Anwar Ibrahim’s original plan was to weaken Rafizi Ramli – supposedly key strategist – as the 47-year-old deputy president of PKR (People’s Justice Party) has become a threat due to his rising influence. As PKR president Anwar enters his third and final term, the time has come to install his eldest daughter Nurul Izzah as his successor if Anwar Dynasty is to survive.
Unlike blind loyalist Saifuddin Nasution or apple polisher Ramanan, Rafizi is a hard nut to crack – refusing to join the “Anwar Fan Club” where money politics, cronyism and nepotism thrive. As a result, Rafizi and Anwar do not see eye to eye on many issues. That’s why Rafizi criticized Anwar and his minions for becoming increasingly timid after gaining power – too coward in speaking out.
While Anwar had anticipated the defeat of Rafizi, the PM did not expect him to pre-emptively announce that he will resign from the Cabinet if he failed to defend his deputy presidency. Even if he insists to quit, Anwar had expected him to continue serving as Economy Minister, at least till Christmas 2025. The premier believed he could persuade his protégé to stay and control the damage.
But why December 2025? That’s because the senatorship of Minister for Trade and Industry, Tengku Zafrul Aziz, will end on December 2. And because he is currently on his second and final term, he cannot be appointed as a senator again, which means he cannot become a minister. PM Anwar’s plan was to shuffle the Cabinet at the end of the year to consolidate his power by rewarding his cronies and friends.
That’s why PM Anwar had only approved Rafizi’s “leave application”, but not his resignation as the Economy Minister. It’s already bizarre that the prime minister allowed him to clear his annual leave, but disallowed him to quit. Had the PM agreed to let Rafizi quit, he would have approved both the leave and resignation, and happily sends him off. If your superior disallows you to resign – there’s only one reason.
Either your manager wants you to complete all the projects in hand, or he plans to counter offer you. Rafizi is a minister, not a project manager who micro-manage a project. The staffs of the ministry can do all the work even without a minister. A minister’s job is to make and implement decisions on policies. Therefore, the reason Rafizi’s resignation is still hanging is because Anwar wanted to counter offer him.
However, even while a counter offer was on the drawing board, naughty Rafizi deliberately torpedoed his boss’ plan by prematurely announcing his own resignation to reporters, just minutes after PM Anwar pretended that there wasn’t any resignation to begin with. Another torpedo was abruptly unleashed by Nik Nazmi, who resigned as Environment Minister on the same day.
Today, Rafizi revealed that not only Nurul had proposed to create another post of PKR deputy president, but the offer was floated just three days before PKR delegates cast their ballots in the party’s central leadership elections. This suggests Nurul already knew that she will win even before the voting begins, thanks to money politics, voting irregularities and daddy’s backdoor support.
Rafizi, who eventually lost to Anwar’s daughter, had rejected the offer – partly because he wants people to see him as a good example of accountability, responsibility, integrity and good leadership,and largely because he was too smart to foolishly swallow the hook, line and sinker. If he accepts the “appointment” of PKR deputy president after losing it, he will be ridiculed as a power-crazy pariah.
The reasons why Anwar-Nurul was trying to trap Rafizi with a duplicate PKR deputy president post is to use it to counter accusations of nepotism, to silent Rafizi from attacking Anwar’s dynasty politics, to undermine Rafizi’s reputation, to show the generosity of Nurul, to continue benefiting from Rafizi’s big data analytics and above all – to prevent revolting from grassroots and young voters aligned with Rafizi.
More importantly, the PM needed time to orchestrate a “safe parliamentary seat” so that Zafrul could contest, win and then retain the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry. All hell broke loose when Rafizi Ramli and Nik Nazmi resigned almost immediately after losing the party election. Mr Anwar needed time between June and December to save Zafrul.
Yes, after Rafizi and Nik’s double bombshells, Anwar had no choice but to bring forward his plan to recruit Zafrul. Get real, it was not a coincidence after Rafizi’s resignation, Zafrul suddenly announced his decision to hop from UMNO to PKR – without giving up his ministership. Do you really think Zafrul would recklessly quit UMNO if he had not gotten the blessing from Anwar, and even UMNO president Zahid Hamidi?
Despite Anwar’s claim that PKR has not yet held discussions with its unity government partner, UMNO, regarding the resignation of Zafrul, it’s not rocket science both Anwar and Zahid had already struck a deal. That explains why Zahid, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, was not particularly concerned about Zafrul’s announcement last Friday to exit from UMNO.
Interestingly, Zahid only seeks to retain UMNO’s full allocation of seven ministerial quota in the Federal Cabinet, without specifying that Zafrul’s MITI (Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry) must be returned as well. This means Anwar’s plan is to not only recruit Zafrul, but also to grab the ministry. In exchange, Rafizi’s Economy Ministry would be given to UMNO.
Between MITI and Ministry of Economy, the former is a more strategic portfolio. And the premier hopes to pressure UMNO to surrender MITI using Zafrul’s royal connection. Anwar Ibrahim, desperate to project himself as a Malay-Muslim hero and the defender of Malay Rulers, wanted Zafrul in PKR not because he is competent, but due to Zafrul’s royal cable in the Sultanate of Selangor.
Born with a silver spoon, Zafrul, thanks to his marriage to the great granddaughter to the fifth Sultan of Selangor, managed to climb up the corporate ladder largely due to his royal title “Tengku”. He was the chief executive of Malaysian banking group CIMB before handpicked and promoted by Muhyiddin as the Minister of Finance in March 2020 after a political coup.
Zafrul was also linked to Muhyiddin’s family. Apparently, his younger brother, Tengku Zuhri Tengku Abdul Aziz, is married to Fara Nadia Abd Rahim, whose elder sister Fara Ikma Abd Rahim is married to Muhyiddin’s eldest son Fakhri Yassin. From being Bersatu’s poster boy to becoming UMNO’s poster boy after his appointment as Selangor UMNO Treasurer, Zafrul got everything without lifting a finger.
But his promotion on April 12, 2023 – served on a silver platter with UMNO Supreme Council membership thrown in as a bonus – only lasted less than a year when he resigned on April 1, 2024. Extremely upset, he threw tantrums after dropped from becoming a candidate in Selangor in the six state polls on Aug 12, 2023, despite earlier speculation of him leading Barisan Nasional’s charge.
That explains why Zafrul wanted to jump ship to PKR – because Anwar promises either a safe parliamentary seat or a state seat for him. So, the man with the royal blood is guaranteed a ministerial portfolio or Selangor Chief Minister post. Current Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari, who has just won the PKR vice presidency, is expected to swap job title with Zafrul.
However, the weak leadership of Zahid has failed to stop other UMNO leaders from sparking a war with PKR. From accusing Anwar leadership of unethically poaching a member from another ally to threatening to retaliate in response to PKR’s betrayal, Anwar’s initial plan to topple his own deputy appears to have backfired with a much bigger self-inflicted problem.
UMNO Youth Chief Akmal Saleh has called for Zafrul to resign from the Cabinet. Meanwhile, the party’s supreme council member Puad Zarkashi warned that accepting Zafrul into PKR without proper consultation could erode trust between the parties and damage grassroots support for the unity government. “If this is allowed to continue, more betrayals will happen,” – Puad warned UMNO top leadership.
In truth, Zafrul’s defection has long been anticipated by both UMNO and PKR. But both parties have been kicking the can down the road as the indecisive Anwar and weak Zahid refused to confront the issue – till Rafizi strategically resigned and forced Anwar’s hand. UMNO has very little respect for empty vessel Zafrul, who failed to win the Kuala Selangor parliamentary seat in the Nov 2022 General Election.
The real reason why some UMNO leaders were up in arms is because they will lose face for losing Zafrul to PKR, rather than losing a talent. As the Malay nationalist party desperately tries to return to its past glory, allowing one of its Malay elites like Zafrul to quit without any punishment would set a bad precedent. What if a dozen of its MPs jump ship to PKR later?
Already running out of talents and trustworthy leaders, UMNO was also terrified that its effort to win back Malay voters who had abandoned the party since the May 2018 General Election’s humiliating defeat would be affected. If UMNO is seen as kowtow to PKR, the Malays would rather vote for PKR or opposition Perikatan Nasional, sending UMNO to oblivion.
Either way, a major Cabinet reshuffle is inevitable thanks to Anwar’s miscalculation. Zafrul’s announcement to quit UMNO was to test the water. But based on the feedback from certain UMNO faction, the alliance between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan could be in trouble before the next 16th General Election if Anwar makes more dumb mistakes.
Already, lobbying for Cabinet posts have started within Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat with money changing hands. Rafizi, enjoying popcorn, has warned that accepting Zafrul will open the floodgate for party-hopping, and could lead to a premature end of the current Unity Government. Of course, Anwar should not listen to his former deputy. After all, what could possibly go wrong with recruiting top talent Zafrul.
Source : Finance Twitter
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