NAJIB’S LAST DAY AS PM WAS SUPPOSED TO BE 29 JULY

On that day, Muhyiddin would inform Najib that he has to resign with immediate affect (which was why the rumours were flying around that time that Najib was resigning). The Attorney General would be waiting outside with the media representatives and Najib would be told if he refuses to resign then the AG would hold a press conference and read out the charges against him.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Malaysia has always seen power struggles, breakups and ousting of leaders since long before Merdeka. For example, in 1951, six years before Merdeka, Umno broke up when the Islamic wing of the party left to form a new party, the Pan-Malayan Islamic Party, now called PAS.

In that same year, Onn Jaafar, the founder of Umno, left the party due to a disagreement on whether Umno should open its doors to non-Malays. In the Umno assembly soon after that, three candidates contested the Umno presidency and Tunku Abdul Rahman won.

The Tunku lasted almost 20 years as the Umno leader but soon after the 1969 race riots he was pushed out by the Young Turks who considered him too compromising towards the Chinese.

PAS, too, which was born from Umno, saw many power struggles over the years. Two new parties were spawned — Berjasa and Hamim — due to these conflicts but both did not make much inroad in Malaysian politics.

Semangat 46 and now PKR are also two parties that emerged from the internal conflicts in Umno although PKR has managed to a certain degree to shed its Umno image (unlike Semangat 46) because it allowed non-Malays to join the party and also hold party positions.

And now, yet again, we are seeing PAS and Umno go through internal power struggles. The one in PAS has more or less been settled with the ouster of those opposed to the president (and who now want to form, for the third time, a new Islamic party). Umno’s power struggle, however, is far from settled and at this point of time your guess is as good as mine as to where the chips are going to fall.

Actually, the initial plan was for a vote of no confidence to be passed in Parliament against Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. And this was supposed to have been executed in June or July (which was why they said Najib would not last till the end of July).

But they would need at least 85 votes from Pakatan Rakyat and no less than 30, preferably 40, from Barisan Nasional. Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was supposed to deliver the 30-40 votes from Barisan Nasional and if he can do that then Pakatan Rakyat would support him with another 85 votes or so.

But PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang was not interested in yet another ‘Kajang Move’ after the first one that saw the ouster of Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim. So he refused to join the conspiracy and this meant they needed to go to Plan B.

Plan B was supposed to have been executed on Wednesday, 29 July 2015, during the Cabinet meeting.

On that day, Muhyiddin would inform Najib that he has to resign with immediate affect (which was why the rumours were flying around that time that Najib was resigning). The Attorney General would be waiting outside with the media representatives and Najib would be told if he refuses to resign then the AG would hold a press conference and read out the charges against him.

Najib would then immediately face arrest and no bail would be granted due to flight risk. Once Najib was under arrest he would be slapped with more charges to keep him busy in court for the next decade so that even if he beats all those charges there was no way he could come back as Prime Minister.

Knowing that the axe was going to fall on the 29th, Najib made a pre-emptive strike and replaced the Attorney General plus acted against all those other conspirators in the MACC, AGC, BNM, and so on. In one swoop he killed the conspiracy and secured his position as Prime Minister.

Plan A and Plan B had both failed. So does that mean this is the end of the move to oust Najib? I don’t think so. Any good conspiracy — especially one that involves ousting a prime minister — must have Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. And in this case there must be a Plan C as well.

So what is Plan C? Ah, but if I tell you what Plan C is that would spoil all the fun and take away the suspense. Yes, there is a Plan C, and Najib also has his pre-emptive strike against Plan C.

So stay tuned over the next few days and see what else unfolds on the Malaysian political scene as Plan C comes into play and Najib executes his pre-emptive strike against Plan C.

By the way, Najib did not remove the Attorney General. His Majesty the Agong did on the advice of the judges. So the issue of Najib unconstitutionally removing the Attorney General does not arise.

And the issue of Najib removing the Deputy Prime Minister is also a non-issue because the post of Deputy Prime Minister is not in the Constitution. The Prime Minister does not need to appoint a Deputy Prime Minister or he can appoint five Deputy Prime Ministers. It is entirely the prerogative of the Prime Minister.

Anyway, Najib got the support of 152 of the 191 Umno division chiefs before he replaced his deputy. And those conspirators are facing the possibility of charges under Section 124 of the law, which carries a maximum jail sentence of 20 years if convicted. Hence the stakes are extremely high indeed in this game of thrones.