COMMENT There have been a lot of brickbats when the question is asked why Pakatan Harapan and the civil society are now ‘losing their marbles’ over a nonagenarian, Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Human Rights NGO Suara Rakyat Malaysia’s (Suaram) adviser Dr Kua Kia Soong, for example, has been harping on the apparent cooperation between the three major component parties in Pakatan Harapan and the one whom they call the “cunning old fox”.

Over the signing of the Citizens’ Declaration, for example, I have also heard a lot of rumbling in the background, especially from those who thought that Dr Mahathir had been making use of Pakatan supporters to meet his personal agenda.

I can fully understand why Dr Kua has his personal vendetta where Dr Mahathir is concerned, because he has suffered incarceration under the draconian law used by the former prime minister against dissenting voices during his time.

Just like de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, we must never forget that Dr Mahathir was with Umno then; now, he is out of Umno.

What choice do we have?

However, I believe in times of national crisis and in the wake of a major scandal that has literally dragged the country’s reputation to the dogs, we have very little choice but to set aside our differences for now and work together towards a better Malaysia.

We know who the Malaysian Official 1 (MO1) is after his involvement in the scandal was explicitly exposed through the US Department of Justice (DOJ) civil suit. Both Sarawak Report and The Wall Street Journal have been flashing out stories in the past one year.

Over the allegations that PAS has received RM90 million from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, PAS, which is usually ‘poor’, is suddenly able to flex its financial muscles to sue Sarawak Report in the United Kingdom.

We also see good people in our institutions being replaced by people who are obviously willing to help wrap up any investigation into the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

Earlier this year, after taking over the office of the attorney-general, Mohamed Apandi Ali was the first to announce that the 1MDB case was closed.

Recently, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson, Hasan Arifin, said the case would not be re-opened, prompting four PAC members to leave the meeting in protest.

Till today, no one has been able to reveal the auditor-general’s report that has been placed under Officials Secrets Act (OSA). Who do we blame but ourselves for voting in BN lawmakers who passed the OSA bill.

We are told by Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani that the controversy with International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) will be settled amicably.

However, in order to solve the case, money would have to be forked out by the Malaysian government to settle the debts, presumably again in the billions of ringgit; or else, do you think IPIC would ‘forgive’ the debts of 1MDB?

Najib has not even offered to talk to the Saudi prince who ‘donated’ RM2.6 billion into his private bank accounts, to see if the money could be used to settle the debts with IPIC.

Just last week, the newly-minted Bank Negara governor, Muhammad Ibrahim, was a major disappointment after he announced that the 1MDB case is closed, despite the public outcry over why investigation into the involvement of MO1 has stalled despite new evidence having surfaced from the investigations carried out by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Although these government officials will eventually face the consequences of their own malfeasance, so long as MO1 remains in power, we can expect to see more cover-ups.

Bravo to Dr M’s ‘macais’

In the midst of all this, I have to say that it was Dr Mahathir’s macais (lackeys) who have done a great job. Their actions can hardly be matched even by the opposition.

Some say it is because the opposition coalition is weak, but they have themselves to blame for their wavering support. They could have joined forces with the opposition parties to help strengthen whatever is still weak to ensure that we have a stronger opposition in the country, capable of taking over Putrajaya.

Both Tony Pua and Rafizi Ramli are great when it comes to exposing the 1MDB scandal, but they cannot match the ‘out-of-the-box’ actions such as the official complaints lodged by former Umno Batu Kawan division deputy chief Khairuddin Abu Hassan with the investigating authorities in some six countries.

It was presumably as a result of his complaints that the DOJ took notice of the 1MDB scandal and all efforts made to recover back at least US$1 billion in seized assets. Apart from the US and Singapore, the Swiss authorities, too, are coming hard on the 1MDB scandal.

Dr Mahathir’s lawyer, Matthias Chang, and former PAS vice-president Husam Musa have also filed a class action in the United States to seek custodianship of the US$1 billion worth of assets which is currently being pursued by the DOJ.

Again, it is Dr Mahathir’s macai, Chang, who has taken the right action, and in my opinion, they truly deserve our support.

Neither Pua nor Rafizi had thought of this, and even if they had toyed with the idea, they may not have had the resources or even political will to carry out the class suit on behalf of all of us. The same Pakatan lawyers are already handling so many different cases at the same time.

But Chang and Husam were prepared to take the bull by the horns. To them, I have to salute, “Bravo!”

United we stand, divided we fall

My appeal is to all my fellow Malaysians to align ourselves as one united force if we want to see change in this country. In the coming general election, there should no longer be three-cornered fights.

The good people in PAS should not allow their president to once again sabotage the chances of a big win by the opposition. We have seen this happening over and over again, since the late Nik Aziz Nik Mat passed on.

While I think Dr Mahathir’s hidden intentions for setting up Bersatu is mainly to replace Najib, and eventually Bersatu may be disbanded and the entire flock return to helm Umno, I think for now we still have to allow the forces to come together. The priority is to save the country.

The ‘enemies’ on both sides of the pendulum have little choice but to swallow their own pride, and work together as one, just as the saying goes, “United we stand, divided we fall”.

We have to resolve within our hearts that whatever happens, we will still vote for Pakatan until we see a change of government at Putrajaya. The opposition has been fighting against all the odds in every general election.

For now, I can only agree with Muhyiddin Yasin that Umno has turned into a scrap vehicle; unless there is internal purging, Umno has already become a four-letter word for most Malaysian households.

Frankly speaking, it is Dr Mahathir’s team who can reach the simple-minded rural Malays, which the opposition has till today never been able to touch.

It is good if they can join forces with Pakatan to speak to the rural folk, but at the end of the day, Dr Mahathir and his macais are better off starting on a clean slate by being a component party within Pakatan to see to it that this country has two equally strong coalitions.

Above all, operating from a new party would also mean that they have to rebuild their own credibility as leaders, after having their reputation soiled while they were in Umno.

Otherwise, as I mentioned in one earlier article, Dr Mahathir would be one despicable old man if he, Muhyiddin or Mukhriz returned to Umno.

To them, I leave these words: “When people give you a second chance, once this trust is breached, your legacy is forever gone.”

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.