There is every possibility Mahathir will leave Abdullah a farewell present.

I remember a song we used to sing back in the 60s about being home for Christmas. I can�t remember how it went, but it would certainly apply to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

�Home for Christmas?� most would ask. �How can that be? Isn�t Anwar serving a fifteen-year jail sentence? Isn�t Anwar �safely tucked away� behind the high walls of Sungai Buloh Prison until 14 April 2014?�

This is a very reasonable question and quite understandable that it would be asked if it came from the layman on the street. But what is appalling is that even some senior members of the legal fraternity also seem to be asking this same question. Sheesh! Where did they study their law anyway?

First of all, Anwar was NOT jailed for 15 years. He was jailed for 15 years and seven months. Have they forgotten the seven months remand he was held under while the first trial was being conducted? (And �conducted� is certainly the right word since the entire thing was orchestrated by a conductor).

Anwar had applied for bail but it was denied, so he spent the seven months of the trial period in prison. Then, when the first six-year sentence was handed down, the trial judge refused to take these seven months into consideration and ruled that the sentence should commence from the day of sentencing, not from the day of arrest.

Secondly, Anwar was NOT jailed for one sentence of 15 years. He was jailed for seven months, then six years and, finally, for another nine years. It is NOT one long sentence but THREE separate sentences � the first seven months �illegally�, may I add.

FAC Campaign

When the Free Anwar Campaign (FAC) first launched the �Anwar Bebas 14 April 2003� campaign at the Sri Putra Restaurant below Dataran Merdeka (the birthplace of the Reformasi Movement) on 20 September 2002 (the fourth Anniversary of Anwar�s arrest), everyone thought we were mad. For the rest of the year nothing happened. In fact, some journalists even phoned to ask why there seemed to be no response to the campaign.

�Hold on,� I told them. �We are at the moment focussing on the International scene. We want to ensure we educate the rest of the world first about the campaign and the issues behind the campaign. Come the New Year, we will intensify the local campaign.�

�If we were to campaign too early locally, we will not be able to sustain it and it will lose steam towards the end,� I added. �So we need to do it over only three months or so to maintain the stamina.�

On 1 January 2003, we launched the local campaign via a �logo launch� at a Hari Raya gathering in Kampong Pandan. Then, a month later, we printed tens of thousands of �Anwar Bebas 14 April 2003� stickers and flooded the country with them.

And that�s when all hell broke loose.

Today, every man and his dog know about the �Anwar Bebas 14 April 2003� campaign. And it has got the government rattled to the extent they have been having emergency meetings in Putra Jaya to plan their damage control. And these meetings it is believed included not only the de facto Law Minister (Rais Yatim), the Deputy Home Affairs Minister (Zainal Abidin Zin), and the Acting Prime Minister, but representatives from the police and judiciary as well. At one such meeting, it was strongly rumoured that very senior people within the judiciary were also present.

Now, if this is not a conspiracy, then I don�t know what is.

Politics, Not Law

Clearly, from the behind-the-scenes goings-on, they were not going to let Anwar out on 14 April 2003. They can�t afford to. Legally, there is no way they could keep Anwar in jail a minute beyond 14 April 2003. But we are not talking law here. We are talking politics. Politics is what got Anwar into jail. Politics is what it will take to get him out.

One of the Federal Court judges who performed his Haj last year was asked by a member of his entourage why the courts will not release Anwar. Everyone knows he is innocent of all charges. Surely the courts must know this as well?

Right there, inside the Holy Mosque of Mecca, and facing the Ka�aba, the Federal Court judge replied, �Do you know what will happen to the country if we release Anwar? Can you imagine the chaos on the streets resulting from Anwar�s release? Mahathir�s government will not be able to last a week with Anwar a free man.�

�That�s not your problem,� replied his comrade, an �old boy� of his alma mater. �Security is the problem of the police and army. You are a judge. Your job is to dispense justice. What happens resulting from your (just) court decisions is not for you to worry about. Let the security forces worry about it. You should just do your job and not try to do the job of the police and army as well.�

The sullen judge did not respond. I am sure he was wishing the Ka�aba would just open up and swallow him whole so that he could be spared further agony.

Yes, that�s what it�s all about; Mahathir�s survival. Anwar�s incarceration is for Mahathir�s survival. His freedom would be Mahathir�s doom. So, such prospects cannot even be discussed, let alone considered.

And Mahathir, of all people, should know his fate is in Anwar�s hands. More than a decade before the September 1998 political crisis, Mahathir had to depend on Anwar for his political survival when the �Team B� of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Musa Hitam, Abdullah Badawi, Rais Yatim, Zainal Abidin Zain, etc., launched an onslaught. Without Anwar, Mahathir would be history by now and Tengku Razaleigh would be our current Prime Minister.

And it all happened as follows.

Back in 1987...

In 1987 I was in a meeting chaired by Datuk Dr Wan Ismail, the father of Parti Keadilan Nasional�s President, Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah. The meeting was to assess Mahathir�s chances of winning the Umno Presidency tussle.

Clearly Mahathir was going to lose.

We adjourned to the office of Mohd Nor Azam, Mahathir�s Political Secretary, to report what we felt. We were told to infiltrate Tengku Razaleigh�s camp and try to find out more. Aziz Samsuddin, another of Mahathir�s aides (ironically, one of the alleged conspirators in the Anwar saga) was flirting with Tengku Razaleigh and it was feared he would change camps. The night before he had attended a Tengku Razaleigh dinner and had addressed the �other side�. Saad Man, Mahathir�s Youth Leader, had already jumped camps. The PM, we were told, was very angry.

That night we met Azmi, brother of Ibrahim Ali, a.k.a. �katak�. Azmi showed us their computer print-outs. Team B was winning by 10%. At midnight, we rendezvoused with Mohd Nor behind the coffeehouse of the Merlin Hotel, one of Tengku Razaleigh�s operations centers � they practically blocked the whole hotel.

Upstairs, in the rooms, Tengku Razaleigh�s boys were painting banners they were planning to use the next day in a march to Seri Perdana calling for Mahathir�s resignation. They knew they had already won. The party election the next day was a mere formality to legally confirm it.

Mohd Nor was sweating profusely though it was freezing in that coffeehouse. He too believed his boss had lost.

We met up with Ibrahim Ali and Azmi again and they offered to make a deal.

�Ask Anwar to back us and we will ensure he wins the Vice President�s post,� they said.

We said we will relay this to Anwar. We then met Datuk Kamaruddin Jaffar, current Member of Parliament for Tumpat, who brought us to meet Anwar. It was now 2.00am the morning of the election.

�No way!� said Anwar. �No deals! I am behind Mahathir. And don�t you dare make a secret deal with them. If Team B wins, I will resign even if I win the Vice Presidency. My loyalty is to Mahathir. I promised Mahathir my support and I will not go back on my promise.�

Even Datuk Kamaruddin sighed. Mahathir was finished, gone, kaput! Why back a dead duck? But it was not to be. Mahathir must win at all costs, even at the cost of Anwar losing his position in the party.

We spent the rest of the wee hours of the morning (no one slept that night) going from hotel room to hotel room telling the delegates it was Team A and not Team B that was to win. This was Anwar�s wish, they were told. But it was still 50-50. We needed more votes; at least 10% more.

Anwar was then Umno�s Youth Leader, a position no one could oust him from. But Anwar offered to resign from his post and offered it to Datuk Seri Najib on condition he threw his support behind Mahathir.

Najib, it is believed, did not love Mahathir. He did not love Tengku Razaleigh either - he was �neutral�. But he did covet the Umno Youth Leader�s post. So he agreed to the deal, and we got that extra 10% we needed to ensure a Team A win.

Anwar took a big gamble that night. He was comfortably planted in the Umno Youth Leader�s post that no one could shake him from. In fact, he was not even being challenged. But he handed it over to Najib on a silver platter and took the risk of contesting for the Vice President�s post.

Anwar Saved Mahathir?

Anwar saved Mahathir that night. Mahathir had practically given up. He left it entirely to Anwar whether he would still be in office the next day. Mahathir knows what Anwar can do. Mahathir knows the only reason he is still PM today is because of Anwar.

Mahathir may not want Anwar around while he is still PM. But, when he retires in October this year, there is no longer any reason to keep Anwar in jail.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has been a disappointment to Mahathir since he (Mahathir) announced his resignation last year. Abdullah is not quite turning out the way Mahathir had expected.

Those close to Mahathir say he no longer tolerates anyone badmouthing Anwar in front of him. At one meeting, he took a certain Chief Minister to task for running down Anwar. Mahathir�s close pals say he appears to regret what he did to Anwar and wishes Anwar was still by his side instead of Abdullah.

But it�s too late now. Mahathir is too proud a man to admit he made a mistake. He still very stubbornly sticks to his guns. But his venom for Anwar has diluted drastically.

Mahathir will have to retire in October. He has no choice in the matter. Abdullah and his boys are sharpening their knives to make sure it will happen. Mahathir will leave with his tail between his legs, not as a conquering hero.

But, before he exits, there is every possibility he will leave Abdullah a farewell present. He may free Anwar and have the last laugh as he sits on the sidelines watching Abdullah trying to handle Anwar, his long-time adversary.

Don�t forget, Abdullah was Team B, as was Rais Yatim and Zainal Abidin Zin (all the so-called conspirators in this latest conspiracy to keep Anwar in jail beyond 14 April 2003). It is because of Anwar that Team B lost. Abdullah has never forgotten this, nor has Mahathir. And, incidentally, this is also why Abdullah refuses to name Najib as his anointed number two � much to the chagrin of Mahathir.

Yes, Anwar may yet be home for Christmas. And what a Christmas present for Abdullah it would be indeed.

Raja Petra Kamarudin

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