming weeks and you can judge how panic they actually are.
Kajang by-election - PAS ro betray PKR DAP
The prospect of PAS defecting to BN is real. The prospect of Azmin and his boys’ defection is also real. The prospect of BN launching an emergency declaration on Selangor is also possible. By hook or by crook, Selangor needs to be taken back, the same way Perak was wrestled. The only difference between Selangor and Perak is the former (sadly) doesn’t have comical froggies such as Hee Yit Foong. Thus, Rafizi’s latest move is indeed brilliant. The only question now – can Anwar win Kajang state seat with a majority higher than 6,824 votes, won by Lee last year.

Forget about Anwar’s marketing talk about why he is contesting the Kajang state seat. He won’t tell you the actual reasons. There’s no way he will expose publicly about PAS’s plan to defect, let alone explaining the cracks within his own PKR party. Going forward, you will read and hear more attacks from two parties – UMNO and PAS – because Anwar’s entry into Selangor state means their grand plan is jeopardized.
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