The Ultimate Political Battle : Anwar Ibrahim vs Najib Tun Razak - Part 1

by : Fatimah Zuhri

1.     I have been very quiet lately in FB and twitter. Not because there are no important issue to talk about but because I was doing some research and meeting friends here and there.

2.     Before I start writing further, I suggest 99% of PAS supporters who are currently reading this to stop reading because they are incapable to understand the "bigger picture". They should just be content reading Harakah or any of those "soft porn" books like Mastika and what have you...

3.     So the latest issue : Anwar Ibrahim is accused as being a Zionist/CIA agent. No doubt this is not new. We have heard of these allegations since early 1996.

4.     Anwar Ibrahim relationship with the West goes back to his heyday as student activist in UM. A good source of Anwar's link with the West has been well documented by the website : http://www.anwaraidc.com/

5.     Heck, if you dont believe that website, why dont you go to CSPAN, and do a search of Anwar Ibrahim's name. What/who is CSPAN? I am sure the numbskull from PAS will ask this question and my reply is simple. If you have no idea what CSPAN is then you should go and play with kids (read my point number 2).

6.     You will find a video on Sept 28th 1993, of Anwar Ibrahim being introduced to the US Senate floor by none other than then US Senator from Maine, William S Cohen.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/clip.php?appid=597495538

7.     Hold yer horses, this is NOT the famous video of Anwar visiting the US in 1997 when William Cohen (now the US Sec of Defense) walking side by side with Anwar as he was getting the full 19 gun salute.

8.     4-5 years before William Cohen became US Sec of Defense. A few months after Anwar was appointed the all powerful title of Minister of Finance and few months before he became number 2 in Malaysia.

9.     An excerpt of William Cohen speech (read carefully the words) :

"Mr. President...It occurs that on the very same occasion we have another important visitor here, the Finance Minister of Malaysia, Mr. Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim. He is here with us on the floor of the Senate, and we want to welcome him. He is an extraordinary individual: very young, as you can see, and also extraordinarily talented; and he is about to become the No. 2 official in his country. Obviously, he has even greater aspirations beyond that. So we wanted to take this occasion to welcome him here as well."

10.     To the dumb PAS ppl, you might watch the video and say it is fake because the President whom William Cohen was referring to was Al Gore and not Bill Clinton! It must be fake...

11.     For your information, the President here refers to the President of the US Senate...again go read Mastika la...

12.     Anyway, you might wonder why was Anwar there? Why was William Cohen chosen to introduce Anwar out of 100++ Senators in Capitol Hill?

13.     Well, if one were to read the many articles by Mat Sabu, Subky Latif, late Fadzil Noor and the other 1% of PAS members circa 1992-1997, one would know WHO William S Cohen is/was.

14.     But I am not interested to talk on this issue but I am more interested to talk about the political angle of it.

15.     So what is the "big picture" here? What is the game being played? Simple really.

16.     If you read back some of my early article on the future of PKR( I dont use PR because PKR is the main player, the other 2 parties are just "nyamuk"), you would see that one of the challenges that Anwar will have to face is Najib himself.

17.     Many people including the "pseudo-liberals" and self proclaimed "Intelligentsia" were perplexed why Najib appointed Dato JJ as our man in DC. Why Najib wanted to have a better, warmer and closer relationship with the US?

18.     For many years under Tun Dr Mahathir helm, we had a hate-love relationship with the US. Being a protege of Tun Dr M, many people thought Najib will follow suit. But Najib surprised everyone including Anwar and his many pakistani-british/pakistani-american consultants when Najib opted for the road less travel by.

19.     Najib may be Tun Dr M protege but he is not Tun Dr M. He himself knows this. It is a waste of time and suicidal to "fight" with Anwar Ibrahim on "the streets of Kuala Lumpur". Anwar Ibrahim is too experienced and too cunning.

20.     Many UMNO people themselves were perplexed why Najib "do not fight back". These people were hoping for Najib to "fight back" at Anwar just as how Mahathir used to do to Ku Li, Musa Hitam, Fadzil Noor, Kit Siang etc.

21.     Najib knows his strength and weaknesses. So what did Najib do to neutralize Anwar offensive attacks? Simple. He cut the supply chain (read: $$$$ support) of Anwar Ibrahim.

22.     No doubt when Anwar was Minister of Finance and DPM, he enriches himself and his cronies. Many of his cronies are still living overseas, still have yet to return to Malaysia. But thanks to inflation, the value of Anwar's corruption in 1997 does not have the same value in 2010.

23.     Running a well organized and systematic political machine requires $$$$, infact it needs a lot of $$$$.

24.     Anwar has been getting $$$$ from the US for many years. Of course he denies it but who wouldnt? But if you are in PKR, ask yourself and look around, where does PKR source of $$$$ comes from?

25.     When Najib first appointed APCO in order to strengthen and smoother the relationship between Malaysia and US, Anwar did not care much. Anwar thought Najib just wanted to get US help for economic purposes. Anwar has friends in APCO himself. However after his friends told him that the organization had succesfully patch up the once cold relationship between the two countries, Anwar got scared.

26.     By then, Anwar and his many pakistanis consultants realized that Najib is trying to "move to the center" and making Anwar an irrelevant entity. Heck, if Malaysian government is friendly to US why the heck do they need Anwar for?

27.     Scared, desperate (because of his sodomy trial) and jealous with the new warm relationship btw the two governments, Anwar gamble and played the APCO-Israel issue. The many goons in PKR and PAS who could not see "the big picture" played to the gallery like the good sheep that they always are.

28.     What is Anwar strategy here? Simple. Anwar knew that Muslims in Malaysia are emotional lot. The mentioned of the word "Jews" will make them go "amok". Anwar strategy was to use this as a tool to forced Najib to abandon APCO. The result that Anwar was hoping for was that with APCO gone, he will once again become THE figure in Malaysia in the eyes of US govt.

29.     But Najib saw through this strategy by Anwar. If it was Paklah no doubt, a flip flop decision will be taken. Najib steadfastness on the issue of APCO forced Anwar to go a step further.

30.     I had caution/foretold that by playing the anti-semitic issue, Anwar is shooting himself in the foot. You dont bite the hand that feeds you. Anwar's gamble did not pay off. The Najib camp in DC played this issue to the max. Jewish lobbyist and influential US Senators were shown remarks and statements made by Anwar in Dewan Rakyat.

31.     They were shocked that Anwar had "double crossed" them. It was a PR (read: public relation) victory for Najib. He manages to not just sidelined Anwar in the eyes of the US government but also made Anwar's "supplier of $$$$" to revolt againts their once blue eyed boy.

32.     If you noticed, in the early days when the APCO-Israel issue came out, Anwar did not differentiate between Jews and Zionist. Anwar knew for Malays Jews=Zionist, there is no differences. But when his pakistani-american consultant told him that this strategy had angered their "supplier", Anwar softened his stance and let PAS lead the attack.

33.     I have traveled and met with many of these lobbyist in Capitol Hill. They have no regards or kind words for PAS. For them PAS is the party who called for volunteers to join the Taliban army when the US attacked Afghanistan in 2001. But Anwar had assured many of his friends there that PAS is "under his control".

34.     But when they started to read statements and remarks by Anwar, they thought Anwar had turned his back on them. They believed Anwar had been influenced by the PAS extremist.

35.     Anwar and his many consultants in DC and London tried days and nights to assure his lobbyist friends that he is using the Zionist theme more as a political tool and nothing more.

36.     If you remembered, during this time, Anwar sent PKR delegation to the US senate. However Anwar did not tell everyone in the delegation the main purpose of the visits. Anwar only told a couple of his inner circle the main objective of the visit. To the rest of the PKR MPs, Anwar just told them it was a "lawatan sambil belajar".

37.     One of the MPs who went was Fuziah Salleh, the PKR Election Director. A couple of days earlier I received a phone call from a friend in the State which told me what PKR was planning to do. I wrote in her FB that some people in the delegation had ulterior motif. Fuziah angrily replied to me that she was not there to "sell her country" and accused me of being a SB etc.

38.     The fact is I did not accuse her at all. I just told her SOME people in the delegation was doing bad things. I believed Fuziah are one of the few people in PKR who are sincere but sadly the party they represent are filled with filth.

39.     Anyway the result of the meeting between Anwar's inner circle and the lobbyist did not end in the manner which Anwar hope for. The leaders of the lobbyist wanted to hear it "straight from the horse mouth".

40.     The recent "Apology Tour to US" was the result of that failed visit. AnwarAIDC.com already produced a detailed itinerary of Anwar visit to US.



Itinerary for June 20th-June 22nd :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51482992@N04/4785644925/in/photostream/

Itinerary for June 23rd - June 24th :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51482992@N04/4785644927/in/photostream/

41.     Other than calling the Iranian President, Mr Ahmadinejad as a demagogue, Anwar also blame himself in front of the lobbyist by saying the following :

"Why do I need to use it if it causes so much misunderstanding? I need to be more careful.”

42.     Anwar met with many people (look at the itinerary) and tried very hard to convince them that the Zionist theme was just a political tool.

43.     It is still too early for us to judge the outcome of the recent "Apology Tour" by Anwar. Judging by early reports, Anwar has been pardoned. However, the Zionist lobbyist are now fully awake to Anwar chameleonistic behaviour.

44.     The recent explosion of Anwar's "Apology Tour" has caught Anwar off guard. He is in dilemma and I expect him to perform Paklah infamous "elegant silence" and let PAS take the lead. People tend to say, "I dont care if Anwar is XXX agent etc", but when the leader of a nation is blackmail by foreigners, history has shown that that nation will be embroiled in chaos. This is why Anwar Ibrahim can never be our PM.

45.     99% of PAS members on the other hand are confused and perplexed why Anwar is so worried about being labelled anti-Zionist/Jewish. For them it is something to be proud of. But being PAS....well need i say more?

46.     In the end, Najib has once again outwitted and outbest Anwar in the ultimate political battle. I expect to see more battles such as this one occuring soon as GE 13 come closer.

47.     One thing for sure, if Najib can solved the problems in BN and have GE 13 before Obama steps down, Anwar and Pakatan will be doom.

48.     However, if Obama steps down before GE 13 and a pro-Zionist lobbyist president come to power, Anwar will probably get tons and tons of $$$$ and political support and it will be very difficult for BN to counter Pakatan. Time is running out for BN. They need to regroup fast because Obama is being pressured from left and right now.

49.     Therefore I predict the GE 13 will happen anytime before Obama steps down as President. With no money and support, Anwar Ibrahim and Pakatan is a sitting duck.

50.     To understand Najib mindset, read the Blue Ocean Strategy book by Kim and Mauborgne and see how Najib implement it almost to a tee in his battles against the chameleon king.