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Friday, October 8, 2010
PKR Part 2: Wormtongue
Nathaniel Tan
(Malaysian Insider) - “An archetypal sycophant, flatterer, liar, and manipulator.” That’s how Wikipedia describes the character of Grima Wormtongue from The Lord of the Rings, and I must regretfully say that there is one of the (hidden) lords of PKR that probably fits that description painfully aptly.
(Scroll below for Part 1)
In my follow-up to yesterday’s article, I have been advised not to name names, so it will have to be the shortened “GrimaWormTongue” (GWT — three letters, like initials in a Chinese name) from here on when referring to the actual man, and “Wormtongue” when referring to the fictional character.
Nonetheless, it will become clear that I am targeting those seen to be aligned to the camp of Datuk Zaid Ibrahim. The sad truth is that I will probably be henceforth labelled anti-Zaid and, probably, pro-Azmin, when the truth is that, strictly speaking, I am neither in particular.
I have good friends aligned to each of the candidates, and I have been hesitant to write anything that may jeopardize those friendships. That said, I think it will be remiss of us to let the activities of GWT and gang continue unscrutinised.
At present, I’m not sure if any of the leaders in the party inspire my unreserved support, so I can’t commit to saying I’m a huge fan of one candidate or another (for pay, I’ll happily run a campaign though!). I do know, however, that there are elements I would unreservedly want to keep out of the party. Too much is at stake, and already too much rot creeps slowly but surely to our core.
I apologise in advance to all I might offend.
Wormtongue’s victims
A comrade I greatly respect likened the so-called Trojan Horses in PKR to Evelyn Salt, as played by Angelina Jolie, Hollywood’s sex bomb. I think the GWT in real life more closely resembles the pale, oiled Wormtongue of the film.
Soh Chee Wen
Wormtongue was a secret agent of the evil Saruman, whose great accomplishment was succeeding in poisoning the once great king Theoden of Rohan both figuratively and (some say) literally.
Following Wormtongue’s twisted advice, Theoden retreated from battles where he should have attacked, began distrusting his most loyal kin and commanders, and brought Rohan to the brink of ruin. This, of course, was all part of Wormtongue’s plan to pave the way for Saruman to easily invade a weakened Rohan.
In exactly the same way, at the rate GWT is advising Zaid, I think it is a mere matter of time before either Zaid or PKR itself is overrun by his/its enemies.
Zaid would do well to take heed of the lessons learnt by those who have gone before him. GWT’s list of victims — people who have had their entire fortunes ruined by his manipulations — include former presidents of BN component parties (Tuns, no less), tycoons and captains of industry, and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim himself.
Indeed, GWT puts me in the mind of someone who quietly poisons and corrupts everything he touches. Or perhaps more accurately, his victims put me in the mind of King Midas — the man who found out too late that someone giving him the ability to turn everything he touched to gold was very much more a curse than a blessing.
As a financial mover and shaker who has deeply internalised the principle that “you should never risk your own money”, it is said that during Malaysia’s financial crisis, GWT’s conniving singlehandedly broke decades-old codes and systems based on trust and honour among stockbrokers and bankers. This man was so smooth, so slick, and so without equal that an associate once remarked about him: “There is only one real businessman in this town.”
Infiltration
GWT came back from exile abroad to face charges of abetting insider trading, miraculously escaped any jail time or fines that can be considered serious for a man of his financial standing, and even more miraculously, found himself in bed with the Opposition.
Bit by bit, GWT insinuated himself into the top leadership of the party, including Anwar Ibrahim. The most apparent practical changes that were made were when a new set of GWT-aligned people came to occupy key positions in the party secretariat — notably the secretary-general and the newly-created position of communications chief.
The latter position generated some puzzlement amongst all of us, as the party already had an information chief. When asked what the difference between these two portfolios was, no one — including the two chiefs themselves — seemed to really know. It seemed an effort to sideline some players and factions without actually replacing them.
PKR, I can’t help but confess, has a penchant for creating positions willy-nilly as we go along, and it often feels like no one takes their official designation all too seriously. Personalities seem to run the show more than formal designates or titled roles.
Around this time, a key GWT lieutenant, whom I shall (ironically?) call the Lord Admiral (technically it’s Admiral Lord but nevermind. Also the individual in question does *not* look like this) was part of a takeover of Suara Keadilan — then run by cartoonist Zunar and a team aligned to ex-information chief Tian Chua.
The Lord Admiral (once a friend, now sadly out of touch) and friends have long charged that they can do a better communications job than the streetfighting rabble-rousing reformists (“Good enough to put up flags I suppose, but they should realise their limitations”), and eventually persuaded the party leadership to hand over the reins for Suara Keadilan.
I can’t say I thought the previous Suara Keadilan was perfect, but it soon thereafter went from a popular — if perhaps sometimes overly sensationalist — tabloid, to a currently almost non-existent one (when was the last time you saw or was interested in a copy?)
Bit by bit, the house of cards started to fall — a process which culminated in the resignation of the secretary-general (the first act of treason that I actually felt personally) and more recently, a change in communications chiefs.
With that, the removal of GWT’s “men” from headquarters appears to be complete (to be replaced by long-time Anwar loyalists), and it seems quite clear that GWT himself has been pushed away from Anwar’s circle of influence.
Zaid likes to say that what could possibly be wrong with being friends with an ex-friend of Anwar’s, while forgetting that “ex-friends” of Anwar’s include Saiful Bukhari, Ezam Nor, and now, Rahimi Osman.
For all his faults in admitting Wormtongue as his counsel in the first place, Theoden eventually came to recognise treachery — giving us that very satisfying scene where the manipulator is thrown down the stairs. Some of GWT’s victims have done this, while others linger on in unseeing poison.
The question is, where did GWT drift to after Anwar? Men of his type are never far off from slipping into bed with a new victim.
An exterior analysis would suggest that he found himself a willing new patron in Zaid Ibrahim.
Media
In contending that GWT is doing Zaid more harm than good, let’s begin by examining the media campaign that Zaid is running.
For more than a while now, many of us have watched with great dismay the antics of one recently-established online news portal (we’ll need a codename here, too. Since we already have GWT, let’s call them FWT). I know a good many of the great journalists working with that organisation, but I can no longer sit still regarding their overall editorial content and slant, or about their most prolific journalist, the anonymous Mr “FWT Staff” himself.
Let’s not pull punches here, almost every single article on PKR within FWT has either been to promote Zaid, belittle his opponents, or belittle the party. It is blatant, mean spirited spin on exactly the same level as Utusan Malaysia.
I honestly think the website does more of a terrible disservice to Zaid than anything else. Reading articles on him on FWT, he comes across as impatiently ambitious, unconcerned about building consensus, and ever-ready to hit out at fellow party members. I sincerely feel that Zaid has indescribably more to offer than this level of lowbrow politics.
The same boat
I have no problem with people criticising PKR. God knows there’s tonnes to criticise, and people like me — who generally have to bear the actual burden of association — probably do the most of it (admittedly, more in private).
There are certain gentlemanly standards I believe one should adhere to, however. I think everyone has the right to challenge and criticise Anwar or any other party leader. The approach FWT has recently been taking, however, puts me in mind of a quote from one of my favourite authors, Terry Pratchett, in the most excellent book The Fifth Elephant:
“... We are all floating in the same boat. We may certainly try to push one another over the side, but only a maniac would make a hole in the bottom.”
I detest yes-men and blind loyalty as much as the next guy, and agree that perhaps some candidates for office have it in excessive quantities, but FWT and Zaid’s other statements seem only to have succeeded in portraying him as someone willing to scuttle said boat to get his way.
It must be said though that instead of giving the FWT-led campaign enough rope to hang itself, opponents of Zaid have sadly decided to co-opt another online portal as their own FWT. While it devotes considerably less of its time to politicking, it has shown a clear disposition to an anti-Zaid and sometimes pro-Azmin editorial slant itself.
This state of affairs is a shameful one. The last thing we need as a party is proof that should we come to power, we will have our own Utusan, NST and Star — and that is exactly the filthy tradition we seem to be following in.
I do not know much about the ownership of the other wesbite, which seems to have at most a handful of writers, but the FWT operation is huge financially (and I think we all know news websites don’t make money in Malaysia), and can say with some confidence that all the clues — including an aura of the Lord Admiral — point to a GWT-orchestrated operation.
Smokescreen of support
Of course, GWT and men know that they need to build a cartel of support to make Zaid look credible.
Within a day of vice president Lee Boon Chye making a statement critical of Zaid, three statements of support were released respectively by YBs Gobalakrishnan, Manickavasagam (Mike) and Jeffrey Kitingan.
There would be nothing wrong with this except for a few facts.
Firstly, as some of the observant among us have noted, the emails these statements were sent from — jeffreykitingan.pkr@gmail.com, manikavasagam.pkr@gmail.com, and gobala.pkr@gmail.com — as well as the formatting used for the statements themselves all follow a uniform formatting.
Having done party work, I know for a fact that those are not the emails those gentlemen usually use (two of them already have their own GMail accounts).
If you read the actual statements, you notice striking stylistic and linguistic similarities — again suggesting they might have been written by one person. Not only that, if you know the actual gentlemen involved, it’s hard to imagine them speaking or writing using the words and language contained in the statements — there is a stylistic mismatch.
I cannot help but admit that I feel the hand of the Lord Admiral, and the rest of their trusty sailors have taken it upon themselves to represent and put words in the mouths of anyone who wants to take a swing at Azmin.
Friends of the Zaid campaign seem to now also include some prominent bloggers who have sterling reputations for objectivity and integrity. I unhesitatingly call these men my friends and comrades, and it saddens me to occasionally see them take a line that sounds to my imperfect ears like it is part of a planned media strategy — and one that involves some serious bad-mouthing of others.
I understand and respect a lingering dissatisfaction with Anwar’s leadership. We could write another three articles on this subject alone, and I believe in the need for more discourse and alternatives. However, in the same way that we cannot invariably praise Pakatan blindly out of desperation to replace BN, we cannot latch on to the first semi-credible alternative to Anwar without regard to bigger pictures.
I also understand and respect the rights of these bloggers to believe that Zaid’s personal philosophies jive quite closely with theirs, but I hope they are aware of the nature of the company they keep and avoid letting themselves be used unwittingly or seeing only one side of the coin. They, too, are much better than that.
John — The Devil’s Advocate
This brings me to give credit where it is due — I am impressed by GWT’s amazing Wormtongue-like ability to manipulate, persuade, insinuate, charm, tempt and convert. In this, and in keeping with my Al Pacino comparisons from Part 1, he reminds me eminently of the character John Milton from “The Devil’s Advocate” (alternatively: Desire of the Endless, in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman).
Pacino’s Milton is an impeccably suave and charming master of many things; of temptation, of knowing exactly what your weaknesses and desires are, and most importantly, of how to ply them to his advantage — dangling just the right carrots in just the right way. All while being completely devoid of devotion to any principle beyond personal gain.
In the case of Zaid, I imagine this amalgamation of Wormtongue and Milton whispering into his ear things like “Oh, don’t you think you’d make such a better leader? Someone who could do things right for a change? You should do it for the rakyat — they are the ones who really matter.”
The last line in “The Devil’s Advocate” runs “Vanity... definitely my favourite sin.”
Most of the time, though, for the rest money does the trick. In an industry where proper transparent financing that is commensurate with what leaders deserve is as rare as general greed is prevalent, the pressure bears down heavily on scrupulous and unscrupulous alike. I can tell you from personal experience that sometimes, those carrots look pretty damn good (although I myself would inspect any carrot of GWT’s to check for hollow centres or attempted forgery, like those plastic fruits and vegetables).
Saruman and the money trail
As I wrote earlier, a man like GWT never uses his own money. I can’t imagine how much Zaid’s he has already spent.
I get the impression GWT is very much more an agent who has developed a reputation for being someone well qualified to do dirty work on the sly than a mastermind with any real agenda of his own (beyond perhaps, self enrichment). Like any good arms dealer, he realises that he stands to make the most by selling to both sides (I’m thinking about that movie, “Lord of War”).
After all, was Wormtongue nothing more than a servant to Saruman, who in turn served the dark lord Sauron?
In this analogy, a few Umno Tuns have been bandied about, men of considerable means who perhaps fear more than any other an ascendancy of Anwar to the prime minister’s office (one particular trail points to a suspicious Singapore business deal between one Tun and GWT).
I cannot provide any certainty one way or another on this particular front however — once the money goes beyond a certain number of zeros, the details and secrets tend to be beyond peons like me. Such personae do, however, fit the “maximum collateral damage to PKR” theory I alluded to earlier.
I suppose one could stretch this conspiracy even further to suggest Anwar sent GWT to secretly undermine Zaid, but taking things that far makes my already dizzy head spin.
Democracy, Jekyll and Hyde
It’s exhausting and on the whole depressing to write about these things. Churchill’s “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others” is a constant companion in these times.
That said, I will give PKR credit for being committed to ideals of what a democracy should be. The bold step of direct voting threatens all those in power, and opens the door to all sorts of undue influences (and I do mean all sorts). Perhaps this is exactly the diffused (divide and rule?) scenario some top leaders were looking for. Regardless, it is for now the only way to walk the talk when it comes to the true essence of democracy: one person, one vote.
These elections have been the focus of burning and loud scrutiny. Somewhat tragically, the most noise seems to come from people who can’t vote in them.
I fully respect everyone’s right to not want to be in a political party (who would want to, after reading an article like this?), but in the same way that non-voters can hardly complain about the government they get, I hope this experience at least raises the suggestion to concerned members of the public that they can’t have it both ways.
I read with some interest an article by my good friend Dr Azmi Sharom comparing PKR to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In response, I would have us remember that Jekyll and Hyde are in fact the same person — a person constantly struggling with the duality of his nature. His friends were unable to help much to shape the course of Jekyll’s fate, he had only himself to rely on. If there are not enough Jekyll’s in any party, how can they expect to hold off the onslaught of Hydes who are willing to do much worse to wrest power?
The most effective way to influence any party is to be a voting force within it (if not in this organisation, at least in some other that will contest seats — although this is not rocket science I am alluding to). For all our well-intended wishes and moral exhortations, politicians the world over sadly pay no attention to people who do not vote.
I personally believe that longer-term political solutions for Malaysia (and elsewhere) lie in rather radical structural change, but the last thing this overly-long article needs right now is more ideas.
I cannot say for sure what the underlying nature of PKR is, given this new power that has been handed to its members, but I think we will get a clearer picture when the voting is done. More than ever before in Malaysia and in many other places, it is the individuals who have been willing to put their names down as members who will answer that question in the coming weeks.
I have thus given my view — I cannot guarantee that it has been accurate, only that it has been long considered, and sincerely meant. The best way to test the objectivity of any opinion, is to search for the motives of s/he that gives it — and that, I leave to you.
I hope that with some luck, these few words will do more good than harm in the long run.
PKR Part 1: Michael vs Sonny Corleone
OCT 7 — PKR is an imperfect party. It has problems. Let’s not have any illusions about that.
I thought long and hard before deciding to write this, and even though I stand to make more new enemies than new friends, I have reasoned thus: If people are going to give PKR hell, better they give them hell for what — in my humble opinion — are the right reasons.
In reading commentary on PKR, I find that there is so much emotion involved, and an excessive lack of clarity. I can’t claim to be a true authority or “insider”, but this is my personal effort at an objective, considered view.
In a two-part series, I am going to write about the candidates for the deputy president, the campaigns some of them are running, media onslaughts, some key players behind the scenes, and the dynamics of the new PKR election process.
The things I say may not give you a lot of comfort or faith in PKR or Pakatan Rakyat, but I suppose that is somewhat a price of the truth — I don’t see any point in treating readers or the public like children. I’m sure many will revel in cynicism and say “See? This just proves all politicians are the same, and the country is doomed.”
I suppose some people will always say that. Note that I will continue to vote Pakatan (for now at least), and continue to have faith in longer term hope for Malaysia — be it through this platform or some other one. Surrendering to cynicism is for the weak.
Why this matters
Most attention is understandably focused on the deputy president’s race, and understandably so, as we are looking at a possible prime minister in a not-too-distant future.
My dad likes to say that you are not successful until you have a successor, and it seems this has been a constant problem for PKR.
In Umno, being deputy president is certainly no guarantee to becoming president, as a few have found out the truly painful and hard way. I must give full credit though to Umno that every single one of its presidents has, prior to assuming the posts of both president and prime minister, held the post of deputy president of Umno and deputy prime minister.
People often like to see some stability and continuity in the parties they vote for, and I don’t think it’s helped PKR’s cause that there has been no clear sign of what PKR will look like post-Anwar.
This year’s deputy president race may give us the first inkling of an answer to that question, making the stakes pretty high.
It would be remiss not to mention the race for president at this point. My personal feeling is that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should contest the post, because “Ketua Umum” seems to me somewhat arbitrary and somewhat undemocratic. I’ve always been one for clear structure myself.
He has his own reasons for (probably) not doing so, and I won’t deign to put words in his mouth here.
I’ll begin by examining some of the personalities involved. To these individuals, as with any others discussed in this article, I hope my writing will be seen as nothing more than sincere observations. I must state for the record that almost without exception every leader discussed in this article has always struck me as being perfect gentlemen in person and have always been very amiable (Yes, I am here trying to hedge my bets so none of them will refuse to hire me in the future).
I’m sure many would wish that we were discussing policies and ideas as much as we were discussing personalities and allegiances, but I’m afraid none of the candidates themselves have truly built their campaign around such matters. I feel the voters will not be voting on those lines either.
I know this is disappointing, but the starting point of this article is to reflect reality, and to do so would be to describe what is likely the most prominent dynamic in shaping the races ahead, and that again comes back to personality, style and allegiance. I will look to avoid in these articles at least excessive moralising and presuming to tell people how their party and its 400,000 members should act.
Azmin as Michael Corleone
Azmin Ali leads the race in terms of nominations, and I think under the old system of delegates-based voting, there would be no question as to his ability to win the position fairly comfortably.
Many say he is the anointed one, although Anwar has obviously not come out and given any explicit endorsement.
Azmin, like Anwar’s other former and present staffers (including Rafizi Ramli who is running for Youth Chief), is a polished gentleman of independent means — educated overseas, articulate, charming and possessed of what society generally considers solid credentials. He is a party stalwart, smooth political operative and long-time loyalist, who Anwar has relied on well before Keadilan was formed.
I get the impression that Azmin’s relationship with party leaders up and down the country is long-established and has been carefully tended to over considerable time.
Of course, this does not make for uniform good relations with every leader. In fact, it feels like Azmin can be considered a somewhat polarising figure — where he is involved, people tend to take sides, either for or against.
Azmin is a dyed-in-the wool politician, whose career spans over two decades and covers experience with both Umno and PKR. I think he is sincere in eschewing blatant corruption, but like about 95 per cent of all Malaysian politicians — including those in this race — he is probably comfortable in the more grey areas wherein money affects politics. Besides the standard political reforms touted by Pakatan, I’m not sure we would see the radical reform in political culture some of us want under Azmin’s watch.
Azmin could be described as media-shy (especially compared to some of his opponents), giving the impression that he prefers to busy himself networking on the ground. In the few interviews that he’s given, he seems to be emphasising the line of loyalty and party discipline (especially in the aftermath of contentious arguments amongst the leadership).
Where Azmin is concerned, think “The Godfather’s” Michael Corleone — the silent, strong type. Prefers to work in the quiet. Unbending commitment to the need for loyalty and discipline. A close circle of trusted advisers. As charming as he is dangerous.
He’s definitely a team player by comparison, but some might say only wherein his (handpicked) team is concerned. The relationship between Anwar and Azmin may not be too different from that of Vito and Michael Corleone.
Michael Corleone’s no-nonsense attitude has always been something that I would be fearful of, and I think the impression Azmin gives off is similar.
Dan lain-lain
Let’s have a brief look at a few other possible candidates, starting with the only other person to have at time of writing announced his intent to contest: Mustaffa Kamil Ayob.
Most of the talk around Mustaffa’s candidacy seems to centre around his Abim roots and support base (with the exception of one esteemed colleague’s minor obsession with a theory involving the Perak MB-ship).
I can’t say I have much insight into this matter, but it does seem plausible that the more Islamist-oriented members of the party are looking for a standard-bearer to keep their influence in the party alive and well. Obviously, I don’t have any problems with this.
Another gentleman who is eligible to contest is Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, from whom we expect an announcement near the weekend.
Khalid could prove an interesting addition to the mix, and importantly: attract votes of anti-Azmin members who would clearly be uncomfortable with Zaid (this could be a sizeable number). It’s uncertain whether his problems with party support (both to and from) during his tenure as MB would outweigh his reputation for running a clean ship.
If he does decide to contest, I wouldn’t be surprised if many in the centre gravitate towards his relatively neutral position.
The last gentleman who is eligible to contest is Tian Chua. His appeal to grassroots reformists and the streetfighters who have traditionally been a backbone of party membership may interestingly win him votes across ethnicities; it does not seem particularly likely though that people will bet on him to win outright.
I heard a joke that if Tian does decide to run, his campaign will consist of posters of him on a (Android probably) phone, with the tagline: “Who would pick up your calls?” — one of the more innovative ideas I’ve heard, and one that might actually work, given the competition.
Zaid as Sonny Corleone?
Now we come to the “Man of the Hour”, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.
Let me begin by stating my unequivocal admiration for the manner in which Zaid quit his ministerial post on principle. His personal political beliefs probably mirror people from my socioeconomic, “cultural” and (broadly speaking) ideological background more closely than any other candidate. Where certain policies are concerned, he seems to have a knack for saying all the right things, and in general I don’t doubt that he means what he says.
With the exception of a few notable outbursts, Zaid has been relatively consistent with policy positions that have made him popular with more liberal or progressively inclined Malaysians. His multiracial outlook has also rightfully won him many friends.
One could ask how and why someone like this could join Umno in the first place, but the same could be said of both Azmin and Anwar, making the point — for purposes of comparison anyway — moot.
What of his potential weaknesses?
Firstly, there seems to be a slight disconnect between Zaid and the mainstream members of the party that he now looks to for votes. I can’t quite imagine the street-protesting reformists getting excited about this particular newcomer, and Hulu Selangor campaigners report a slight chill and distance between the more cosmopolitan Zaid and your average kampung dweller (though it must be said, Zaid has more genuine kampung roots than most of us combined).
If Azmin is Michael Corleone, I sometimes think of Zaid as Sonny Corleone, the more hotheaded, impatient and brash of the brothers. Obviously, Zaid does not have any of those characteristics in the same quantities as Sonny did, but he appears to have given off the impression of a temperamental gentleman, whose inclinations are subject to mood.
His presence and participation at important party meetings are reported to be inconsistent, and “team player” does not seem to be a term closely associated with the man.
Zaid himself seems to be pushing a “maverick” image, of an individual willing to speak truth to power, and champion the common man’s cause against an entrenched establishment. I’m not sure whether his motivations are more connected to the common man than to one man (though the same can be said for most politicians), but he does indeed seem to have a track record against entrenched establishments.
I confess that while we can’t possibly credit Azmin for his nearly non-existent media campaign, Zaid’s completely opposite approach and its undertones deserve scrutiny.
Zaid’s statements to the media seem to suggest very subtly that for a number of reasons, Anwar should — to say the least — not constitute the be all and end all of the party.
On this point by itself, I readily agree — no party should be about one man; and while Anwar is a man of very many talents and merits (I will always be grateful that he himself came down to the police station with a candle when I was arrested), an eye for clearly structured management of an organisation is probably not one of them.
What Zaid sometimes seems (in hushed circles?) to be saying in not so many words is that perhaps Zaid would make a better leader, that Anwar’s return to jail is looking inevitable, and should — “God forbid” — that come to pass, who better to emerge as the new Pakatan figurehead than Zaid.
(On a tangentional note, while Zaid certainly poured a lot of hard work into the initial draft for Pakatan’s Common Policy Platform, I would personally take exception to anyone who suggested that his draft closely resembled the final one).
While far from everyone in PKR is an Anwarista, these kind of suggestions of naked ambition understandably created some unease and put people off. Such talk was perhaps, immature. Ironically, it puts one in the mind of Anwar Ibrahim himself back in the late Nineties.
Conspiracy
As I alluded to in my last article, the Sonny Corleone-style in which Zaid seems to be campaigning is nothing short of confounding. One would not have to be a terribly seasoned political observer or media practitioner to see that the approach and articulation practised by the Zaid camp is bound to alienate him from PKR voters (maybe Zaid’s team is run by secret Azmin supporters!)
Putting aside the possibility of pure incompetency (which alas, is not always wise, considering Malaysian standards), we are forced to face more malicious possibilities regarding the team surrounding Zaid.
If they are not serious about winning the deputy presidency (or perhaps the presidency itself, which seems an increasing possibility), then what are they trying to achieve?
The less vicious conspiracy theory goes that this is mere posturing for an inevitable loss, that will soon thereafter lead to a formation of a new political party — a much touted “3rd Force”, that will claim inspiration from the British and Australian elections. I find this scenario quite likely.
The more vicious conspiracy theory goes that people running this campaign are connected to old Umno titans (who like Michael Corleone prefer to exercise their massive resources and influence from dark and shady corners) and have been entrusted with a mission to use these elections as an opportunity to do as much collateral damage as humanly possible to PKR and Pakatan.
Strong words, I know, but I hope to describe the basis for what is (importantly, still) speculation with at least some detail. It’ll have to wait until the next instalment though, which will cover some shady characters and their shenanigans in some depth.
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