The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been outfoxed. The soft belly of Pakatan Rakyat has been exposed.

No right-thinking Barisan Nasional state assemblymen or MPs will even contemplate crossing the political divide, not after what happened to Datuk Nasarudin Hashim in Perak.

The shoe is on the other foot and the Pakatan Rakyat states of Kedah, Penang and Selangor have to watch deserters from among its flock.

These are among the confetti of views being offered by political pundits and analysts in the wake of the surprising turn of events in Perak where the stage is set for Barisan Nasional to take control of the state assembly from Pakatan Rakyat.

With three Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers crossing over and with Bota assemblyman staying put, BN will have an advantage in the state legislature.

In the days ahead, a few more PKR assemblymen could swear allegiance to Umno. In a few days, an Umno man will step up and be sworn in as the new Mentri Besar of Perak.

And watching and savouring every moment will be Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He is not yet the party president and chairman of Barisan Nasional but he was able to do what Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was not able to do — force the collapse of a Pakatan Rakyat state government and put a halt to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's juggernaut.

Within Umno and the BN his standing will be high.

Remember the ruling party/coalition have been on the receiving end since March 8 2008. They were whipped in Permatang Pauh and stunned in Kuala Terengganu.

Gone was the swagger and when news broke that Nasarudin had joined PKR, it got people talking about the domino effect.

But instead of wilting, the cross-over brought out the political player in Najib.

His political operatives were given clear instructions: shake the Pakatan Rakyat tree in Perak vigorously until it breaks.

He knew there were fault lines, especially in PKR where two lawmakers are facing corruption charges and where politicians do not have the same ideological commitment as their friends in DAP and PAS.

Professor Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, a political commentator, noted: "This was a hands on project by Najib. Every statement and action was designed to cause a breach in Pakatan Rakyat. This is not only about Perak, the Opposition alliance have been shown to be vulnerable. People in Umno and BN will respect him more because they always want their leaders to be able to use their power and deliver results.''

In contrast, Abdullah also wanted to topple the Pakatan government in Perak but he was not willing to invest his own time or get his hands dirty.

Instead, he left the project to Perak Umno chief Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli Ghazali, a leader in his own mould. For months there was talk of crossovers from PKR but nothing happened.

Now following the episode in Perak, there is speculation or at least a belief in Umno that several PKR lawmakers in Penang and Kedah could be poached, and that Anwar can be beaten at his own game.

At one level, this was about Najib the political player against Anwar the political player. Anwar made the first move but he was defeated because he forgot that the government of the day has many resources and in Najib, he has an adversary who is not afraid to do what it takes to achieve victory.

But how are the shenanigans of the past few days going to play out among the Malaysian public.

A recent poll by Merdeka Centre showed that Najib only had an approval rating of 41 per cent among a sampling of registered voters.

But as a senior Umno official told the Malaysian Insider: "The DPM needs to boost the confidence among his troops first. It is useless to talk about reforms if Umno and BN are dispirited. Can you imagine what will happen to Pakatan if another state falls to BN?''

Bet Najib and his political operatives are already targeting some vulnerable souls in PKR.

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