IF Najib Razak was hoping for a free pass from Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the new government over his alleged role in the 1MDB scandal, the possibility ended after the 18 hours of shenanigans following GE14.

Once it became clear that Najib and Barisan Nasional would have to vacate Putrajaya, a member of the Razak clan sent out feelers in the early hours of May 10 to individuals close to Pakatan Harapan leaders, raising the possibility of ‎Najib stepping aside with the understanding that he would not be prosecuted.

Given the promise that Mahathir had made on the ca‎mpaign trail to investigate fully the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal, such an overture was likely to have been rebuffed. 

But victors are often magnanimous and some members of the Razak clan held a sliver of hope that Dr Mahathir would be charitable in the glow of victory.

That hope dissipated in the hours that followed when it became obvious that Najib and Umno leaders were trying their best to form a coalition with PAS and entice a bloc of PH winners to cross over.

It is understood that PAS agreed to team up with BN. But even this tag team (79 +18) would leave Najib far short of a simple majority needed to retain control of Putrajaya. 

At this stage, it became clear that Najib was in denial and was living in a bubble of his own creation. He and his operators believed that the winner from PKR could be persuaded to join his coalition and desert Dr Mahathir and PH.

There were attempts to sow distrust about Dr Mahathir’s ambitions and the possibility of Anwar Ibrahim being forgotten and sidelined.

There was zero chance of PKR winners crossing over. They had just claimed one of the most celebrated electoral victories in history and were being feted as heroes who toppled an evil regime. In time, their leaders would hold senior positions in the new cabinet. 

So why would PKR want to throw it all away and team up with someone who had been rebuffed by a majority of Malaysia?

But Najib and his inner circle still believed that the impossible could happen. 

This pie-in-the-sky thinking explained the strategy behind the infamous speech to the nation at 11am yesterday when he didn’t concede defeat, instead suggesting that at that point, no one had achieved the simple majority needed to be declared the winner of GE14. 

As soon as the speech was delivered, his operators returned to their impossible plan of cobbling together a coalition. 

By this time, there was frustration growing around Malaysia over the inordinate delay in swearing in Dr Mahathir and Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as prime minister and the deputy prime minister. 

By this time, several Malay rulers, notably Perlis and Negri Sembilan, were working the back channels to ensure that there would be no more delays in swearing in the victors. 

Only around 5pm yesterday did Najib finally accept that his grand plan of a coalition to keep him in power was dead.

In reality, it was always a stillborn idea, put together by a man desperate to cling to power, put together by a man who was surrounded by members of his immediate family in complete meltdown.

This idea of trying to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat was typical of the campaign Najib and BN ran. Like the election campaign, they constructed their own narrative, believed this narrative and then convinced themselves that others were also like-minded. 

The other big problem with Najib’s behind-the-scenes shenanigans was this: Dr Mahathir was aware of it. Remember this is a man who before contesting GE14 on an opposition ticket, had led the BN in many elections.

As such, he is well-schooled in how the Umno/BN leader thinks in defeat ‎and victory.

Even before polling day, Dr Mahathir knew that PH had to win the election decisively. Otherwise, his coalition of DAP, Amanah, Bersatu and PKR would be a target of BN’s divide-and-entice strategy. 

Given the backdrop of the skulduggery, those familiar with the thinking of PH leaders said they would expect the new administration to have a thorough investigation into the wrongdoing at 1MDB. 

The declassifying of the auditor-general’s report was always on the cards, and so was the plan to nail down the culprits behind what has become one of the world’s most publicised scandals. 

Dr Mahathir and PH made uncovering the 1MDB mess a platform of their election campaign. Hard to imagine them not pressing ahead in the days and weeks to come.

Hard also to imagine Dr Mahathir having any empathy or magnanimity for his former protege, given the last-ditch attempt to steal the elections. – May 11, 2018.