Anwar and Pak Lah not in on Project IC, says ex-honcho

A former mastermind in the Project IC debacle during the late 1980s and early 1990s, said PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim and former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi were never involved in the operation.

Mat Swadi Awi, a former Bank Pertanian Malaysia manager based in Kota Kinabalu during the mid 1980s, recounted to Harakah Daily today his role in Project IC with the late Usno president, Datu Mustapha Datu Harun.

In the interview, Mat Swadi, who claims to be a Pak Lah loyalist, laid out his involvement in the whole affair and maintained the involvement of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the whole affair, and admitted being the mastermind to bring Umno to Sabah and remove Usno from the map.

“Anwar is not involved in Project IC as everyone in Umno knows that Anwar is not ‘bedfellows’ with (Mahathir’s right hand man) the late Megat Junid Megat Ayub (right) and Abdul Aziz Shamsudin.

“Furthermore, Mustapha was also hurt with Anwar, so how could he (Anwar) have been involved in Project IC. I do not fault Anwar for wanting to drag Abdullah into the whole affair with the royal commission of inquiry, and this is probably to get back at Mahathir.

“Abdullah, on the other hand, did not need such projects to raise his name. Everyone knew Abdullah would never do such things as he comes from a religious family,” said Mat Swadi.

Mat Swadi (left), who has however not been called as a witness at the present RCI, related that his earlier involvement during the 1980s was to help Usno and Mustapha regain power from PBS, and he was in the inner circle of Mustapha to achieve this objective.
He added that an increase in 20,000 voters was registered and distributed in areas which were focussed on by Usno, and he related how he had met with Megat Junid at Mustapha’s residence in Petaling Jaya.

“I also had dealings with the army and police, where we worked closely with them and I was introduced to the Election Commission secretary, Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman,” he said.

Project IC continues in peninsula

Mat Swadi said that Mahathir wanted to make sure that PBS fell following its threats that the state would leave the federation, and in that he put his support on Usno to do this.

However, all efforts were in vain when Mahathir orchestrated Umno’s move into Sabah, where the former premier appointed Mustapha’s deputy in Usno, Sakaran Dandai, to head the state Umno liaison committee.

“In 1994, while visiting Mustapha at the hospital, he confided to me that it was Mahathir’s hidden long-term plan to bring Umno into Sabah. Mustapha disbanded Usno on Mahathir’s advice with the hope of being appointed as Sabah Umno liason chief. Instead, Sakaran, who is Shafie Apdal’s uncle, was appointed. 

“With tears flowing, and a weak body, Mustapha (left) told me that it was as if Umno had put a sword to his head, when Mahathir appointed Sakaran to head Umno whereas he was still alive,” said the former bank manager.

He added that the Project IC continues in peninsula Malaysia, where in Johor, Indonesians had been given citizenship and blue identity cards and were briefed to ensure Umno-BN wins. 

“Threats were also made that if the (Indonesians) do not vote for Umno-BN, the Election Commission (EC) would detect their votes and then their citizenship would be revoked. What is surprising is that while the Indonesian votes are sought, at the same time they are being sidelined with actions being taken against them.

“The Indonesians who have become Malaysian citizens should know that they are being used by Umno. They should reject Umno in this coming election,” he said.

Mat Swadi said the post-Abdullah era had seen Umno losing its direction and objective, as the party had deviated from its original cause.