An Itch That Got Scratched Too Long

The so-called Kajang Move is over and instead of Kak Wan Azizah as MB intended by certain quarters within PKR, it's instead Anwar's protege Azmin Ali who was finally chosen as the MB after His Highness the Sultan has gone through the shortlist of candidates. At first I thought that Iskandar Samad may have a shot on it, but when he's allegedly brought up the health problem issue during the interview process, it might have saved in two-fold further bickering from PAS and the further ramifications from their other two partners PKR and DAP.

I didn't want to say anything about this Kajang mess from the beginning because I didn't stay in Selangor for that long enough to be qualified as "anak jati Selangor", despite working in the Klang Valley for some years to give a proper assessment of Selangor. Many people that I know of are indeed very angry, in summary of their rantings, that they have been taken for a ride out of nothing. Obviously, this is what most people would say if they are not playing the political games that the rats from both sides of the divide would do.

Today's current generation of rulers are no pushovers, as what is shown now, unlike their predecessors, while the old guard still remaining (Pahang and Kedah). They are mostly much more educated, and clearly understood that they will have to adjust themselves as we are now in the 21st century and they are things that may fit decades ago but not at the present time. The only time that one ruler who showed that he was a no pushover was during the Perak MB imbroglio in the mid-1970s when he famously declared that he would not shave until Ghazali Jawi vacated his post as agreed upon initially (it was his second stint as MB).

Note that I'm confident enough that these rulers are able to handle themselves that it is not required for those screaming men from NGOs to jump and make a lot of ruckus to portray themselves as sacrificial lambs for the rulers.

Ideally, to be more sure, I would have thought His Highness could have call all the 30 assemblymen who allegedly say they support Azizah and ask them one-by-one. There will be a few who would say that they signed the SD (statutory declarations) just to go along with the idea compared to their actual answer of saying "why do I need to sign that piece of paper?" Aha! He would certainly know that not all in the 30 has the confidence of Kak Wan. Fortunately for this round, His Highness played his cards well, to make sure that things are in according to his terms.

The only thing I was amused in this episode was about was how PKR and DAP gave one name to the palace instead of the explicitly stated "more than two names", meaning three or more. This is one thing that even schoolchildren who learn Bahasa and English can even understand, whereas both parties can't even understand a simple sentence of Bahasa Malaysia. My god, they can even understand Malay grammar? Keeping an open mind, it can be seen that DAP, had to play along with the ringleaders that is Anwar and Rafizi, considering that there are some, like in the respective parties didn't agree with the idea in their own heart.

As to go back to the very beginning why this Kajang Move happened in this place, base on my information set, it is possible to have it summarized in three possible reasons:

1. U.G - This problem happened way back since 2008 after GE-12 where UMNO wanted to band together with PAS to form the state government. There are some who wanted the idea while many didn't agree to the idea. According to some sources, the trigger point occurred when Anwar received intel that there are some PAS assemblymen who have been tempted to at least jump ship and band together with UMNO - a certain former PAS assemblymen as the moderator.

2. Khalid Ibrahim refused to play ball with Anwar despite the former was told from the beginning that he'd be put on the seat as a warm-up before he moves in. Khalid didn't have much of the politicking maneuverability unlike Anwar who uses the ends to justify the means.

3. Considering a mass reserve of RM 3 billion in the state coffers, you would definitely want to use it again to jump start his mini projects again in mind (you can name a few).

This takes into account that the bible confiscation and the Kidex thing didn't happen right from the beginning where they took over the state - but only at the beginning of 2014.

Anwar and Rafizi thought this time can go through without much of a hitch but this same problem they encountered was identical to the #KL112 incident where PKR did not anticipate the possibility of the other scenario that he would be acquitted (that was before the overturning of the appeal later). Anyone who clearly understands Murphy's law would mean that not all what was planned can work properly and it can go awry as this.

Anwar is not Dr. Mahathir. He doesn't have the sufficient means and tools to bulldoze through like he, Ghafar and Dr. Mahathir did during the two constitutional crisis 20-30 years ago. The ball game is not the same as it was then. As expected by other analysts, Rafizi says that Kajang move was a success, but not really at the threshold that these two men would expect. If you are one who is not from a state that has a Malay ruler, there will be a handicap of not able to understand how the rulers operate.

PAS too has a share of fault to be responsible. They come up straight that they do not want Khalid to continue before the 13th GE, but his performance in his duties was something that they could not shake it away lest people will ask why throwing someone who has done a very good job in the space of 5 years? Also according to a few friends, another bone of contention by PAS is that they keep harping the argument that because while Wan Azizah is a female, there is a "muhrim" factor, meaning that she can only go up to a certain time a day unlike their male counterparts who can sit longer and talk through with their colleagues on. It is this factor that they have an issue on while PKR and DAP do not have.  

There is saying that if you scratch too much, you injure yourself. In this case, it was an itch that got scratched for too long hoping it will go away but in the end, it was someone else that takes the next turn of the silver platter. Now that Azmin has the silver platter, there is a fallout that has to be handled, but how long will the fallout be? A few friends have even said that from the get go when Azmin starts day 1 in the office, they would be keen to get his answer about PJ Sentral or the 9 million thing that it is  hoped that he'd better start answering.

In the end, what was Rafizi and Anwar actually thinking about? Certainly when they planned the move, they have taken into account of what will happen if they decided to leave it as is. It is an open question that there can invite many answers and theories to that.