Yoursay: Malaysia’s Ides of March in February

YOURSAY | ‘Mahathir will be stronger than his first tenure. He wins. Great play.’

LIVE: Bersatu Youth backs Dr M, won’t work with Umno ‘en bloc’

FairPlay: If all or the majority of the MPs had pledged their full support for interim prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, a unity government could be formed with Mahathir having the discretion to choose who should be in his cabinet.

Conceptually, this is a workable idea and since the Agong has 'interviewed' each and every MP, those who had pledged their support would be prevented from reneging on their pledge in the future as the Agong would have a list of these MPs.

From the practical side, would such a unity government be the only way forward since the nation is so divided along race, religion and mother-tongue education for children in their formative years for non-Muslim Malaysians?

But the flip side is rather precarious. What if the wrong person is selected by the majority of the MPs to be the PM? More importantly, how would the more 'militant' rakyat react to this concept of unity government?

I am more practical. Never know whether it works or not until you try it out.

Asitis: "The Gombak MP (Azmin Ali) says his faction's actions are based on the aspirations of the people for a stable government, greater unity as well as efforts to rehabilitate and spur economic growth."

So you say, Azmin. But what you did out of your selfish ambition, with total disregard for welfare of the nation, had the exact opposite effect.

It destabilised a legitimate and democratically-elected government; it deepened the divide in our multicultural society; and it crashed the stock market overnight and hurt an already ailing economy in the process.

The irony is that you were the so-called economic affairs minister. This alone already exposes your selfish motives.

FlabberPro: Azmin’s actions in the past three days does not jive with what he said. The parties which he had gathered together were neither multi-racial, nor multi-religious nor possess multi-understanding of other's faith.

I do not see any non-Muslims represented in the now-failed Pakatan Nasional coup. The proposed Pakatan Nasional's PM and DPM were allegedly crooks facing possible jail terms so how are they men of integrity and honesty?

In short, Azmin does not mind compromising the nation's economy for a few power-hungry personnel who are trying their best to avoid jail time.

Zoe: If what Bersatu supreme council member A Kadir Jasin says is true then we can almost confirm that Azmin is the traitor who brought down a democratically-elected government.

I shiver to think what kind of PM he would have become. Worse than former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, I can be sure.

But coming back to Mahathir. If he was not part of the coup, why is he staying silent? Why not shut them up, kick them out and get back to work?

Something smells rotten and the people are the ones who have to deal with it.

The Wakandan: Mahathir was complicit in some ways – he encouraged PAS to support him so as to lengthen his tenure as PM.

What he did not want was the inclusion of Umno, especially those involved in past corruption. His idea was that his party, Bersatu, was already an Umno albeit in a different name. This was the reason why he accepted Umno MPs to join his party.

As for Azmin, he was being made used of tactically as a bargaining chip against PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim. A sensitive old man - old people are sensitive, by the way - he agreed that he would step down and hand over to Anwar but it was on his own time, not being dictated by others.

He was disappointed with his own party leaving Pakatan Harapan. His position is not yet secured, at least not after the dust settles.

Guuunner: I still don’t believe Mahathir. Azmin and Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin won’t be so daring to do what they did without the consent of the old man.

I believe Mahathir doesn’t want history to write bad about himself, so he didn’t want to be seen as the main culprit who plotted the downfall of his very own government to form one that the rakyat had rejected in GE14.

He is winning already - he will be PM no matter which side he chooses. I believe he will probably continue to stay as Harapan PM, everyone will praise him for his decision.

Now he has the commitment publicly from Harapan, including Anwar, to continue to serve as PM.

Behind the scene, he will make sure the Malay parties are united, with Bersatu probably dissolved and absorbed into Umno.

The few people who had been chosen – Hishammuddin Hussein, Muhyiddin, Azmin Ali, Mukhriz Mahathir - all will have significant roles in the new opposition coalition, who is likely to win big in the Malay-majority constituencies and form the new government after GE15. Someone from this group of four will be the chosen PM.

Mahathir will leave with legacy of leading Harapan government to clean up the old BN regime and corrupt practices; he doesn’t fail Harapan and its supporters as they get to serve as federal government for one full-term, yet he still manages to restructure the government and make sure Malay-based parties with leaders of his choice wrest back the control of federal government from the multiracial Harapan before he dies.

So yes, I believe Mahathir is behind all these. So, watch this space.

Beluga: Mahathir will be installed as the next PM. The cabinet posts will be divided among DAP, PKR, Amanah, GPS, Warisan. Bersatu will re-join Harapan and will get the bulk of the cabinet positions, especially the key ones.

Mahathir will be stronger than his first tenure. He wins. Great play.

Headhunter: Do you get the nasty feeling that the whole scenario is a masterstroke by the old man to neutralise everyone, friends and foes alike?

In one fell swoop, he's now the master of the universe and everyone has to eat out of his hand. This is too perfect to be coincidental.

Now he doesn't own anyone his allegiance. He calls the shot and if you don't like it, go fly a kite. He can now choose his own successor and he can take his time to do it, anyone from any party or even no party.

I repeat, this too perfect to be coincidental. Everything fit like a jigsaw puzzle. I think we've been screwed.

Pelanduk: Yes, now that DAP and PKR have begged Mahathir to continue as PM, he will accept it on his own terms and no more subjected to Harapan’s pre-GE14 agreement.

As such, he can extend his tenure beyond the ‘interim’ two years and appoint anyone as his successor, who is not necessary Anwar. - Mkini