Everybody wants to be with No.1 leader

THERE is a saying that when a (rice) field is dry, no one would like to cultivate it, but when it is well-irrigated, everyone would want a part of it.

Friends, isn’t it the same with politics? When a party is in the Opposition, it is not easy to get supporters as people would generally shy away from it, but once it is in power, it attracts supporters like bees are drawn to flowers or honey.

I am referring to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) or Bersatu for short. Although there are other Pakatan Harapan (PH) component parties like PKR, DAP and Amanah plus Warisan in the case of Sabah, PPBM is now the hot cake partly because its chairman is the Prime Minister. Everybody wants to be associated with the nation’s No. 1. Everyone wants a piece of the action. All want to be known as Dr M’s macai. No one really cares when Anwar would take over as that may never happen.

PPBM officially entered Sarawak late last year, although the local parties that govern our neighbouring State had pledged their support for the federal government. The old man’s excuse was PPBM was the only PH party not functioning in Sarawak.

So, by the same token, why can’t the same excuse be used in the case of Sabah? Warisan is not officially a component of PH. It is only a PH-friendly party. Which makes it not much different from the governing parties in Sarawak. The only difference being that there was an unwritten understanding prior to the 14th general election that PPBM leaves it to Warisan to spearhead the challenge to BN in Sabah.

Let’s put that aside for the time being. Let us just assume that PPBM will enter Sabah, sooner or later. But sill it is not as easy as it sounds. I am not even talking about Warisan’s expected protest. I am talking about the likely problem from within PPBM itself.

To make my meaning clearer, who will lead PPBM in Sabah should it really enter Sabah? Right now, as things stand, there are already two camps claiming to be or at least trying to be the party responsible for brining it into Sabah. One is Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah led by former Sabah PKR chairman Datuk Seri Lajim Okin, also a former Sabah Umno minister. As far as I can recall, his party had declared that it was seeking to join PH soon after the election. Nothing came out of it.

But that didn’t stop Lajim, also a former federal deputy minister. It is an open secret that he has been trying his best to get close to PPBM leaders since then. A couple of months ago, he was seen at a function attended by the PM cum PPBM chairman in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, though it is still not known whether he was actually invited or otherwise.

Late last year, the congress of Lajim’s party was attended by a vice-president of PPBM, the former Malaysian Election Commission Chairman, Tan Sri Rashid, but he has since clarified that he was there only as a riend of Lajim who invited him. He didn’t say that he was representing his party or Dr M.

Then, more recently, Lajim announced that his party would be distributing 100,000 PPBM membership application forms throughout Sabah. He even had a picture of him attending the recent PPBM 2nd annual delegates’ conference as an observer published in a local newspaper as if to show proof. The other group is the one headed by former Sabah Umno liaison chief Datuk Seri Hj Hajiji Hj Noor. To begin with, his luncheon-cum-press conference last month to announce their departure from Umno was attended by two of PPBM’s supreme council members. Although the duo said they just happened to be in Kota Kinabalu then, your guess is as good as mine. One of them is Dr M’s right hand man.

At the time of me writing this letter, the ex-Umno group leaders are still independent MPs and Assemblymen who by the way had also declared their support for both the federal and state governments. At the time of their press conference on December 12, they declined to confirm speculations that they would be joining PPBM despite the presence of the duo.

But a few days after the press conference, this group including former Umno divisional leaders were summoned to a hotel in Kota Kinabalu to receive boxes and boxes of PPBM membership application forms. No reporters were invited but somehow photos of the event were leaked to the social media though no one confirmed it. Then more recently, this group also attended the PPBM congress in Kuala Lumpur or to be exact Putrajaya as observers. But unlike Lajim, they went quietly and there was no publicity. They were, after all, still indepedents.

As if this is not confusing enough, another Sabah group is also claiming to be involved. I am referring to the Sabah Muslim NGO called Perkida which is calling PPBM to enter Sabah for the sake of Muslims. In a press conference on Thursday, its leader claimed to have registered 20,000 new PPBM members.

There have been speculations over the past few weeks as to whether PPBM will enter Sabah or not or who to lead it. Although Dr M has repeatedly said it will not, political observers pointed out that when it comes to Malaysian politics, nobody can be as shrewd or as cunning as the old man who is almost 94.

PPBM president and defacto No. 2 Tan Sri Muhyiddin shed some light when he said at a press conference prior to the PPBM congress that the party was leaving it to Hajiji and Sabah CM and Warisan president to discuss and sort things out.He added that if Warisan can accept these ex-Sabah Umno MPs and Assemblymen, so much the better as it makes things easier for PPBM.

But Muhyiddin shed more light in his closing speech at the congress that people are urging PPBM to enter Sabah despite knowing the existence of an understanding between PH and Warisan, was because “pengaruh Tun luar biasa” (the influence of Tun is extra-ordinary). What he actually meant by that, only he knows.

Now, notice Muhyiddin only mentioned Hajiji. He never mention Lajim, much less Perkida. The reason? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out - Hajiji’s group has more than a dozen YBs (Six MPs and nine assemlymen plus 2 Senators) whereas Lajim’s party has none. Even Lajim himself was defeated at the recent election. At least Hajiji won in Sulaman, an observer pointed out and he has the clout of being Sabah Umno’s No. 1 at the time of the departure.

So if you were Dr M and Muhyiddin, which faction would you deal with? Hajiji’s or Lajim’s. But observers also pointed out that at the same time PPBM headquarters just let Lajim carry on with what he was doing as this is politics so as not to antagonise him. An observer joked: “At the least let him ‘Siok Sendiri’ (enjoy himself) lah. After all, PPBM has nothing to lose. Dr M has repeatedly said that the party has a duty to protect the Muslims and Malays now that Umno is almost as good as dead. The more the merrier, as the saying goes. Veteran political observer