The new Pakatan Rakyat candidate for Kuala Terengganu?

Update 1: 6/12/08: Nik Aziz picks Mat Sabu as his preferred candidate, stating that Mat Sabu's rhetoric and aggressiveness are to be admired. The recalcitrant PAS State Youth Assembly disagrees with the Mursyidul Am.

Zaid Ibrahim is not a happy camper.

• He has lost his bid for Ketua Bahagian in the recent UMNO Kota Bharu Division election. He was suspended as UMNO Kota Bharu Division chief 2 terms ago after being charged with money politics.
  
• He's annoyed that Tan Sri Muhyiddin is leading the pack in the nomination for Deputy President of UMNO (he had asked TSMY to step down if TSMY is not in agreement with the Prime Minister's transition plans).
• He made the proposal to allow foreign law firms to set up operations in Malaysia without having local partnership - on the basis that Malaysian law firms especially Malay firms need to learn to be competitive and not be dependent of the NEP.
  
• He has also failed to carry out his so-called 'judiciary reform'. The judiciary has lost its trump ever since the so called 'judicial crisis' 20 years which saw the departure of the then Chief Justice and 4 others, according to him. He made the suggestion that the Government should apologize to Tun Salleh. He was later shot down by the Cabinet for not referring to the Cabinet first before making an official statement.
• He had then proposed to the Cabinet for funds in the vicinity of RM10M to be disbursed to the former judges as ex-gratia payment (neglecting the fact that they have been enjoying pension as well due to the the Prime Minister's kind consideration. Normally pension is not given if sacked from a governmental post) and was upset when the figure was debated in Parliament. By the way, ex-gratia in Latin for 'as a favor'.
  
• He resigned as Minister in the Prime Minister's department in charge of law because of his conflicting views of the Internal Security Act, particularly with regards to the detention of Kok because of the azan issue. He was then pressured to give up his senatorship, which he held for quite some time before letting it go.
  
• He is likely to be playing devil's advocate by proposing that the concept of "Ketuanan Melayu" has failed (whatever Ketuanan Melayu may mean to different individuals or groups, call it Special Privileges or something else if you like - yes it is that constitutional provision which the non-Malays are not so bubbly about).
  
• He also suggested that as long as the out-spoken Tun Dr Mahathir is around, reform in UMNO and in the government is near impossible.

Good on him that he has moved on to other things in life. Expect him to be given a high post in the green Pakatan Rakyat as a true 'reformer' and 'Malaysian for Malaysia' hero. Maybe Pakatan would give him the candidacy for the KT by-election. Who knows.