Shaky Najib and his cabinet

Pakatan Rakyat’s next move should be to form its’ own shadow federal cabinet and shadow government and prove its capability to the people.

COMMENT

The GE13 threw up a few truths. Among them were that there was a Malay and Indian swing back to Umno and Barisan Nasional, and that Pakatan Rakyat was however the more popular voter choice.

But the first-past-the-post system has retained less popular BN in Putrajaya.

In total the BN coalition only garnered 86 parliamentary seats in West Malaysia. The numbers needed for a simple majority in parliament is 112 out of 222. Umno and BN in West Malaysia fell far short of a simple majority.

In the 2008 general election, Umno retained only 79 seats. In the 13th GE, it won 88 seats. But this many speculated was aided by “cheating” and vote buying.

Even if BN denied it, few if any believed this.

Personally speaking, had it not been for the fraudulent tactics engineered by the Election Commission, Umno in West Malaysia would have been left with only 54 seats.

The fact is Umno in West Malaysia has become a weak component party, and has to hold onto its’ coalition partners as crutches to help form the government.

MCA and Gerakan read all signs and hence decided to pull out from the cabinet.

Najib was then left with 78 MPs from West Malaysia to chose from for the cabinet posts.

Crossover threat

Both Sarawak and Sabah contributed 47 seats. Out of the 47, Dayak and Kadazan based BN parties contributed 23 seats.

If these Borneo native parties had played smart by shunning all cabinet posts, then Najib would have been left with only 102 seats to juggle with.

Though the BN still got 133 parliamentary seats to form the government, however in the formation of the cabinet, Najib would only have 102 MPs available for appointment.

Such a scenario could precipitate a strong opposition within the government, thereby pushing towards instability.

In the event the balance 31 MPs (backbenchers) decide to crossover, then BN with only 102 left (133- 31) would automatically become the opposition.

Had Umno and other BN components in West Malaysia won more than 111 seats, Najib would nothave bothered about ceding cabinet posts to the MPs from the two Borneo states.

This means that Sarawak and Sabah MPs are his last choice. The appointment of ministers from the two states is just window dressing.

Firstly the federal government has limited funds left due to the escalating national debt, accumulative unaccounted federal loans and lavish spending by Najib in his political campaigns that lasted for a few years.

Secondly some of these new ministers are corralled in the PM’s Department. They have no portfolios and as such are allocated with very limited funds.

Thirdly much of the executive power of the government is still held by the PM and his Umno comrades.

Shadow government

PKR has declared that BN’s victory in securing 133 parliamentary seats was made possible through massive rigging in at least 27 parliamentary constituencies. The state seats too were not spared.

Victory through unfair and unlawful means would render the results invalid.

In the eye of the people, the current BN government is not legitimate.

Pakatan’s next move should be to form its’ own ‘federal’ cabinet and shadow government without delay, pending investigations into BN’s alleged electoral fraud.

Armed with these findings, Pakatan should seek an audience with the King.

Such move would enhance the confidence of the people further in their struggle to take back the stolen victory.

For the Muslims, this struggle can be considered as jihad to uphold justice for the people.

Awang Abdillah is a political analyst, writer and FMT columnist