Wikileaks: ISA arrests foiled Sept 16 crossover plans?

A purported diplomatic cable from the US Embassy leaked by blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin today revealed that the triple arrests under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in 2008 had stopped Umno MPs from defecting.

According to the cable, said to be sourced from whistleblower website Wikileaks and posted on Raja Petra's blog Malaysia Today, this was confirmed by Pulai parliamentarian Nur Jazlan Mohamed (left) in October 2008, a month after the arrest.

“In early October, Umno MP Nur Jazlan told (US Embassy political counselor Mark D Clark) that the ISA arrests had been “very successful” in achieving Umno's objective of intimidating MPs who had considered joining with (opposition leader) Anwar (Ibrahim),” the cable read.

The cable, entitled 'Anwar shifts gears, not goals, say aides', also noted that this was acknowledged by then-PKR vice-presidents Tian Chua and Sivarasa Rasiah in two separate meetings with Clark in November 2008.

Raja Petra, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok and Sin Chew reporter Tan Hoon Cheng were detained under the ISA on Sept 12, 2008.

Tan was released 18 hours later, Kok on Sept 19, while Raja Petra was kept behind bars for more than 50 days.

However, when contacted for comment, Nur Jazlan found it laughable that the US Embassy had felt that he can confirm the reasoning behind the arrests.

Chuckling, he said: “We (Clark and Nur Jazlan) had met at a reception and had a casual conversation but I don't even remember the actual conversation.

“To say that I can confirm such a thing is hebat (too much). What would I know? I don't have any executive powers,” he told Malaysiakini.

Ku Li and Khairy conduits in cross-over talks?

According to the undated cable marked “confidential”, Chua and Sivarasa confirmed that PKR was still working on getting defections from Umno even after the failed Sept 16 attempt.

“The time horizon has shifted from December to March 2009, in line with the shift in the Umno party elections, at which time Najib is set to become Umno president uncontested.

“PKR officials reiterated that Anwar and PKR remain focused on preempting Najib's takeover if possible, because they believe Najib would invoke authoritarian measures to scuttle the opposition before the next national elections,” it read.

Conduits in this attempt to head-off Najib, the cable noted, were Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin, who was said to have been the intermediary between his father-in-law and then premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Anwar.

The cable noted that both Sivarasa and Chua confirmed that Anwar was eyeing “disaffected Umno leaders and MPs who are 'losers' in the (Abdullah-Najib) transition”, including Razaleigh.

However, the talks with Razaleigh were reportedly “inconclusive” as the veteran politician “insisted on the prospective position of prime minister, while PKR estimates that (he) could only secure the crossover of only four or five Umno MPs”.

Razaleigh had most recently been speculated to be eyeing the post of opposition leader to replace Anwar, but this has been refuted by opposition leaders like PAS spiritual adviser Nik Aziz Nik Mat and Anwar himself.

As for Khairy, the cable noted that Anwar's circle had been in contact with Abdullah through his son-in-law, particularly in seeking opposition support for judicial reform measures.

But Sivarasa and Chua told the US Embassy that the opposition is unlikely to back these as it did not represent meaningful changes.

The cable was not found on the Wikileaks website, but previous cables have been pre-released on the Malaysia Today website prior to publication on Wikileaks.

Lifted from Malaysiakini