So the ANC is no longer fighting Najib. It is fighting Umno. And it was Umno that removed Mukhriz — as it was Umno that, today, decided to put Muhyiddin to sleep for good. Umno's message is very clear but somehow Dr Mahathir and the rest do not get it. And that message is: Dr Mahathir is irrelevant and a non-entity and that goes for all his stooges, proxies, nominees and kuda as well.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

So it has finally happened. At last the axe has fallen on Muhyiddin Yassin's neck. Actually this is the second time the axe fell. But the first time when it fell in July last year it did not totally sever Muhyiddin's neck. There was still a chance, however remote it may have been, that the wounds could have healed and his head would still remain on his shoulders.

This time, however, Muhyiddin's head has been lobbed off. There is no sewing it back on any more. It is finished. Fertig! Finite! Samaapt! Wan! Tapos! Tamar! Mukamala! Fartik! Whatever language you choose to use to describe the situation Muhyiddin is currently in.

What, you mean Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Muhyiddin and those in the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) did not know this was going to happen? You mean they did not want it to happen? They were praying it would happen and that was why they were pushing the envelope and kept upping the ante to test the limits and to see how far they could go.

Dr Mahathir and Muhyiddin had already given up on Umno months ago. The only thing is the rest of those in the ANC did not know this. They thought the attacks on Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was merely to oust him so that Umno could have a new President and in that same stroke Malaysia can see a new Prime Minister as well.

That may have been Dr Mahathir's original intention back in December 2014 when the ANC was first mooted and a budget of RM2 billion was set to finance the conspiracy. But as the conspiracy progressed they realised that they were not really progressing but were regressing. Every move they made, Najib countered their move with an even more brilliant move.

In January 2015 he appointed a new President/CEO for 1MDB. In June 2015 1MBD completed its due diligence and presented its rationalisation and debt-reduction plan to the Cabinet for approval. When the ANC moles in the various government agencies tried to derail those plans, Najib removed these saboteurs and replaced them the following month in July 2015. And this included the AG, DPM, Cabinet Minister, etc.

But they still did not give up. They still tried to throw a spanner into the works so that 1MDB's rationalisation and debt-reduction plan fails. In October 2015, they tried to get the Members of Parliament to pass a vote of no confidence against Najib, which failed miserably. Then, in December 2015, they tried to get Umno to pass a vote of no confidence against Najib during the Umno general assembly. And that, too, was a disaster.

So, from December 2014 to December 2015, they tried everything under the sun, even to the point of fabricating a charge sheet against Najib, which they hoped could be used against Najib to blackmail him into resigning. Instead, Najib chopped off the heads of all those holding the knife at his throat and turned what many swore was going to be Najib's last stand into victory that political science students are going to be discussing for years to come.

When Umno decided that Muhyiddin and Shafie Apdal would not be addressing the mid-December assembly, the ANC knew that the game was up. Najib was not going to leave and instead they would be leaving. And if they do not leave voluntarily, then they were going to be unceremoniously removed, which was what happened.

What unnerved Dr Mahathir and Muhyiddin was that this was not Najib's decision but the decision of Umno. So in December 2015 they decided that the new game plan was no longer about ousting Najib but about ousting Umno. There is no way Najib can be killed unless Umno is killed. So they met to re-plan their strategy and agreed that they would now focus on bringing down Umno.

And this was when the idea for a new party was mooted. It was going to be just like when they could not oust the PAS President, Abdul Hadi Awang, they formed a new party called Amanah in the hope that Amanah can kill PAS and in the same process Hadi will be ousted. The ANC must have appointed Mat Sabu as their strategic adviser and that was why they came out with this plan.

So the fight changed from trying to kill Najib to trying to kill Umno. And that was when Umno decided to push for the removal of Mukhriz Mahathir as the Menteri Besar of Kedah. When Mukhriz faced the firing squad Dr Mahathir knew that the fight had reached the final stage of take no prisoners and winner wins all while loser loses all.

So Dr Mahathir did not really care any more. He knew whatever he does or does not do no longer matters. Mukhriz is already a dead man walking like Muhyiddin, Shafie, Khairuddin Abu Hassan, and all those others in the ANC. So he might as well try to capitalise on the issue and see if he can gain some sympathy from his son's 'death'.

But there was no sympathy. Umno was disgusted and it was Umno that wanted Mukhriz removed. And it was Umno, as well, today, that wanted the axe to do the job it failed to do in July 2015. This is no longer about helping Najib to stay in power. That ended months ago. It is about once and for all stopping Dr Mahathir, Muhyiddin and the rest in the ANC from killing Umno.

So the ANC is no longer fighting Najib. It is fighting Umno. And it was Umno that removed Mukhriz — as it was Umno that, today, decided to put Muhyiddin to sleep for good. Umno's message is very clear but somehow Dr Mahathir and the rest do not get it. And that message is: Dr Mahathir is irrelevant and a non-entity and that goes for all his stooges, proxies, nominees and kuda as well.