Wednesday, September 3, 2008

September 16

I received a text message from a friend this morning. It reads “13 days to go to form a new government”. Yes, the message is about September 16, the day on which PKR Supremo Anwar Ibrahim incessantly indicated that 30 or more BN MPs will cross over to Pakatan Rakyat to enable the fledgling coalition to form a new government.

Will this happen? Nobody knows for sure. A number of PKR politicians whom I met were very confident that the back door “take-over” will really happen. They believed that by now Anwar already got the number, which includes several UMNO ministers from the peninsular. In fact, two days after the March 8 general elections, a PKR leader confidently related to me that 30 BN MPs would defect anytime soon.

UMNO politicians told a different story. One of them, who was on the hit list, strongly denied that there will be any cross-over. One thing for sure, he said, he will not do so. Another one claimed that he had done head counts of BN MPs who are likely to cross-over and concluded that none of them will do so. He instead described Anwar as a good strategist and manipulator.

Another UMNO politician, who had earlier turned down the offer of being appointed Menteri Besar in one of the states governed by Pakatan Rakyat, is more comfortable with his new role as a member of the opposition in his state, while trying to push for necessary reform in his party. He sees no reason why he, or his colleagues in the party, should cross over.

Whether the cross-over will materialize or not, it is difficult by now to rule out that there were “meetings” between Anwar, or his agents, and the BN MPs. What really transpired in the meetings however is up to everybody to guess.

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