Hadi Awang betrayed Pakatan Rakyat??

PAS President Tok Guru Abdul Hadi Awang betrayed Pakatan Rakyat, say his critics. That is why Pakatan Rakyat has been killed off and now no longer exists.

Everyone is an expert on hindsight. It is whether you have foresight that matters. Five years ago back in 2010 I already crossed swords with Anwar Ibrahim regarding various issues that I said if not resolved is going to eventually cause the breakup of Pakatan Rakyat.

But Anwar would not listen. So I decided to form the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) and managed to finally persuade Haris Ibrahim a.k.a. Sam to reluctantly head the movement.

What has MCLM got to do with my grouses against the opposition pact? Well, this movement was supposed to promote liberalism and civil liberties. (That is why I wanted to call it a movement and not a society — I explained this when we launched MCLM). And that would mean MCLM would oppose race and religion politics and support secularism over a theocracy.

And by opposing race and religion politics that would mean we would also automatically oppose the political dogma of BOTH Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat. And that effectively places us as a third force.

Then Pakatan Rakyat started telling people that MCLM wants to trigger three-corner fights in the elections. ‘Third force’ translates to three-corner fights. So MCLM would be stealing votes from the opposition or will cause a split in the opposition and that would help Barisan Nasional.

In other words, MCLM will help Barisan Nasional by making sure that Pakatan Rakyat does not win the elections.

Sam then went to meet DAP and they told him they cannot work with MCLM unless Anwar agrees. I spoke to PAS and they told me the same thing — get Anwar’s blessing first, if not they cannot work with us.

Anwar, on the other hand, announced that Umno has bought us over and that we are now traitors.

I was furious. This was nothing but a pack of lies. And in 2010 I hit back and whacked Anwar good and proper. And that more or less severed my relationship with Anwar and in the same breath with Pakatan Rakyat as well.

When we met in London I warned Anwar that Pakatan Rakyat would not be able to survive long term on the basis of agreeing to disagree. Eventually they have to come to some sort of agreement, especially regarding the matter of Hudud. Agreeing to disagree is a fallacy. It will work maybe as an electoral pact but not as a coalition government.

But many thought I was being petty or mischievous. Why am I raising a non-issue? It may be a non-issue now (in 2010) but eventually it is going to be an issue. And better Pakatan Rakyat resolve it before it becomes an issue rather than after the issue has exploded.

But whatever I may have to say fell on deaf ears. There is nothing wrong in Pakatan Rakyat. There is no time bomb waiting to explode. Everything is hunky-dory and peachy-rosy. Oh yeah? Well, just wait for the explosion, I said.

Another issue was Selangor. When I raised the issue of Selangor, Anwar complained about Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim. He is stubborn, will not listen to advice, and has a huge ego, said Anwar.

“Well, why not remove him and replace him with Azmin Ali, then?” I said. (I even wrote about it in 2010). Anwar did not reply back in 2010 when I asked him that. Then, in 2013, he appointed Khalid as the Menteri Besar for another term instead of replacing him with Azmin.

Then, three months later, he started plotting his Kajang Move to kick Khalid out and when he could not take over from Khalid he tried to get his wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, appointed instead — but failed.

So, at this point of my article what do I say — that I told you so?

The problem with this plan, though, is that HRH the Sultan of Selangor does not agree to Dr Wan Azizah taking over as the new Menteri Besar. And if they insist on pursuing this matter then there is a danger that the Selangor State Assembly may have to be dissolved to make way for new state elections.

DAP and PKR, however, wanted to defy the Sultan. They felt they could mobilise the rakyat and organise demonstrations all over Selangor to pressure the Sultan to back down. This clearly shows they do not know my cousin the Sultan. They try that and the Sultan will screw them good and proper. Try taking on the Sultan and see what happens.

Hadi knew that an open confrontation with the Sultan would end badly for Pakatan Rakyat. The Sultan had insisted on ‘more than one name’ as the proposed candidate for Menteri Besar. So Hadi proposed two names — Dr Wan Azizah and Azmin.

Hadi saved Selangor from disaster. He gave the Sultan an option instead of putting a gun to the Sultan’s head like what DAP and PKR wanted to do. The Sultan chose Azmin and that torpedoed DAP’s and PKR’s plot to get Anwar’s wife into the Menteri Besar’s seat.

And that was when they started going for Abdul Hadi Awang. DAP and PKR first whacked the Sultan by accusing HRH of not respecting the Constitution and for interfering in politics. Then they whacked Hadi for allowing the Sultan an option to choose from instead of not allowing the Sultan an option and force him to appoint Dr Wan Azizah.

The Kajang Move and the appointment of Azmin as Menteri Besar was the first crack in Pakatan Rakyat. And they blame Hadi for this. But Hadi did not plan the Kajang Move. The Kajang Move was secretly planned by PKR without consultation with the other two partners in the coalition.

What Hadi did was he prevented the Kajang Move from turning into a disaster like what happened in Perak earlier and which resulted in Pakatan Rakyat losing that state. Hadi knew what the Sultan could and could to agree to and he wisely did not swim against the current or else Pakatan Rakyat would be in deep shit.

But Hadi’s move to appease the Sultan instead of defying him was not received well by DAP and PKR. They wanted to challenge the Sultan and pressure HRH to agree to what Pakatan Rakyat wants. But Hadi gave the Sultan a way out that would avoid a confrontation with the Palace.

Hadi comes from Terengganu, a state where the Sultan can ask the police to escort you out off the state and arrest you if you ever try to enter the state again (which has happened in Terengganu, Kelantan, Pahang and Johor before). Anwar and Lim Guan Eng, however, come from Penang that has no Sultan, so they have no love and respect for Sultans.

And that is why Hadi looks at this issue differently from Anwar and Guan Eng who would rather screw the Sultan.

Anyway, that started the friction between Hadi and DAP/PKR. Then Kelantan decided to pursue the Hudud matter. However, instead of blaming Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat or PAS Kelantan for this, they blamed Hadi. So they praise Nik Aziz and call him a great man and they condemn Hadi for what Kelantan did.

Ironical, is it not? Why is Hadi being blamed for what Kelantan did? And why praise PAS Kelantan and the PAS Kelantan leaders while condemning Hadi? Now DAP wants to even spend Penang’s money to help Kelantan build more mosques in the state. And the Chinese supporters of DAP clap and cheer and call this great. But is it not Kelantan that wants Hudud?

Then, in December 2013, Anwar arranged for a meeting between Umno, PAS and PKR in London to discuss the matter of forming a unity government. DAP and the other non-Umno parties in Barisan Nasional were not included in this talk.

Anwar then asked Hadi to attend this meeting and although Hadi happened to be in London at that time he refused to do so. So the talks failed and the unity government did not materialise.

Then Lim Kit Siang accuses Hadi of flirting with Umno. He accuses Hadi of being a traitor and a turncoat. At the same time Kit Siang proposes that Pakatan Rakyat consider a ‘Save Malaysia’ coalition with Barisan Nasional.

And that, dear readers, is how the PAS President, Abdul Hadi Awang, betrayed Pakatan Rakyat. And now, because of Hadi’s betrayal, Pakatan Rakyat no longer exists.

Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali is going to meet HRH the Sultan of Selangor to inform HRH that Selangor is no longer headed by a Pakatan Rakyat state government but by an Azmin Ali government. Azmin has at least 28 Selangor State Assemblypersons with him and since a vote of no confidence has not been proposed in the State Assembly that means Azmin is still in charge.

And HRH the Sultan will say that if at least 29 State Assemblypersons have not proposed a vote of no confidence against him then Azmin can continue as Menteri Besar until the next general election.

And this is all because of the betrayal by the PAS President, Abdul Hadi Awang — damn him!