I told you so – Mukhriz on Zaid

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid- The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 – Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir was probably grinning from ear to ear when he received the news that his rival, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, had joined Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

The son of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad probably played a mental slideshow of all the Umno leaders who backed Zaid when his father’s arch-foe, former premier Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, made Zaid the law minister.

And, the thought foremost in Mukhriz’s mind must have been: “I told you so.”

Before anyone floated the possibility that Zaid might join PKR, Mukhriz had already made a “prophetic” statement in the last Parliament sitting, that Zaid was, in all but name, already a PKR member.

Back then, instead of getting support from his fellow Umno and BN MPs, he was instead given the cold shoulder when he accused Zaid of being “an Umno minister who is working for the opposition and especially PKR leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.”

But the news of Zaid’s applicaton for membership with PKR yesterday has been vindication for Mukhriz, who was only an MP back then and now the international trade deputy minister.

“I feel exonerated. My criticism of him from before has proven to be prescient,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

Zaid resigned from the Barisan Nasional (BN) cabinet last year in protest against the use of the Internal Security Act (ISA) and was subsequently sacked from Umno.

During his short tenure as minister, he attempted to introduce reforms to the judiciary and pushed for compensation to be paid to judges sacked during the 1988 judiciary crisis, which was blamed on Mukhriz’s father, Mahathir.

The move was also seen by the remnants of Mahathir’s old guards in Umno as a way for Abdullah to damage Mahathir’s credibility, in retaliation for the latter’s constant sniping against his administration.

And while many Umno and BN leaders held their tongues, Mukhriz became the Umno leader who shouted loudest against Zaid’s “liberal” policies, which he accused of being very pro-opposition.

While some might have thought Zaid had gotten what he deserved when Umno sacked him, Mukhriz is not done with him yet.

“For one who had benefited greatly from the ruling party, he has shown his true colours –that of a person devoid of a sense of gratitude,” he said, concluding, “Good riddance.”