(MalaysianInsider) KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — Finally, it boiled down to one pressing need: Umno wanted someone who could unsettle Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, attack him and put him on the defensive.
Months before Election 2008, Umno officials opened talks with Ezam Mohd Noor on returning to the ruling party. But there was little urgency on both sides until March 8 when Pakatan Rakyat snared Kedah, Selangor, Penang and Perak from Barisan Nasional.
Suddenly, there was panic in Umno circles as they contemplated the possibility of Anwar forcing crossovers of BN MPs and the collapse of the government. In the weeks after the polls, it was also patently clear that the momentum was with the Opposition leader and there was nobody in Umno who had the "ammunition" to fire at the prime minister-in-waiting.
After all, it has been 10 years since he was sacked from the party and government. Also, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and others seemed preoccupied with fighting fires in Umno than the enemy outside.
Again, Ezam’s name cropped up, and this time there was intensive courting by Umno officials including Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Wan Farid Wan Salleh. A Perak Umno leader told The Malaysian Insider:
"We told Ezam that he would need to attack Anwar because he knew his weak points. Of course, we also think that he has the ability and charisma to lead Umno Youth. I think Ezam himself believes that he could go quite high in Umno. But his immediate job is to show up Anwar."
Ezam has started to keep up to his end of the bargain. In an interview with Mingguan Malaysia, he painted Anwar as a political chameleon, noting that Parti Keadilan Rakyat seemed to have a fluid political ideology.
"If we remember, PKR was declared as a multiracial party with a Malay spine. This resulted in the party getting support from civil servants and Abim. But lately it seems that it has become a multi-racial party. This change happened after Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was released from prison.
"This was done because he understood the economic situation and the sentiments of the Chinese. This decision shows clearly that PKR is willing to change its position or struggle. To me this is not consistent. I can tell you that in a few weeks time, Anwar will bring back the Malay image to try and attract Malay leaders and prominent Malays into PKR. This he will do because he is being attacked for not caring enough about the Malay agenda.
"What this means is that he will once again abandon the PKR position and move to get the Malay market."
He disagreed with Anwar’s position on the New Economic Policy, saying that he was playing a dangerous game.
"He is willing to push the out of bound markers and disparage the NEP. He is playing on racial sentiments so that now the Chinese equate the NEP with corruption. He is playing the NEP card to get support from non-Malays. He is willing to over step the boundaries even though he knows that the NEP is an important policy for the Malays and other races. We cannot run down the NEP to the point where it is not respected by Malays or other races," said Ezam.
Ezam and Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail were among the founders of Keadilan, the political party born after Anwar was sacked by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for alleged sodomy and corruption. In the early years, he was the face of opposition to the government, promising to bring down ministers with six boxes of classified documents that he had carted overseas.
But his love affair with PKR ended after Anwar’s release from prison in 2004 after the Federal Court overturned his conviction for sodomy.
Ezam felt that Anwar was listening more to Azmin Ali than him. He stopped playing an active role in the party since 2006, focusing instead on the non-governmental organisation Gerak. Still, he kept contact with Anwar and his family members. In the interview with Mingguan Malaysia, Ezam hit back at Wan Azizah for saying that she was shocked at his decision to return to Umno.
"Why should she be shocked? Didn’t her husband once join Umno after criticising Umno and going to jail under the Internal Security Act? So she should not be surprised because her husband also went through the same process. But what we need to realise is that the Umno I am joining is better than the one he joined. At least the party I am joining is clearly interested in change and reforms," he said.
So the first shots have been fired by the former loyalist. Anwar is not likely to respond. Not yet, anyway. The official position in PKR is that Ezam is a disgruntled former party member, a nobody in today’s political environment. Engaging him in a mud-slinging contest will only serve to give him equal status as Anwar and create the impression that Umno did indeed pull off a coup by getting Ezam to change his allegiance.
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