I picked this up in the Star news paper today, a small blurb but maybe with a lot more meaning behind it. It reads:

Sunday July 6, 2008

Anwar behind high-stakes political drama, says Mahathir

KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad claims that PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is plotting the current high-stakes political drama.

“I am not seeking sympathy from anyone. But it is a little bit too much to expect me to forget and forgive something that is happening now as a result of Anwar’s plotting.

“Anwar has succeeded in blackening my name in the United States and Europe of course, but also in Muslim countries. They all think I simply threw him in prison for political reasons.

“He never said anything about how he was tried, how he was defended by nine lawyers, how the judge wrote a 360-page judgment against him, how his appeals were thrown out twice,” Dr Mahathir said in his blog atwww.chedet.com.

Dr Mahathir added: “He has sued me for RM100mil. He has successfully caused my lawyer to lose credibility. Now, I have no lawyer to defend me against his suit.”

Anwar, he said, had now turned his attention on Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

“As usual, he (Anwar) has found someone to make incriminating statements for him. There seems to be no connection between his plotting against me and his attack against Datuk Seri Najib.

“But if we look into who would be the beneficiary, we would see the connection,” he said. – Bernama

 I think the cryptic words are in his last sentence “But if we look into who would be the beneficiary, we would see the connection”

We all know that Tun M has been gunning after Pak Lah for Pak Lah to step down.  Pak Lah on the other hand, to stay in power, has to neutralize Najib.  Obviously the current escalation of the Anwar – Najib feud plays well into Pak Lah’s hands. Given the tremendous benefit Pak Lah gains from this escalation, can it also mean there is active collaboration  between Pak Lah’s camp and Anwar Ibrahim?

Ezam is also in today’s paper’s saying Anwar has no chance to be PM and I quote:

“If he had the numbers today, he would be going to the Istana tonight.

“He just doesn’t have the numbers,” he told reporters after a closed-doorceramah at the Perak Umno building here yesterday.

Ezam, who left PKR last year and rejoined Umno last month, said if Anwar was really serious about forming the next government, he could have done so quietly instead of “making noise”.

“The focus should have been on strengthening the party. Instead, they (Pakatan) hold demonstrations to sidetrack the people.

“But you make noise because it’s a psychological war to bind together (a party) that is not strong. Only people who are not strong will make noise,” he added.

“The problem with Anwar is that he is self-centred. His one goal is to be prime minister at all costs and that is dangerous,” he said.

I fully agree with Ezam’s analysis that the PKR route will not lead Anwar to the PM’s job but what Ezam says that the end “His one goal is to be prime minister at all costs” is the underlying factor here and his only route to that job will be through BN-UMNO.