HR, THE PRIME MINISTER’S BOFFIN BOY

Anyway, the order from the ranks of the pro-Mahathir-anti-Najib team is ‘Get HR!’ But how do you get a man you can hardly see and who is like a ghost in the shadows? You cannot kill an invisible target, can you?

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The word ‘boffin’ did not start out as a positive word almost 80 years go. It originally meant a nerd or weird scientist or engineer — in short, a crazy genius.

The term ‘Boffin Boys’ gained popularity during World War II. Basically, the Boffin Boys were the geniuses who worked quietly behind the scenes, unknown to the public, and who succeeded in beating the Nazis in Europe. You can say they were the unsung heroes of the war.

This was what Jenny Rohn said in The Guardian on 24th September 2010:

Boffin continued, in this immediate post-war period, to carry its wartime connotations: a modern-day wizard who labours in secret to create incomprehensible devices of great power. Over time, however, as Britain’s high-technology enterprises became less dominant, the mystique of the boffin gradually faded, and by the 1980s boffins were relegated, in UK popular culture, to semi-comic supporting characters such as Q, the fussy armourer-inventor in the James Bond films, and the term itself gradually took on a slightly negative connotation.

Well, positive or negative, the admirers and critics of the Boffin Boy agree on one thing — that he is a genius, works quietly behind the scenes, and is unknown to the public and those outside the circle of power.

Since January this year there has been murmurings of a certain person whom I would categorise as within the ranks of a Boffin Boy operating outside the corridors of power but within the sphere of power. The fact that he operates outside the corridors of power but within the sphere of power has given him a mystique that probably no other has achieved thus far.

Of course, a man in that position would be admired and hated both at the same time. Those who witness what he can do, and has done, admire him while at the same time envy the position of influence he has attained. The fact that he does not covert the job gives him a sort of snob appeal.

It is just like when Tun Daim Zainuddin took on the job of Finance Minister and kept an undated resignation letter in his office drawer to demonstrate to the world that he does not need the job but the Prime Minister needs him more. I suppose a man like Daim who drives a Rolls Royce wearing ‘Japanese slippers’ who do something like that — take snobbery to new heights.

Anyway, this Boffin Boy who is now Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s second most hated man after the Prime Minister goes by the code name HR. No, not HR for human resources, but for Habibul Rahman — hence the initials HR — the mystery man behind the war of perception.

HR is said to be someone very focused. He focuses on one thing and only one thing and does not allow himself to be distracted by any side issues, never mind how important you may think these side issues are.

He is also said to be like a dog with a bone. Once he gets his teeth into something he never lets go until the job is completed, and successfully, too. The pro-Mahathir-anti-Najib team has targeted him for assassination, character assassination, of course, and over the last few days they have been attacking HR like there is no tomorrow.

HR is the man behind the effort to counter the negative spin by Dr Mahathir regarding 1MBD and this is worrying the ‘competition’. They fear he is thus far playing a cat-and-mouse game with them and his Scud Missile is yet to be fired — although it already sits on the launching pad just awaiting the button to be pressed.

Talk within the corridors of power is that the Prime Minister has offered HR a political post within the PMO but he has declined all offers, choosing instead to play his low profile role where he can be most effective — most typical of the mentality of a Boffin Boy who normally shuns the spotlight.

Anyway, the order from the ranks of the pro-Mahathir-anti-Najib team is ‘Get HR!’ But how do you get a man you can hardly see and who is like a ghost in the shadows? You cannot kill an invisible target, can you?

Well, let us see how the 1MDB issue plays out these next few months. Talk within the corridors of power is that once HR hits the button to launch his Scud missile, Dr Mahathir is going to be made to eat humble pie.

Isn’t Malaysian politics downright exciting?