Al Sheikh Al Juburi’s Faithful Assistant & Clique

Parti Keadilan Rakyat is becoming more Umno-like than Umno itself these days and Al Sheikh Al Juburi’s Faithful Assistant & Clique are responsible for it. If the Azmin-Zuraida team is capable of doing what they are doing now to PKR, imagine what they will do if Pakatan wins the next general elections without DSAI to control these two.

By Hakim Joe

One may ask, “Who the Hell is Al Sheikh Al Juburi and who is this Faithful Assistant that is being referred to?” The answer can be acquired from Mat Sabu (PAS Deputy President).

Back in the dark ages (1977) when DSAI was still the Finance Minister and DPM of Malaysia and prior to Sodomy I, Mat Sabu made this reference against DSAI as a tit-for-tat after Ummi Hafilda lodged a complaint to A/L Kutty that his deputy is bonking his driver, one Azizan Abu Bakar from the rear and one Shamsidar Taharin (Azmin Ali’s missus) from the front. This was pure revenge for DSAI’s chief conspiratory role in having Mat Sabu caught for “close proximity” at Hotel Perdana in Kota Bharu on January the 31st, 1995, two years after the Kelantan State Legislative Assembly approved the motion on Hudud and Qisas.

Jubur refers to the posterior or the rear end, but in Kelantan it also refers to the female private part. Mat Sabu chose such an appropriate tag to describe DSAI as an abnormal individual who have preferences for the front part (Shamsidar) and the posterior (Azizan Abu Bakar). Realmente Magnifico!

History has of course acquitted DSAI of Sodomy I and Mat Sabu had to literally eat his words but it has also provided Umno with the ammunition to re-launch Sodomy II. This article however does not make reference to either Sodomy I or its sequel but concentrates purely on Al Sheikh Al Juburi’s faithful assistant and his coterie of henchmen who are becoming more like Umno than Umno itself.

Mohamed Azmin bin Ali was born in Singapore on August the 25th, 1964 (Year of the Dragon), which makes him Singaporean by birth. However his education was purely KL stuff, first at the English-based primary school, Gurney Road School [2] (now SK Jalan Gurney) and its secondary education at Technical Institute in Jalan Cheras (now SM Teknik Cheras). From thereon it was to the University of Minnesota where he obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Economics (1986) and his Master of Education in Mathematics and Economics a year later.

First job home in Malaysia was as a Special Officer to the Minister of Education and two years later in 1989, Azmin was promoted to being DSAI’s private secretary. He served in the same capacity after DSAI was first promoted to being the Finance Minister (1991) and then later to be the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia (1993).

One year before DSAI was sacked from Umno in 1998, Azmin took a two-month hiatus from work to enroll at St. Catherine's College, Oxford University where he successfully completed an Executive Training Program on Political Administration. At this juncture of time, Azmin had already accumulated a full decade of political experience and was groomed to be someone of note but his initial plans were seriously derailed after DSAI was dismissed from all his political positions.

However this proved to be somewhat of a blessing in disguise, as he was elected Selangor State Assemblyman for Hulu Kelang in 1999, and therefore launched his political career earlier than if he was still DSAI’s private secretary.

In November 2001, while DSAI was still in jail, Azmin was elected as a Vice President of Keadilan and in 2008, he won the Gombak parliamentary seat and Bukit Antarabangsa state seat in Selangor. By now he had over twenty years of political experience and with no one evidently challenging him on his smooth and sheltered ride to the upper echelons of PKR, Azmin brought together an assembly of his loyal supporters and delegates that climbed the party ladder together without a notable hitch (except for Khalid Ibrahim) and fully backed by the defacto leader himself.

When Keadilan merged with Parti Rakyat Malaysia in 2002 and launched itself in 2003 as PKR, Azmin was still pretty confident of his position within the newly merged party. However he was knocked down one notch when Khalid Ibrahim was selected as the Menteri Besar of Selangor after the 2008 state election victory.

Then came Zaid “Sea-Biscuit” Ibrahim one year later in 2009 and this intimidated Azmin’s “now seemingly precarious” position in PKR and within Pakatan Rakyat itself.

From the onset, it was seen that Zaid was his own man and not someone else’s poster boy. This was his first big mistake as his escalating popularity was challenging Azmin and posed as an affront to DSAI, and this made the entire PKR EXCO gang up on him (less the few loose cannons). As a recent former Umno minister, Zaid did not understand how the PKR party politics were being played and by standing out as a candidate that could pose as a serious replacement for DSAI so soon after joining PKR, he was in fact threatening Azmin’s position, status and future.

The second mistake Zaid did was his attempts to entrench himself as the number two man in PKR and Azmin was not having any of that.

Even when Zaid was grabbing national headlines alongside DSAI, the latter acknowledged the fact that PKR is in reality stronger with Zaid and therefore portrayed itself as a creditable replacement to Umno. Additionally, DSAI also knows that Zaid could not possibly challenge him as the defacto leader of PKR and that should Pakatan win the next general elections, DSAI will unquestionably become the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The scenario is however completely different with Azmin. With Zaid showing tremendous form, one of the DPM seats (DSAI proposed 3 DPM posts, one each from the three coalition parties) suddenly looked awfully remote and getting further and further away from his outstretched grasp, and something had to be done to curb his ominous headlong slide to mediocrity. The PKR party elections hence became the definitive battleground to rein in Zaid (and along the way Khalid as well) and to resolve the issue once and for all and Selangor was chosen to be the ultimate frontline, no holds barred.

The controversy laden 2010 PKR party elections proved to be tainted by allegations of vote rigging, undemocratic practices, existence of two different register rolls, missing ballot boxes, fraud, electoral misconduct, double standards, bribery, etc and its corresponding results became so dubious that Azmin-crony Molly Cheah, the PKR party election committee chairperson, was taken to task over the final announced results. Hell, even A/L Kutty was pleasantly surprised with the Umno-tactics used in the PKR party elections. Nonetheless, Azmin and his clique have done their damage and finally, Zaid and Khalid were left standing alone.

Zaid resigned from PKR and Azmin took full advantage to be appointed the PKR Chief of Selangor, replacing incumbent Khalid Ibrahim, the Selangor MB who was reassured that he shall remain the Selangor PKR Chief by PKR President Kak Wan less than a month ago (29 days to be exact). For those who stood by him, all were suitably rewarded. PKR Wanita Chief, Zuraida Kamaruddin became the PKR Deputy Chief of Selangor. Zakaria Abdul Rahim aka Zakaria Bola was selected as the PKR Pandan Chief (even when the corresponding
party elections was a tie between him and incumbent Nik Md. Zain Nik Mohmad). Mansor Othman and ninety percent of all PKR honchos and cohorts were praised and rewarded. N. Surendran was appointed as one of the party’s Vice Presidents. Datuk Dr Tan Kee Kwong was retained as the party disciplinary bureau chairman. For the remaining 10 percent who was not of the DSAI-AA-ZK gang, the witch-hunt began in earnest.

Amongst the “biggies” on the list, Batu Kawan division women wing chief Dr. Joyce Lee Yueh Choo was the first one to be served suspension papers (later sacked). Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong was next to go. Mustaffa Kamil Ayub, Padang Serai MP N. Gobalakrishnan and Nibong Tebal assemblyman Tan Tee Beng were sidelined. Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad was ignored and many municipal councilors who defied Azmin or Zuraida had their appointments terminated. PKR Deputy Secretary General, Jonson Chong of Kelana Jaya were amongst the 29 active members that were sacked. 10 members were suspended and 12 others received warning letters. Even Tian Chua did not have sufficient clout to stop the “cleansing” ala Mao’s Cultural Revolution style elimination of all resistance within the party while Wan Azizah pretended ignorance.

Anyone suspected of not condoning the “Cult of DSAI-AA” were systematically dismissed from the party (and it is still happening now). PKR Deputy Chief of Selangor, Zuraida Kamaruddin then took this opportunity to do a bit of personal cleansing and started sacking anyone who question her actions and sidelined those who does not serve her purpose (including the time she instructed all Selangor’s PKR Cabang’s official minutes that were detrimental against her be “misplaced”). Way to go.

Yes, PKR really needed to clean up their house a long time ago but it should be done against those who opposes the Party’s ideology, not those who would not support either DSAI, AA or ZK. Keadilan should stand for the people not these three individuals alone. PKR, as with DAP and PAS, is about presenting themselves as a viable alternative to BN, and not acting like them. PKR should act like a political party and not a cult.

With DSAI possibly going in for another stint after Sodomy II, Azmin is now attempting to present himself as the only suitable candidate to lead PKR and Pakatan to GE13, and to do so he needs 100 percent backing from PKR itself, henceforth the cleansing exercise that is turning the party upside down.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat is becoming more Umno-like than Umno itself these days and Al Sheikh Al Juburi’s Faithful Assistant & Clique are responsible for it. If the Azmin-Zuraida team is capable of doing what they are doing now to PKR, imagine what they will do if Pakatan wins the next general elections without DSAI to control these two.

Be warned. Be especially warned.

http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/guest-columnists/46104-al-sheikh-al