Back to the future: the fall of Saigon revisited

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin

(...) But it was still too early to pop Champagne. Terengganu may be a Barisan Nasional state but it appears that His Majesty, The Agong, had other plans as to who should be the new Menteri Besar. The Agong knows about the RM1.2 billion a year oil royalty that has now been changed to wang ehsan and which comes under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister’s Department. The Agong also knows that ever since Idris Jusoh was appointed the manager of the wang ehsan in 2000, more than RM8 billion has disappeared into the pockets of Patrick Lim and his retinue of cronies. And The Agong said, enough is enough; the pilferage must come to an end!

Patrick Lim broke out into cold sweat when it was announced that The Agong has his own ideas on who should be the Menteri Besar of Terengganu and that it is not going to be Idris Jusoh. Patrick Lim sent The Agong a SMS with an offer of RM300 million if His Majesty would maintain status quo. The gall of this uncouth, uncultured, crossbreed of a Chinaman. Sending The Agong a SMS is bad enough. Not even The Agong’s uncle would do such a biadap thing. But to attempt to bribe The Agong on top of that is the height of insolence that tantamount to treason.

When The Agong did not respond, Patrick Lim made a beeline for Terengganu in an attempt to have a personal audience with His Majesty to pursue the RM300 million offer. The Agong made Patrick Lim sit in the waiting room the entire afternoon and at 5.00pm His Majesty sent his ‘guest’ off in tears with the message that he is persona non grata in the palace.

Patrick Lim was now desperate. He needed to save his Terengganu operation. With Penang now in shambles, Terengganu is all he has left with which to convince his bankers that he is still bankable. He went to meet Ahmad Said and offered the new Menteri Besar RM40 million if he would agree to turn down the offer for the top post and instead settle for the post of Deputy Menteri Besar. This would allow Idris Jusoh the top post, which would then enable Patrick Lim to retain Terengganu as his playground. But Ahmad Said refused the offer of RM40 million and Patrick Lim’s hope of getting his hands on the RM1.2 billion a year shattered.

Yes, 30 April 2008 may yet become like Saigon of 30 April 1975. Parliament is expected to convene on 28 April 2008 and if Anwar can convince another 30 Parliamentarians from Barisan Nasional to swing to his side then, with the 82 he already controls, he can form the new federal government. But can he do that? more...