Like the closing stages of a swashbuckling movie, Malaysia is being treated to the spectacle of a fierce retreat by the rebel forces of PM8 and Azmin Ali, finally up-turned by their own reluctant allies.

Fighting within their own battlements they are withdrawing step by step, mid-epic sword fight, towards the castle walls and the moat below.

For weeks now, we have seen these determined usurpers defy all odds and employing every tactic to control a querulous coalition that simply didn’t have the strength of numbers nor unity, let alone moral authority.

Their blandishments and bribes have eroded the rule of law and confidence amongst themselves. Every ‘triumph’ (like lasting one more day) has been exhausting to watch and must have been even more exhausting to take part in, just to keep control of the citadel it seems but not to govern.

After all, Parliament has been all but abolished under their control and the constitution and due process have been run roughshod over.

In the meantime surrender after surrender has taken place over Malaysia’s powerful cases over 1MDB and other thefts. Goldman Sachs, Abu Dhabi, Riza Aziz have all moved in to cut quick deals.

Pushing For Yet Another ‘Plea Deal’ With PetroSaudi?

And every day that goes by the country is treated to another quick fix, behind the scenes ‘negotiated’ deal to butter up and bail out cronies for reasons the public can only guess at, but which are haemhoraghng the public purse.

The latest stinky deal that ministers have been seeking to push through whilst they still control the country’s coffers involves the 1MDB co-conspirators PetroSaudi, say reliable sources. Malaysia has been prosecuting a case for the return of over $340 million (over RM1 billion) stolen by the company from their bogus ‘Joint Venture’ in Venezuela, which is presently frozen in the account of a London law firm.

The case was suddenly postponed at the end of last month in KL as lawyers for the Malaysian government and PetroSaudi indicated they needed to “review their respective positions” and consider new instructions from their clients.

The world smelt a rat, especially since the United States of America’s DOJ had also moved in on the case, putting enormous pressure on PetroSaudi.

Sarawak Report has now heard from separate sources that ministers from the retreating coup coalition have indeed been seeking to push through a fat “plea deal” proposed by PetroSaudi, in which the tricksters who collaborated with Najib Razak to purloin billions from 1MDB are hoping to retain 15% of the money in return for sending back the rest…. and “dishing the dirt” on the already convicted Najib.

The enthusiasm to seal the deal amongst the coup coalition politicians has apparently not been matched by Malaysia’s Attorney General’s department, which has pointed out that such a deal would be illegal. The rest of the country are left wondering where the rest of all that money would actually go, since transparency has not accompanied the return of any of the 1MDB monies negotiated so far.

Could such prospects of fat cash returns to Malaysia be playing into the seemingly desperate determination by this backdoor coalition to stretch out their period in office one wonders? If not, what drives the desire to hang on day by day, now that the world knows that ‘PM8’ does not have the numbers and the leader of Parliament’s largest coalition does?

Yet, delay they do. Every hour brings new antics. Today the police were goaded into an astonishing attempt to drag Anwar Ibrahim, who is due to see the Agong tomorrow about his commanding numbers (which have already been confirmed by the palace Sarawak Report is told) into Bukit Aman to fact charges.

Why? Because somebody else had claimed to have his secret list of followers and to have published them. Anwar told the police to take their turn to present such nonsense and they agreed, despite the reported fury of those who put the police up to such a ridiculous caper.

Likewise, the same leading ministers have been cutting thrusts in the direction of the public health authorities again as well. These grave leaders are looking for a total lockdown – for purely political purposes it would appear. They seem to hope a lockdown will prevent the transfer of power or at least postpone it as they reluctantly continue to edge towards the inevitable and their defeat.

Of course, it is all hugely annoying for both onlookers and participants in this nonsense. The country is left without strong and honest government at time of unprecedented crisis. Decisions are being made in the name of the public good purely to protect an illegitimate government.

The Agong, who will see both Anwar and Muhyiddin on Tuesday (the latter having failed to pressure more than a partial lockdown of the country) should bear in mind that it is a situation that has the potential to start destabilising the country and mid-pandemic a snap election is no solution.

The leader who has a strong majority ought to replace the one who never really had even a tiny majority and it should happen quickly before more damage is done and more money goes missing from the public purse.