Anwar dug his own grave

Malaysia Today
30 January 2006


Anwar dug his own grave
Raja Petra Kamarudin

They say one goes through many changes or transformations throughout
one’s life. In your teen years you would invariably only be concerned
with having a good time. For me, other than partying all night long,
motorcycle racing was my greatest passion of all and was my idea of a
good time. In between the annual Malaysian Grand Prix and novice
‘Clubman’s Races’ that used to be organised monthly or so at the Shah
Alam racing track, we also had our Saturday night races along Jalan
Kuching in Kuala Lumpur, which would be held way past midnight when
the streets of KL would be practically deserted and all the police
would be at home in their beds.

By my mid-twenties, by then I was already married with one kid, doing
business was what occupied my entire waking hours. I even stopped
riding for awhile as biking did not quite suit an image of a stable
and serious businessman. When I started dealing in motorcycles I of
course took up riding again, but more as a business promotion effort
rather than because of the joy of riding, though it was sort of like
combining business with pleasure.

By my late twenties, my business had grown and was practically
running on its own steam. It was then that I took a long and hard
look at myself and reflected on where I was heading to. You could say
I was auditing the first 27 or 28 years of my life and pondering
where I would be the next 27 or 28 years by the time I retire at 55.
Well, I reached 55 last September, so officially I am now retired.

That time of my life, 27-28, coincided with the Islamic Revolution of
Iran. Ustaz Haji Abdul Hadi Awang had also just returned from the
Middle East and was beginning to become very popular in Rhusila,
Terengganu. And Anwar Ibrahim had already been released from ISA
detention and was taking the country by storm with his Islamic youth
movement, ABIM. I sort of got carried along by the tide of ‘Islamic
revival’ and began to yearn to learn more about the religion I was
born into but hardly knew or practiced.

Anwar made many a visit to Terengganu to give talks organised by PAS.
I attended some of them though I stayed very much in the shadows so
that I would not be recognised. Trying to survive as a businessman is
not compatible with being seen at an opposition event. I must admit I
was taken in by the many speeches. I began to realise that there is
more to life than just having a good time and making money. I wanted
to discover Islam and find out how I could serve Islam and how Islam
could serve me.

I flirted with PAS for awhile and even parroted the often quoted
statements of its leaders that Malaysia must be an Islamic country,
that Hudud must be the law of the land, and that Umno is a party of
infidels (Kafir) for rejecting Islam and violating the teachings of
the Quran. I looked upon Anwar as Malaysia’s version of the saviour
of Iran.

Then Anwar joined Umno. And this really upset me to no end. In 1982,
during my Hajj, I travelled with the late Ustaz Fadzil Noor, Haji
Hadi, Mustapha Ali, Wan Mutallib Embong and two others to Medina
where we stayed for about a week. I spent many a late night talking
to these most illustrious PAS leaders about Islam in general and the
PAS struggle in particular. Surprisingly, though Ustaz Fadzil did
express his sadness at Anwar joining Umno, he did not condemn him. He
even said he understood why Anwar joined Umno. PAS struggles from the
outside to bring Islam to the nation. Anwar has chosen instead to do
it from inside Umno.

But Anwar will fail, said Ustaz Fadzil. And Ustaz Hadi added, “You
can’t clean the shit by jumping into the shit pot. Instead, you will
get covered by shit and become dirty.”

Yes, Ustaz Hadi was younger then, 24 years ago, and more hot-blooded,
but the elder Ustaz Fadzil looked at things from a more pragmatic
angle. If Anwar is sincere in joining Umno for the betterment of
Islam, then we should help him as much as we can. Not everyone needs
fight from the outside. Some should do so from inside Umno as well.
Struggles are not just about fighting but also about educating.

In short, I replied, changes can be both revolutionary as well as
evolutionary. While PAS chooses the revolution route (not to be
interpreted as ‘armed revolution’ but ‘abrupt change’) others can go
the evolution route (meaning education or slow change).

I found the fact that Ustaz Fadzil had come to terms with Anwar
joining Umno most settling and it made it easier for me to accept it
as well. And I took special note of his statement that we must help
Anwar as much as we can.

When Anwar decided to contest the Umno Youth leadership, some ABIM
chaps approached me and asked for help, in particular in Terengganu
which somehow was very hostile towards Anwar. Wan Mokhtar Ahmad, the
Terengganu Chief Minister, resented the fact that Anwar was
brandishing his ‘Islamic credentials’ when he is neither a Cairo nor
Medina university graduate. Wan Mokhtar, an ulamak (Muslim scholar),
just like most ulamaks, is very jealous of anyone who projects
himself as a Muslim leader if they come from an ‘English’ school; in
Anwar’s case the Malay College Kuala Kangsar. It seems ‘membership’
to the ulamak ‘club’ is restricted to only those who schooled in the
Middle East or Pakistan.

Anyway, we managed to open up Terengganu for Anwar by ‘capturing’
four of the eight Umno divisions in the state. Wan Mokhtar was
outraged and he told his boys to kill me off. “His forehead has
Anwar’s name tattooed on it,” said Wan Mokhtar, as related to me by
Cikgu Adam, his political secretary. I realised then that my life in
Terengganu was going to be most unpleasant indeed. (Later, Anwar told
me that Wan Mokhtar had complained to him about my ‘activities’ in
Terengganu and Anwar had the gall to 'wash his hands' and ‘disown’
me, leaving me to the mercy of Umno Terengganu).

While I never severed my relationship with PAS, I continued
‘flirting’ with Anwar; sort of like having a wife and a mistress on
the side as well. Fadzil Noor, Haji Hadi and Mustapha Ali all knew
this but they accepted it as a sort of ‘necessary evil’. When Umno
split into Team A and Team B, I decided to go along with Team B. I
felt that Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah is a better man that Dr Mahathir
Mohamad; the lesser of the two evils so to speak.

Kamaruddin Jaafar, then political secretary to Deputy Prime Minister
Ghaffar Baba, and I, met Azmi, Ibrahim Ali’s brother, at the Merlin
Hotel, now called Concorde. Azmi showed us his computer printout.
Tengku Razaleigh and Musa Hitam were ahead by at least 10%. “If
Anwar’s boys support Ku Li and Musa for President and Deputy
President,” said Azmi, “We will also support Anwar for Vice President.”

Kamaruddin and I rushed to Anwar’s house to deliver Azmi’s message.
Anwar went berserk. “No deal!” he screamed. “I have promised Mahathir
my support. If Ku Li and Musa win, I will resign even if I win the
Vice Presidency. So if you want me to stay in the government, then
better make sure Mahathir wins.” Kamaruddin and I looked at each
other and shrugged our shoulders. We both felt this was a major mistake.

I went back to the Merlin and met Noor Azam, Mahathir’s political
secretary, and told him that Ku Li and Musa were ahead by 10%. It was
apparent that Ku Li was very well organised with three operation
centres equipped with computers while Mahathir’s campaign team had
nothing other than the fact he was already Prime Minister. I had no
confidence Mahathir could win and I told Noor Azam so. I also told
him that Kamaruddin seemed to share this view.

Noor Azam looked very perturbed. He was sweating, though the air
conditioning in the Merlin was very cold and it was 3.00am, and he
kept taking out his handkerchief to wipe his forehead.

The next day we met in one of the hotel rooms of the Merlin and
pondered on what to do to save Mahathir’s arse. Dr Wan Ismail
(Anwar’s father-in-law), Ahmad Sebi Abu Bakar (TV3’s CEO), Noor Azam,
Kip Bahadum (Umno’s executive secretary), Syed Ibrahim (who recently
died of gunshot wounds in his Kenny Hills home), plus a couple of
other chaps I should not mention by name sat gloomily around the table.

There was clearly no other way. We would have to cheat. That would be
the only way to save Mahathir and, for me, to ensure that Anwar stays
in the government.

Two speeches were prepared for Mahathir, one long one and another
short speech. He would read the short speech first and if the crowd
of 1,800 delegates (there was no Umno Sabah yet then) seem to have
been swayed, then he would stop there. Only if it appears like we
have not yet won the crowd’s support would Mahathir need to read the
long speech.

Then we met Tajol Rosli, Khalil Yaacob, Annuar Musa, Bakar Daud,
Farid Ariffin, Ghani Othman, Saad Man, Bakar Dewa, Zubir Embong,
Rashid Mohamad, Rashid Ngah, Rahman Bakar, and a few other Umno
‘Mafia bosses’ to inform them of the plan and to solicit their
support. We would organise about 200 ‘observers’ with
‘urusetia’ (secretariat) tags in the front rows who would stand up to
shout “hidup Mahathir!” halfway through his speech. The divisions
aligned to Mahathir would be placed immediately behind the ‘cheering
squad’ while those against at the back of the hall. Once everyone in
front stands and cheers, those at the back would have no choice but
to follow suit. This would give the impression that the entire hall
is with Mahathir and those undecided or fence-sitters would not take
the risk of voting for Ku Li but would vote for Mahathir instead.

Tajol Rosli appeared reluctant at first. He did not think it would
work. Perak had one of the largest number of divisions, so the
support of this state was crucial. We suggested that a very grateful
Mahathir might fulfil his (Tajol’s) dream; to be the Chief Minister
of Perak like his father before that. Finally, after many minutes of
silence, he said he would join the group but only if we can get
support from other divisions as well. If not, he would not take the
risk as he felt Mahathir was doomed.

Mahathir was not told of the plan and he was genuinely taken by
surprise when half the hall suddenly stood up to shout ‘hidup
Mahathir!’ Those at the back of the hall slowly and reluctantly stood
up to join the chorus. They could certainly not continue sitting and
not shout as well, which would reveal they were with Ku Li.

Mahathir just stood there, speechless, as the shouting went on. He
then said, “Terima kasih” (thank you) and sat down without completing
his speech. The Chairman, Sulaiman Niman Shah, then asked that the
voting commence immediately. There was a protest from some delegates
as the schedule said ‘tea break’. But Sulaiman was firm. “You can go
for your tea break but you cannot come back into the hall to vote,”
he said. “If you want to vote then do so now, after which you can go
for your tea break.”

“Teh takkan kemana! (The tea will not go anywhere)” said Sulaiman.

This move was meant to prevent any last minute campaigning by Ku Li’s
boys. We had already psyched the crowd so it would be dangerous to
allow them to be turned, which would happen if we allowed them to
mingle and talk outside the hall.

Of course, many other things (cheating) were done as well to enable
Mahathir to win and Ku Li knows he actually won that day and was
legally the Prime Minister of Malaysia, if not for the cheating. For
all intents and purposes, Mahathir stole the win from Ku Li, and I
blame Anwar entirely for this. We did not like Mahathir but we wanted
Anwar in the government, so we accepted Mahathir as a necessary evil
that came with the package.

That was probably the biggest mistake we ever made.

Well, we all know what happened in 1998. Anwar paid dearly for his
crime of keeping Mahathir in power. Ku Li was the one who brought
Anwar into Umno against the wishes of Mahathir. Finally, Anwar sided
with Mahathir against Ku Li. Do you think Ku Li might yet have the
last laugh when he goes on to become Malaysia’s next Prime Minister?
You never know. In politics anything is possible.

Ends