Well, at least that is my view of the whole saga surrounding the MB post in Selangor recently. It my opinion that what we are seeing is not so much about TSKI (the other Bin Ibrahim)'s greed versus Anwar's greed. It is much bigger than DAP and PKR or even PKR. It is much bigger than that.
The way I see it, deep down, it is a duel between the "Old Politics" and "New Politics", old order versus the new order, the old way of doing things versus the new way of doing things.
In the beginning, they were all engulfed in the old politics that defined UMNO at one stage.
Khalid was an UMNO man. Not any ordinary UMNO man, but a very important and highly regarded corporate UMNO man. Not a business man per se, but a professional like Tun Ismail Ali and the likes. The old guards so to speak.
Anwar was also an UMNO man. Not any ordinary UMNO man, but a very important and highly positioned UMNO man, a deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister. But he was not the old guard, he joined midstream so to speak.
However, in 1998, when Anwar was sacked, he left UMNO to join Anwar. According to Tan Sri Khalid, in one his statements during the Selangor MB Crisis, he joined to fight injustice, to champion keadilan and to fight corruption. TSKI was clear about this when he made the birthday wish to Anwar.
I must admit, I myself was initially drawn to the call to fight the corruption abuse that are being seen to have embodied BN in general, and a Malay, UMNO specifically (It was not long after that that I realised I was the reformasi, while it contained the right slogan, was simply a political tactic for certain parties to ride a sentiment and get what they want).
BN, more specifically UMNO, in my view was practicing the (now) old politics. Feudal in nature and based on the concept of patronage. And that needs a lot of money.
Old politics needs a lot of money. Old politics gets votes through a system of patronage. To keep the voters happy, the patrons need to be given goodies at the right time and the right amount, and in turn they will get the votes. That is why we keep hearing the terms "grateful", "pay back" and " the need to protect this system". The patrons need the voters to feel beholden to them, individually if possible. If not then maybe to the party. Everything is about what they are going to get back in return, everything is calculated.
These goodies could come in many forms, contribution for this, payment for that. However, not all these goodies are bad, for example donations to constituents who are sick or just had a death in the family. Some are downright indiscriminate cash handouts. At the end of the day, the old politics needs a lot of money to
The funding mechanism for political parties in the old politics depends on the resources held within the states they control. Nobody wants to openly talk about it but this is what everybody is hinting to. And the old politics needs a very very large amount of funds as it needs to keep feeding the "gratefulness bond" with the voters. That is key decision making positions are being fought for so that the team could be allowed to flourish.
It is my believe that all that the old politics' practice and what it stood for were the main reasons a man like Tan Sri Khalid would leave the comfort of his position in UMNO. He wanted to do away with the old politics and Anwar offered him PKR as the alternative platform to practice the new politics.
The new politics, as bandied about by PKR, DAP and PAS, was all about anti-nepotism, anti-cronyism and anti-corruption. It is supposed to be the direct opposite of what BN is, in terms of principle. It was supposed to be clean of corruption, efficient, free of nepotism and cronyism.
The new politics is professional and it was about the people and the principles of natural justice. It is supposed to be about putting the people's interest first before the party (hence why those who carry this principle should quit UMNO as the old politic would demand that they put UMNO first). PR was seen as quickly pouncing on any UMNO members who turned their back on UMNO, praising them as people of principle, a hero. It was about being "berani kerana benar".
The new politics was against the use of administrative position for political and party gains. This is clear from the complete and utter disgust of how BN parties were seen and said to be milking the country to enrich the party and the key leaders. Plenty of examples were given, from the highways concession, water concession and 1MDB. This stigma has latched on to BN so bad that it is almost impossible to talk about BN component parties without having a visual image of financial abuse. It might not be true in many actual cases, but the stigma is there.
The new politics is against oppression by any means. Oppression, or injustice, are seen as a result of the manipulative behavior of decision makers (including the courts in the justice system). This is clear in their responses to Anwar's sacking in 1998.
This is where I think the two Bin Ibrahim could not be more different. In my view, while it was a political rhetoric to one Bin Ibrahim, it was the real thing for the other Bin Ibrahim. From what I am seeing, Anwar is doing all the talking while Khalid does the walking.
The tenets of new politics as bandied about by Anway seem to be a mere political rhetoric (as nepotism is clearly acceptable to him,while cronyism and undue financial gain are less obvious but cannot be overruled). However, while Anwar does the talking, Khalid does the walking.
He left UMNO to make a change, a show people the other side of doing things, managing position and power with professionalism (almost corporate like) and free from corruption. And he did just that. From what I have heard and read (from Tony Pua and others in Pakatan Rakyat), Khalid is a man with high moral and principle, hardworking and full of integrity.
Khalid seemed to abhor nepotism and did not allow nepotism to be practiced around him. I have not heard of his wife and kids getting into PKR leadership or anywhere to strengthen his position of power within PKR.
Khalid seemed to reject the use of administrative position to empower the party. This should not be a surprise to Anwar actually, as it would have been one of the reasons Khalid left UMNO - to fight for justice (I did not want to use the malay word "keadilan" as PKR seemed to have brought a new meaning to it). Anyway, Khalid administered the state honestly, professionally and truthfully. Not even UMNO can find anything about him during his tenure and had to still resort to the politics of fear in the last election.
There has been talks and inferences that Khalid refused to allow the water restructuring exercise as a way to eventually fund the political coffers. And this could be one of the reason why he is considered "not a team player".
PKR's disciplinary committee chairman himself was put under probe for possible misuse of a public scheme by the State of Selangor. It appeared that possible misuse or trust of the interest of the people reigns higher to Khalid than the interest of his PKR teammates. It seemed that to Khalid, principle first, then party.
In the end, to me, Khalid practiced the new politics. Politics where "Rakyat Diutamakan" by actions rather than by slogan. The politics that promotes handwork, professionalism and Amanah. Khalid acted out what Anwar said he was going to do when PR takes over. The problem was, he was too good at it.
The way I see it, Anwar (and many of his people) is still, at the very core, practicing the old politics. Forget what he and his people are saying, just look at what they do. Nepotism is blatant, cronyism is apparent (they don't want the best to be the MB, they just want their people) and if the talks of the water restructuring side deals are true, then they also use the state resources for the fund the party. No wonder some quarters are accusing that they are no different from UMNO.
So when they want to get their old politics through with Tan Sri Khalid (like the water restructuring deals), it looked like Khalid would have none of it. Therefore Khalid have to be replaced by someone who would accommodate the old politics. The best of this kind would be a puppet.
If you look carefully and sincerely, you would see this.
Therefore, the way I see it, Tan Sri Khalid is not a power crazy guy. He is just a guy who wants to make changes based on his principles. I asked myself, what would he gain by clinging on to this MB position? Salary? Wealth? If he had wanted it he would have done it a long time ago and up till to day no one is linking him to any self enriching deal, no land grabs for himself, nothing. The Camry? he can buy ten with what he already has. The court case with Bank Islam - dude, if he did not leave UMNO to fight for Anwar, I am quite sure he would not be in this predicament - i believe is nothing to do with his MB position. The water deal, ADUN Teng said that everything is above board.
So, what is he really after, it must be something very precious for him to endure the barrage of insults, ridicules and fitnahs that were hurled against him, from people who claimed to be his friends near and far. 'Friends' who leveraged on his clean administration to convince and garner more support, especially from the fence sitters. Why is he subjecting himself to this?
I don't think he wants the MB post for the power and the financial gain it can give him. I think he simply do not want to hand it over to the old politics. That is why, i believed, he is enduring all this hurtful accusations and insinuations that he is power hungry. That is not him as I learned from people who used to work closely with him.
And that is why I find myself drawn to his cause. Not so much to see him cling to the MB post, but to help him stave off the vultures of old politics.
And that is why UMNO, in its current state, would not be able to leverage on the situation. Because his fight is also with the satus quo of doing things in UMNO, largely. The only true way for UMNO to leverage on this fiasco is to accept that people, voters, especially the fence sitters, are hungry and willing to fight for the new politics and if UMNO wants to change, then take the example of Tan Sri Khalid and how he managed the separation between party and governance. You might meet with some resistance in the beginning, but you will win in the end.
Tan Sri Khalid is not fighting for UMNO, or for PAS or for himself. He is fighting for us and our children.
Wallahua'lam
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