Anwar Takes Over 16th Sept Which Year?

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http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newspolitic.php?id=359549

 

Sept 16 - The Bomb That Never Exploded

 

 

By S. Retnanathan

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 (Bernama) -- Soon after the general election on March 8 this year, the date Sept 16 began to top conversations, be it at coffeeshops or lobbies of five-star hotels.

 

Every opportunity that the man-on-the-street found to strike a conversation with someone from a political party, even if that someone was just an ordinary member, the date almost always came to the fore.

 

Sept 16 was the date most referred to by the media in the last six months, so much so that even those who were oblivious to Malaysian politics, or politics as a whole, latched on to it as if it was some feel-good medication.

 

The date became a focal point after Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim dropped a bombshell less than a month after the general election, claiming he had enough Barisan Nasional (BN) members of parliament (MPs) wanting to cross over to the loosely formed pact of PAS, DAP and PKR dubbed Pakatan Rakyat (PR), by that date.

 

Anwar had also insisted that the opposition coalition would "take over" Putrajaya, the federal administrative capital, on Sept 16.

 

He reinforced his prediction after winning the Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election last month, this time taking it a step further by stating that he had a "comfortable number" of BN MPs to ensure a smooth crossover to enable PR to take over the government, which had been in the hands of the BN since the nation gained independence 51 years ago.

 

"Yes. We have an adequate number, especially from Umno (the backbone of the BN). The understanding is that I will announce (the crossovers) after my return to Parliament," he trumpeted then.

 

Anwar made his return to Parliament on Aug 28, two days after he had won Permatang Pauh, still adamant about not wanting to divulge details of the so-called defections and only saying that he was on track to achieving the elusive dream of forming the next federal government.

 

"I will only name them at the right time. That is the understanding ... agreement with my friends (the BN MPs concerned)," said Anwar on Sept 6 in Jakarta, steadfast that his dream of forming the next Malaysian government would materialise on Sept 16 and that he faced no problem in achieving this.

 

In the March 8 general election, the ruling BN suffered an unprecedented defeat, losing four states -- Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor -- and failing to recapture Kelantan which remained in the hands of PAS. It also lost its two-third majority in parliament when it won 140 seats. The Opposition had 82 seats.

 

In any other country, this 58-seat majority would be regarded as huge and would not have raised any concern. But in Malaysia, alarm bells started ringing because never in the history of the BN has its majority been sliced to this level.

 

The opposition needed just 30 seats or so to "topple" the BN government and form a new government with a simple majority of 112 seats.

 

Of the 140 parliamentary seats won by the BN, Sabah and Sarawak contributed 54 or nearly 40 per cent, and this is what Anwar exploited in the beginning.

 

Soon after announcing that he had the BN MPs, the former deputy prime minister, who was sacked from the government in 1998 on sodomy and misuse of power charges, claimed that the bulk of his defecting MPs would come from these two East Malaysian states.

 

However, with Sept 16 nearer at hand, he said those in power would be surprised that the MPs would be mostly from Umno or other peninsula-based BN component parties.

 

This charge by Anwar was dismissed by the present government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, allaying fears that BN MPs were ready to switch camps.

 

Even at a gathering Monday night at the Kelana Jaya stadium in Petaling Jaya, attended by some 12,000 ardent supporters, Anwar insisted once again that he had the sufficient majority to form the government.

 

He also claimed to have sent a letter to Abdullah Monday afternoon on the list of BN MPs who would cross over to Pakatan Rakyat. But there was no such list.

 

Anwar, the Opposition leader in parliament, said at a news conference Tuesday he wanted to meet Abdullah to ensure that the prime minister handed over power in a "peaceful" manner and promise that the government would not invoke the Internal Security Act to detain any MP who wanted to join PR.

 

This was the Sept 16 he had talked about over the last six months. There were no names, no list or any announcement of any MP crossing over but only insistence that he would form the government and that he wanted a smooth transition of power.

 

He now wants to meet Abdullah to ask the prime minister not to declare a state of emergency or damage the economy when in fact his (Anwar's) actions over the last few months had created doubt among investors. Abdullah, in the meantime, has been going about his duties unperturbed by Anwar's claims.

 

At a news conference Tuesday, Abdullah said the BN government was strong and would continue to discharge its duties to the people.

 

Abdullah told the people not to be swayed by the propaganda of the opposition that it would take over the government, and described Anwar's plan to take over the government Tuesday and become the prime minister as a mere dream.

 

Abdullah said it had always been Anwar's trademark to say things to attract public attention and that after his failure today, he (Anwar) would change the date.

 

Asked of the worries expressed by the people on the current political development, Abdullah said there was nothing to worry about as it was merely a political deception by Anwar.

 

"I am sure (the government of) Sept 16 will not happen. Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is banking on our party members to leave us but our people will not desert us," the Umno president and BN chairman had been reported as saying earlier.

 

PKR also took the political drama to a different level when it sent five senior party leaders to "chase" after some 49 BN MPs who flew to Taiwan on Sept 7 on a week-long agriculture study tour.

 

Tian Chua, the PKR information chief who led the five, said before leaving the country that the opposition team would try to meet the BN MPs in Taipei but fell short of saying why they wanted to meet the BN MPs.

 

Anwar's repeated claims that he would set up government by today only fuelled talk that the opposition leaders were hot on the heels of the BN MPs with the intention of coaxing them over to the opposition.

 

Some observers view the latest action of Anwar as an effort to destabilise the present government using "political fear tactics".

 

There are also claims that he wanted to divert public attention from his ongoing sodomy case where he is accused of having sodomised his former aide, Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

 

Despite repeated denials from BN MPs, including those from Sabah and Sarawak, ministers, leaders of the BN coalition and those associated with the nation's corridors of power, Anwar had insisted that he would make it (form the government) by Sept 16.

 

Observers also believe that if Anwar did indeed have the numbers, PR members would have marched to Istana Negara to ask the king to remove Abdullah as the prime minister.

 

But as the day dawned, it seemed like Anwar had dropped an empty bombshell in the days after the nation's 12th general election, and the only impact it created was a minor thud on the ground.

 

-- BERNAMA