Abdul Rahman should not be a “one trick pony”

Yesterday, the Director of Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan returned to his theme that I will become the Prime Minister if the Opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan wins the next general election.

Abdul Rahman, who is described as “a rising star and a loyalist to Prime Minister Najib Razak” – a description which will be disputed by many who see him as a “falling star”- said neither Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad nor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will lead the country in event of an opposition victory.

He said: "If Pakatan Harapan were to win the next general elections, Lim Kit Siang will be the next Prime Minister, not Tun Dr Mahathir as Lim Kit Siang is always suggesting.

"He (Lim) needs to use Tun Mahathir to win the elections.

"Tun Mahathir can forget about the job. Anwar Ibrahim can forget about the job. It will be Lim Kit Siang. And therefore to understand Malaysian politics, focus on this guy."

How flattering and soothing for the ego, except that it is as true like the falsehood of Mahathir’s RM1 billion bribe to me, and that RM750 million had already been paid tro me in Singapore and Hong Kong in return for four objectives - to let Parti Pribumi Bersatu to join Pakatan Harapan, make Mahathir the Pakatan Harapan Chairman, ensure my silence on the Bank Negara foreign exchange (forex) scandal of the 90s and give Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir a safe Parliament seat to contest in the forthcoming general election.

First and foremost, I want to declare my stand that if this allegation of RM1 billion bribe from Mahathir to me for fourfold purposes is true, it is corruption within the definition of the anti-corruption law in the country and the excuses that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has no powers to take action against such corruption offences are completely untenable and self-serving.

I am a bit surprised that Abdul Rahman should repeat such a canard when I had spoken on the subject at the DAP Pesta Tanglung in Rasah in Negri Sembilan on Saturday night, where I said that in my 52 years in politics, the thought of becoming Prime Minister of Malaysia had never entered my mind.

I had asked if I had never thought of becoming Prime Minister of Malaysia when I was in my twenties, thirties and forties, why should I be thinking of becoming Prime Minister of Malaysia when I am in the seventies?

In the United States, a black man Barack Obama had become the President of the United States – but this took place some 230 years after the establishment of the United States in 1776.

I hope that Malaysia would not need 230 years before a non-Malay become Prime Minister, but I do not expect a non-Malay to become Prime Minister in this century.

Whether Obama’s example will be replicated in Malaysia in the 22nd or 23rd century (i.e from Year 2,100 to 2,299), will depend on whether the politics of identity will not continue to be so primordial and elemental as a political force in the Malaysian political landscape as today.

But my clarification, in particular my various earlier statements that I do not see any non-Malay becoming Prime Minister during my lifetime, failed to make any impression on the UMNO/BN leaders.

Is this reflection of their poor intellectual abilities or lack of basic honesty and moral worth.

Abdul Rahman Dahlan should not be “one trick pony” who is rendered completely useless when that “one trick” is taken away from him.

I do not foresee any scenario developing where by a non-Malay would become Prime Minister of Malaysia after the next general election.

Even if I am offered the office of Prime Minister after the general election – which is a total impossibility – I would decline it, as there are no political conditions for it.

I am reminded of the lie of Mahathir’s RM1 billion bribe to me and that I had already received RM750 million in Singapore and Hong Kong.

I have said at the Pakatan Harapan “Sayangi Malaysia, Hapuskan Kleptocrasi” ceramah at Pandaraman on Sunday night that if Mahathir had given me RM1 billion bribe, I will give one million Malaysians earning below RM1,200 a month a donation of RM1,000 each.

Produce the evidence that RM750 million had been paid by Mahathir to me in Hong Kong and Singapore and I will gladly donate the entire sum to 750,000 Malaysians earning less than RM1,200 a month at RM1,000 each!

I have been told that there are better ways of using the RM1 billion to help Malaysians if Mahathir had given me such a sum, like building 5,000 units of affordable housing for young Malaysians or using the money to bring back public scholarships which could benefit some 3,000 university students in one year.

I am open to suggestions as to what are the best ways to spend the RM1 billion if this sum of money is really available!