KUALA LUMPUR – It is understandable for an outside observer to think that Pakatan Harapan (PH) got played during the recently concluded Perak menteri besar crisis, which saw Umno engineer a coup that ousted Bersatu’s Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu from office.
At a glance, it seems the opposition coalition got the short end of the stick and that Umno was just using DAP, Amanah and PKR to get its way and appoint its Perak state liaison chairman, Datuk Saarani Mohamad, as menteri besar.
However, an insider has revealed to The Vibes that PH was playing a very long game for the state – and is still doing so for the country as whole.
According to a coalition source, the DAP-led strategy, which involved Umno cooperation, was divided into three parts – the removal of Faizal; cracking the Perikatan Nasional (PN) alliance at state and federal levels; and, as a bonus if all goes well, the formation of a state government.
The move to oust Faizal
A source close to the operators involved admitted that the last item on their list was far-fetched.
The PH coalition understood that, while it was highly unlikely to achieve, removing Faizal was critical to saving Perak’s economy and state coffers.
“He was damaging to the state and the economy. He had been selling state land, giving some to his cronies and had even dropped Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah’s name on many occasions to get his way. He has been dividing and conquering political parties, including DAP and also ally Umno,” alleged the source.
“Look at how he turned DAP’s Tronoh assemblyman Paul Yong to his side and how he appointed Umno’s (Datuk) Aznel Ibrahim (Pengkalan Hulu) as his political secretary. Look at what (Datuk Seri) Nazri Aziz said about Aznel… that was the last straw for Umno.
“He may not look like it, but Faizal is a very cunning man.”
It was revealed that, weeks before the ouster, emissaries from Umno and DAP had met to discuss their game plan. PH parties were already fed up with Faizal after 22 months of working with him.
Similarly, some state Umno members were riled by Faizal after working with him since the PH government collapsed. But apparently, at that time, Umno had lacked the numbers to single-handedly remove the Bersatu deputy president.
Although, from an emotional standpoint, it would have made more sense for Umno to make overtures with PH’s Amanah or PKR, it was that lack of numbers that led them to approach long-time nemesis – DAP.
“In total, Umno had 25 seats, but since some assemblymen were in Faizal’s pockets, they had less than half their strength to defeat Faizal in a confidence vote. Amanah had five seats, PKR three seats and DAP has 16 seats.
“Numerically speaking, approaching DAP seemed like the best bet to win a vote of confidence,” said the source, who said agreeing to this move had upset the grassroots from both Umno and DAP.
The source added that, due to how fast they were moving to get rid of Faizal, Umno and DAP did not have the time to soften the blow for their grassroots with a new narrative.
This was unlike the first time they worked with PAS during the Pakatan Rakyat days and later with Amanah in PH.
But seeing the reward at hand, it was a risk that both parties were willing to take.
Cracking PN at the federal level
The second part of the PH strategy was to create a rift between Umno and its political allies of convenience, not just at the state level, but federal, too.
Knowing that Umno moved against a Bersatu deputy president without the tacit approval of its other Perikatan Nasional members could have been the hammer that cracked the relatively fragile alliance even further.
Some political pundits see this as a tit-for-tat move, in light of how Bersatu president and Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had steamrolled Umno’s Sabah chief minister candidate Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin in favour of his Bersatu candidate, Datuk Seri Hajiji Md Noor.
Another telling factor was how PAS and Bersatu both delayed their support for Saarani’s candidacy. A political observer from Perak said the delay could have been part of Bersatu’s strategy to force a state-level emergency declaration.
“One must remember that, even now, Perak has not tabled its budget for next year and, if things had been delayed further, Muhyiddin could have called for a state of emergency in order to foot the state’s bills, such as salary and so on,” said the observer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
However, the PH source said that a countermove had been planned against a possible emergency declaration.
The source said under the Perak constitution, the sultan can appoint a state financial officer – as he is an ex-officio member – to disburse the salaries of civil servants until a resolution is found.
Political pundit Oh Ei Sun, on the other hand, said that, even if PN is not fractured at the federal level, at the very least, it had been forced to go through leadership reshuffles as a result of the political engineering by PH and Umno in Perak.
The Singapore Institute of International Affairs senior fellow took note that the move by Umno had weakened Bersatu even further and that, in order for the minority party to survive, it has to cling on to PAS and Umno – whether it likes it or not.
At the same time, he said in politics, coalitions of convenience like PN are, by its own definition, a weak alliance.
“This is mainly because, whereas the seemingly disintegrating Muafakat Nasional (MN) would have been electorally invincible with Umno’s command of formidable resources and grassroots (support) as well as PAS’ impressive mobilisation machinery, the apparently emerging Bersatu-PAS alliance would not make a significant electoral impact.
“This is due to Bersatu commanding neither a long-standing nationalist reputation nor local networks enjoyed by Umno.
“In other words, Bersatu could likely not survive electorally without the active support of Umno and PAS.
“As such, ultimately, Bersatu would have had to give in to Umno’s demands of helming the various states where they entered into ruling coalitions, as was vividly testified by Perak,” Oh said.
Umno’s decision to flex its political muscle also sends warning signals that, once the party gets its act together and awakes from a contented slumber and becomes willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve its goals, it is truly a dangerous and formidable beast to contend with.
Winning the Perak government
The final move in the chess battle of Perak would be Umno and PH – including DAP – forming a state-level government.
However, the PH source admitted that, from the start, this would be an unlikely affair due to the adverse response from DAP and Umno grassroots.
“(DAP) operators who pulled this stunt said we might as well demand to be included in a state government if we agreed to remove Faizal, even though we knew there was going to be a slim chance.
“At the same time, we are relieved that we are not in the same government as they are.
“Our first intention was simply to remove Faizal. That was our primary intention. Forming a government was just a bonus – a dangerous bonus, because we will be working with Umno.
“We knew the grassroots would hate the idea,” said the source.
Negotiations for forming a new government, the source said, did occur, but both Umno and DAP knew it was unlikely to happen as they have demonised each other to their respective grassroots.
It would have been a bitter pill for Umno and DAP to swallow, seeing that they never had the opportunity to form a narrative to explain their decision after going at each other’s throats all these years.
Even though PH was said to be foolish to hope to form a state-level administration with Umno, some of the sources and operators begged to differ – removing an allegedly corrupt menteri besar was its own reward.
“We could have had an easier time winning the next election if we allowed Faizal to remain menteri besar.
“We have made our jobs harder as the opposition or to try to win the state the next time around. But we were not willing to sacrifice the state for our political benefit.
“After all, we achieved our goal of removing Faizal and we managed to widen the PN rift at the national level.
“We may not have formed a government with Umno but that was a tertiary agenda. As far as we are concerned, we achieved our target.” – The Vibes, December 15, 2020
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