Fractured: Not All That Quiet On The Northern Front

Alhamdulillah, all blessings be to Allah; Tun Mahathir has been discharged from the hospital in Australia and is currently resting at a hotel. This news might just frustrate Azmin and many pas supporters who had throughout the years, failed to inflict any negative impact on Tun, politically and religiously. Even N.ajis feels safe making potshots from the safety of his chambers.

Anyway, these past few months, we have traveled to many places, attending many functions by all parties and observing the political scenarios of the time. All I can say so far is, by far, it's not pretty...well, so's mahfuz.

Kedah has so far been very lucky when Pas took over the state government in 2008 by installing Azizan as the Menteri Besar. Azizan was more of an accidental choice as he was never that aspiring. The actual aspirant was the king-sized bean by the name of Mahfuz, who had been eyeing the seat since the 1999 elections. He did lobby for a state seat but the state pas committee was wise to give him parliamentary.

Hey, it's mahfuz we're talking about. Who can ever forget his noise-making in the parliament during the Budget 1998, live on TV, challenging the legality of Tun Mahathir's position of Finance Minister? And who can EVER forget on that same transmission, 15 - 20 minutes later, a camera shot of Mahfuz dozing peacefully during the session. Well, at least now we know how much understanding he has about anything on that particular budget.

A lot has been said about Azizan's hatred towards Anwar and cohorts, and news has leaked out that Azizan will not be returning as MB if pas wins the next general election, and we can see the contest is heating up. This is not something new: the Kota Seputeh seat issue is still undecided by the courts, but the battle within pas members has been long running for more than a year already because everybody in there wants to be a YB. Each faction wants their respective candidates.

With an open view and non-conformance to Nik Ajis' rules and Pakatan's standards, Azizan's seat is being vied by 2 other factions within pas. Leading the way is mahfuz', in cohorts with the secular minded and support of PKR and DAP. Why anwar would choose mahfuz for this faction, I have no idea, but Kedahans might just shiver at the very notion that a clown-sized clunk like mahfuz might be the next Menteri Besar of Kedah. But he might just get it with Anwar and Husam pulling the strings of puppetry. Although this faction is quite huge in size, the number is usually comprised of PKR members wearing pas headbands and banners to cause riots.

Talking about mahfuz, he was so vocal back in 2006/7 when he led the people to the MBAS over the issue of uncollected garbage in Kedah. Now that he's in power, the garbage collection is still messed up, where the hell is he? Shall we collect all the garbage in our houses and take it to his? But this might be redundant as his words have always been thrash.

What made the situation a bit messier is now that Azizan's loyal "deputy" is in the fray by jumping into another faction. Well, formally we know that Kedah has no Deputy Menteri Besar, but this "professional" has carried out task after task without question since Azizan's installment as MB, only to find out that Azizan is grooming somebody else as his replacement. Although he seems very very out of place, I guess N.ajis' faction is the only way for him to go, as he's not exactly eye-to eye with Mahfuz...and perchance to wrest Azizan's seat away. The N.ajis' faction in pas has been widely known for having their own religion...or mostly deviations from Islam. Yes, the religion is known as...pas. Maybe you should try reading Na.jis' hadiths and judge it yourself. For example, letting a non-muslim like Nga use the Al-Qur'an to divide Muslims and Malays in order to bring down an Islamic state government is considered Halal by Pas. Of course, to these people, whatever N.ajis says is such a revelation for them.

Believe it or not, there is another faction which has been keeping to themselves. They are much feared and loathed by the Anwar's and N.ajis' factions. You might have guessed it: it is Hadi & Nasharudin Mat Isa's group, or famously known as the unity government faction who are still negotiating terms with the Federal government. Sure, sure, anwar made contradicting statements of them, but who's going to believe anwar? The jews lost faith in him for disappointing them after years of aid and assistance, the west is starting to kick him in the butt around, and the list grows.

Its 2010, the fight is already on. Pas members feel that now pas stands a lot of chances to win seats and even establishing a state government, so it's not surprising to see a lot of back-stabbings and arguments between members who would like to stand as candidates in by-elections and perhaps, the coming General Elections in 2013. Both factions have 2 1/2 years to complete this tomoi championship.

Let us hope that these 2 factions keep in mind that whatever their fate is, or whichever faction between the two (Hadi's faction excluded) that they choose, they have one destiny. Maybe they forgot that everything in Pakatan Rakyat is being and will always be controlled by Anwar Ibrahim, the self-claimed (cue Lord of the Rings soundtrack here) "One ring to rule them all, and in darkness, bind them."

Gee, all that, and we haven't even included Umno into the fray. And we can see how hardworking the Kedah Umno warlords are at the moment...zzzzzz....okay, so at least, if Kedah Umno wants to be in the fray for 2013, they really really have to buck up. The old warlords? Well, incarceration might not be a good idea. Kedah Umno needs fresh faces and new leaders, and while Kedahans have an iconic leader at Federal, they should go and lure him back. If the next lineup consists of the same old faces and/or their clones, Umno can kiss goodbye to Kedah as anwar ibrahim will be the supreme ruler of the state, over whoever he designed to be the MB.