FIVE WORDS THAT CAN SAVE THE NATION… and TUN M

Dear Tun,
In September 1998, you created conspiracies and “fitnah” to sack and jail your deputy, Anwar Ibrahim. Anwar had to suffer six years behind bars, not including the eight months that you ordered for him to be put in jail during the course of the trial, even before the court had a verdict.

I didn’t know both of you back then, but as a human I cannot accept the manner Anwar was treated by you. The torture and humiliation suffered by Anwar and his family because of your deed was unbearable.

Fast forward, just before the formation of PH in June 2016, you went to see Anwar for the first time since your inhumane treatment of him.

At that time, Anwar was serving a second jail sentence because Najib’s administration used your original script to imprison Anwar again after Anwar’s release during Pak Lah’s time in 2014. The meeting took place in the court room and continued at the witness room inside the building.

The agenda was clear: to join Anwar and to create a bigger force in order to topple BN. You knew you did not have enough strength to do it alone.

During that time, Anwar had two choices: First, to take full vengeance and tell straight to your face that he had suffered enough because of you and he would not consider supporting a conspirator like you.

Or second, to put personal interests aside and focus on a bigger picture, joining hands with you in order to save the nation. And that, was exactly what Anwar did, with a gentlemen’s agreement and trust that you will hand over the prime ministership to Anwar within a two year period. The rakyat gave full support to this partnership assuming that it will bring reform.

When you came into power in May 2018, not only did you not honour the agreement, you also did everything in your power to weaken Anwar. You spited PKR by empowering Anwar’s rivals in the party by giving them powerful ministership. You even created new ministries for them to strengthen the faction.

May 2020 is the time that you were supposed to hand over the PM’s seat to Anwar. But months prior to that, you came up with many excuses to stay longer in power, until the coup d’état dubbed as “Sheraton Move” came.

All the key players in the Sheraton Move had one mission in common – to stop Anwar from becoming the next PM. We can understand if this mission was from Pas, BN or from all those opportunists in PKR and Bersatu. What surprised the most was that you also had the same mission. In fact, months before that
you were actually the one who initiated this move in the first place. For the entire week the dramas created by you during the Sheraton period was for one thing – to stop Anwar to become PM. It didn’t need a rocket science to understand this – quod erat demonstrandum! In retrospect, if you were really ready to hand over the premiership to Anwar in May 2020, the Sheraton Move would never materialize and PH is still the government of the day!

Now under PN, we have what I describe as the weakest government in our history – the government with no directions or agendas, full of incompetent and unqualified ministers, not to mention jokers.

Politically, PN is very fragile coalition, with very marginal numbers of MPs in Parliament. There is an open secret that you will push for vote of no confidence in the next parliament sitting to topple PN. Rumour has it, though, that if this (take over) happens you would still want to be the PM the third time! I hope this information is not true. If it was true, what I can say is ‘double you tee eff.’ How many more years do you want to cling to power?

You should know that after the Sheraton Move, majority of the rakyat who used to support you are already extremely furious at you. Some do not believe a single word you say anymore. Your credibility is now at the bottom of the drain.

May I ask, at 95 years of age, why do you still want to be the PM? Why can’t you honour the gentlemen’s agreement to transform the power to Anwar? Why are you so afraid of or worry about or having lack of confidence in Anwar?

Is this not the Anwar who was regarded as the best finance minister in 1996 by the international monetary organisation when Anwar was the finance minister during your first tenure?

Is this not the Anwar who received international recognitions from highly respected figures across the globe such as Kofi Annan, Habibi, Erdogan or Al Gore to name a few?

Is this not the Anwar who gathered support from top Islamic scholars such as Taha Jabir Al-Alwani or Yusuf al-Qaradawi (to name a few from a long list from each category)?

Instead, what I keep hearing from you from time to time is that Anwar is not the right person, that Anwar is incapable. Why don’t you give him a chance to prove his mettle and let we, the rakyat, judge. Not you.

Tun, let’s think about the nation, rather than your personal agendas and ego. PN is very weak and in a mess, directionless and has no clear plan of economy. This is disastrous to the nation. You still have your last chance to save the country and your damaged credibility. What you need to say is just in five words: “I support Anwar as PM.”