IGP's revelation of Attempts to topple Anwar a "conspiracy" to sabotage the government of the day?

I was surpised when I saw this in a former NST media head honcho's Facebook account calling the police investigation into the sabotage of Anwar's administration a phobia. It is not my intention to put him in trouble with the authorities, but when you read Malaysiakini article, you will better understand why the article mentioned about “the importance of the inclusion of “third-party voices' to question the motivation of the prime minister’s actions and push for a reform of institutions." 

This is also a reminder to many of us independent writers, who are supposedly third party voices, especially if we are not careful,that we may be used in some orchestrated campaigns, to meet the objectives of people orchestrating a media campaign against the Prime minister and are paid a huge amount. In the case of this media chief from the Mahathir era, he is obviously a general in the media campaign against Anwar's administration with his daily posts trying to erode people’s confidence in the Madani government.

For the uninitiated, the recent revelation by Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Datuk Seri Khalid Ismail about a plot to topple the government may yet appear to be yet another attempt to silence critics of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. In truth, many of us have always suspected that this manoeuvre to cast aspersions on Anwar is not organic but orchestrated—most likely by a “global strategic advisory and communications firm,” akin to the one reportedly engaged by the family of the late Tun Daim Zainuddin. And, the IGP has done us a favour when he confirmed our suspicions and brought the plot into broad daylight.

Locally, I believe we also have such people in the past who could whip up a  media campaign which appeared to have been orchestrated to remove the mini buses from the streets of Kuala Lumpur. For a period of time, the media highlighted all the "dangerous" mini bus drivers. This media blitz "justified" TP thr public the removal of licenses given to mini bus operators, and the entire concession was taken over by Intrakota, and by another one or two other companies such as Citiyliner and until today, yet none is quite as successful as the mini buses because they were more frequent and people found it convenient to hop on these privately-owned minibuses. 

Media campaigns are known to "kill" an entire industry or remove politicians from their public offices ( you see this happening especially in the West ), despite their legitimate victory in a general election. US president Donald Trump is today one of the major targets of a powerful campaign to remove him.

Understandable

It is understandable that Daim’s family wishes to preserve his good name. By hiring seasoned professionals in public engagement, they aim to ensure his legacy remains intact. Anyone with the means—especially those with significant stakes in the family wealth and inheritance—would naturally do the same, both to protect their own interests and to safeguard the reputation of a deceased loved one.

Communication plan (or comm plan) is nothing new to those in marketing and communications. During my self-study in my pursuit for a postgraduate diploma in marketing from Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), I learned the importance of a good Marketing Communication Plan. Marketing managers must draft and execute such plans to promote their brand consistently and avoid confusion. Thus, when I read Malaysiakini’s report about a global firm, probably charging five or even six figures, to craft such strategies and executing them, I was unsurprised.

What is interesting, however, is the revelation of a deliberate plan by Daim’s family: not only to protect his reputation but also, indirectly, to challenge figures such as Azam Baki. Their main target is not the MACC chief commissioner or anyone else, but the prime minister himself. This is where I feel that Daim's family has crossed the red line. Newton's Third Law of Motion: Action and Reaction; therefore, they cannot blame the authorities for acting against them because SOSMA allows the authorities to act against them. It should be obvious to all by now what is happening behind the scene things that we may read in both social and mainstream media nearly every day about Anwar or anyone associated with him.

The communication plan allegedly involved cultivating “third voices” abroad as well —a strategy explicitly designed to highlight a “culture of fear” within the country. In essence, reading from the Malaysiakini article, the goal was to engage international media to cast aspersions on Anwar’s administration. We are witnessing this played out in the recent discourse, forcing the Prime Minister to navigate these accusations. In the past, where such dissent against the government would have likely triggered arrests under the Internal Security Act (ISA)—an era grimly remembered by the detention without trial during Operation Lallang. This invites an uncomfortable question: where were voices like Naimah’s back then? Why were those who are so vocal today completely silent during the real, systemic crackdowns of that era?

 

Hence, whenever you tell me that Anwar is using political intimidation to pursue his enemies, I always begged to differ.  There are many reasons. For example, you do not see Anwar going after even a former IGP who gave him a blow in his right eye; therefore, Anwar's efforts to pursue the amassed wealth by certain politicians and overnight tycoons in the past should not be seen as a form of personal vendetta. In the case of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, you can see that Anwar only went all out to pursue the century-old "despicable sly old fox" (said within the context of what I wrote in 2018) when Mahathir sued Anwar for defamation. My belief is that the court is used as a platform as part of someone’s plan to use the media to topple another prime minister. The nation has had enough of that one man’s nonsense.

I believe magnanimous Anwar is not going for his blood, but for the amassed billions. As Prime Minister, Anwar’s main focus is to recoup the billions stolen from the country’s public coffers for the country's sake.

What I see in Anwar is a man who has lived through UMNO's glory years, and realising that something has to be done to put a stop to the unbridled misappropriation of public funds by the Mahathir regime. Many Malaysians added these two words 'cronism and nepotism' to their vocabulary, thanks to Anwar's fight against these two very prevalent trends during Mahathir's era.

Anwar himself was also a victim of the regime that put him behind bars because of his resistance to Dr Mahathir's attempts to abuse public funds for bailouts. As far as the story goes, the straw that broke the camel's back was when Anwar refused to budge to Mahathir's demand to use Petronas funds to bail his son's shipping company which was in trouble financially. After that, one thing after another happened to Anwar, which caused the people to rally to his call to reforms. A similar story can be told about Tan Sri Ani Arope who restisted Dr Mahathir's plan to privatise the power generation. The late Tan Sri Ani was sacked subsequently after that. It is unfortunate that a book he claimed to have been written was not published even after his death.

For many observers, the barrage of narratives in social and mainstream media may seem bewildering. Yet, history reminds us that Anwar was dismissed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the late 1990s, partly due to concerns raised by Daim and others, who feared that Anwar’s rise to power may expose them to the long arms of the law. However their fears have returned to haunt them.

Today, with billions of ringgit in amassed wealth under scrutiny by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), it is unsurprising that powerful families are fighting back. With vast resources at their disposal, they can hire anyone to shape the narrative. Personally, I would never involve myself in such work even if I am paid handsomely. I prefer to defend those I believe are genuine—even without payment. Perhaps this explains why I remain content with modest means, rather than indulging in wealth tainted by questionable origins.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with Daim’s family wanting to preserve his legacy. Any spouse or child would do the same. In fact, they should highlight his good deeds in the form of a biography, rather than engaging an international organisation to topple another prime minister. Usually people would be contented with just a biography to outline all the deeds that their deceased parents did. Instead, because many of us have seen how one after another prime minister being toppled by Dr Mahathir himself, we are saying enough is enough! The IGP’s revelation has opened our eyes to what is happening behind the scene.

As for Daim, I believe in giving credit where it is due. He had his fair share of good deeds too, one of which I am aware of myself although the problem was never solved. For example, when told about how certain orgnanisations were unintentionally sidelined after a policy change, he agreed to intervene by bringing the case to Dr Mahathir. This wasn't even an issue that abused student visa; but, of course, the matter did not go any further than that, but Daim's willingness to help is clearly a good deed. 

I can go on to talk about even Rosmah Mansor, whom some call her 'a witch.' But when she was told about a stateless child, adopted by a family, a friend of mine sent her a message asking if she could help. Of course, she pestered her husband, and within a short time, the innocent young boy was given his citizenship. Same with a tycoon whose reputation was not that good wihtin the industry in which he operated, but the gentleman spent many days with the Vietnamese refugee boat people on the Island of Bidong. There is still a resemblance of humanity in even the "worst" people you can think of; therefore, Daim's reputation could have been fixed by outlining some of his personal contributions towards nation buliding, but that's provided if people still trust him, especially when it inovles so much of public funds in the billions.

When investigated by the MACC, Naemah’s family should focus on presenting evidence to demonstrate that the late Tun Daim did not acquire his wealth illicitly, rather than dismissing the inquiry as a mere “political attack.” If every case pursued by the MACC is reflexively labelled as politically motivated, the very notion of justice is undermined. The greater challenge now appears to be that Anwar is being faulted for nearly everything, even for actions that fall within the rightful duties of others. Their main target is not Azam Baki or Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, his political secretary. Their target is the Prime Minister himself, becuase their fear of Anwar has gone as far back as the 1990s. You have to watch the documentary about Anwar's early Reformasi movement to understand this. 

What Daim's Family should not do

Daim’s family should recognise that any attempt to topple a government can be construed as “activities deemed detrimental to parliamentary democracy,” carrying a jail term of up to 20 years, as highlighted in the article. In the past, individuals have been detained under SOSMA-- some like Maria Chin were locked in dark rooms -- the difference is we never saw Naimah or her children speaking out against SOSMA in the past, but even before SOSMA is used against them, they suddenly come “alive.” Even Daim never objected c against SOSMA.

But I have to say this, Naimah and her children should be grateful that the current IGP, being the gentleman he is, has not resorted to using SOSMA to detain them. It is also not in Anwar’s character to wield SOSMA against his opponents. His focus lies instead on recovering lost funds so that the nation can move forward, rather than pursuing lengthy court battles where there are no guarantees that the government can win every case especially over technical issues. 

What he wants are more of his enemies turning into friends to help him steer the nation forward and walking tall again. Anwar is not interested in personal vendetta (see footnote 1 for backgrounder). For example, Ismail Sabri avoided prosecution by relinquishing the millions found in his possession. If the case had gone to the courts, it would take at least another 10 years before we ever see money being recovered from Ismail Sabri. 

Given that Anwar's objectives are to put the nation on track again, I believe in his shoes, I would also focus on recovering the lost millions. In fact, billions, if he and Azam Baki can recover all the money lost by the country! This would help restore the country's financial position as we need more hospitals, schools and good universities, instead of creating more billionaires with children driving posh Ferraris and Lamborghines and spending their monies on lavish lifestyles overseas.

Anwar's Mission

If one observes closely, Anwar has remained true to his early Reformasi ideals. He is not driven by personal vendetta, despite the perception his enemies attempt to create using what we now know is nothing but a plot.'Recall his words in the first months in office which he uttered publicly to tycoons like Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary. He was well aware that many multimillionaires had amassed great wealth through government concessions and their connections with the people in the corridors of power. 

Anwar's primary concern has always been the ordinary farmers with whom he once used to 'bersantai' in constituency of Permatang Pauh. The older generation there would remember him for that, though many have since passed on.

When these tycoons agreed to contribute funds in support of paddy farmers and the legitimate B40 Bumiputera community, Anwar allowed them space. He did not single out Syed Mokhtar, Robert Kuok, or other prominent Chinese and Indian magnates—such as Maxis owner Ananda Krishnan, or G. Gnanalingam, the driving force behind Westports. His principle remains consistent: wealth in itself is not objectionable, but greed that hoards the nation’s resources—especially through illicit means and corruption—cannot be tolerated. 

Anwar’s enduring priority has always been the welfare of those at the lower strata of society. Given the two options that he had to prime the country's economy, he chose the bottom-up model by channelling the money to benefit every Malaysian, rather than spending them on mega projects for now. The billions that were recouped by the MACC were distributed to the people in the form of MyKasih Sara Hidup, of which you and I are beneficiaries. 

Therefore, since this whole plot has been uncovered by the Royal Malaysian Police, presumbably from their inteviews with Bloomberg reporters, what we will see in the coming days is something that we cannot blame the police or Anwar for acting on. If there are attempts to topple the govenrment of the day, it would create instability in the country's administration, and we cannot afford this.

Meanwhile, as citizens, we need to be well aware of this whole orchestration now identified as a "comm plan" by the police to create perceptions that would ultimately serve the objectives of those being investigated by the MACC.

Preserving Daim’s legacy is one matter; but when vast wealth has been amassed at the nation’s expense, the reckoning cannot be evaded. In time, accountability will reach not only him, but all who have committed grave sins against the nation. The law, inexorable and unyielding, will eventually catch up with them.


Footnote:

1) While Tan Sri Rahim Noor, then the nation’s top cop, was later found guilty of assaulting Anwar in detention, not all police officers treated him harshly. There were police officers who acted based on their conscience. I personally heard from a senior officer who took part in the raid on Anwar’s Bukit Damansara home on September 20, 1998: though bound by duty, she was careful not to overstep her authority. This explains Anwar’s soft spot for the police, evident in his first 100 days in office when he visited their public housing and ordered repairs to leaking roofs. It was no media stunt, but a genuine reflection of his heartbeat—to ensure those who serve the nation enjoy decent living conditions. Of course, one cannot expect the Prime Minister to inspect police quarters every day; yet his initiative should be taken seriously by senior officers, who must ensure their men are provided with dignified housing and proper care.