It was Bersatu leaders' treachery that caused the collapse of Harapan gov't

ADUN SPEAKS | National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) chairperson Wan Saiful Wan Jan is attempting to please his new friends in Umno and once again blaming some leaders of DAP for the fall of Pakatan Harapan government.

In fact, it was the treachery of those like Wan Saiful that caused the fall of the Harapan government, not the criticisms of DAP leaders. These Bersatu members not only betrayed the voters, but they also betrayed Bersatu's founder, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, by joining hands with the very people the nonagenarian rejected as corrupt.

Once regarded as the progressive face of Bersatu, Wan Saiful is now unscrupulously defending the corrupt ones in Umno. His comment towards Umno supreme council member Tajuddin Abdul Rahman is nothing but an attempt to please the party that is seen attacking Prime Minister Muhyiddin from the sidelines despite being part of his government.

Wan Saiful has no guts to stand up against a domineering Umno and again placed blame on DAP leaders. Umno leaders, time and time again, had pointed out that their support for Muhyiddin’s government is not permanent but until an unspecified time.

It looks like people like Wan Saiful are afraid of being left in the lurch by Umno, hence they had to come out with statements to please their Umno counterparts.

The Sheraton Move was orchestrated by Muhyiddin a day after the Harapan presidential council had agreed that the handing over of the prime minister post would be the prerogative of Mahathir and the coalition's parties would abide by his decision.

It was the Muhyiddin who decided to go against the decision of the presidential council by taking Bersatu out of Harapan for him to become prime minister and not for the interest of Bersatu as a party or anything else.

Flip-flop decisions

Wan Saiful is now conveniently blaming vocal DAP leaders, namely Ronnie Liu and P Ramasamy for the collapse of the Harapan government when the fact is that it was people like Muhyiddin and Azmin Ali who caused the collapse with their treachery against the coalition and Mahathir.

People like Wan Saiful often accuse others, as the cause of the people’s discontent with the previous government, without realising it was themselves who caused such discontent to begin with.

Wan Saiful made some decisions which caused dissatisfaction among the people, especially the middle-income young voters who supported Harapan in droves during the last general election.

How many times Wan Saiful made flip-flop decisions? These decisions not only invited ridicule from the opposition but also the general public. That caused distrust of Haparan voters towards the coalition. Did Wan Saiful forget that?

Wan Saiful also may have forgotten that it was the performance of some ministers, who are in Muhyiddin’s circle now, that also caused discontent among the people. To name a few, the infamous flying car minister (former entrepreneur development minister Redzuan Yusof) who was obsessed with a super drone and former rural development minister Rina Harun who could not get the support of rural folks.

People were upset with such non-performance, and that’s what brought down the Harapan government’s rating, together with the race-baiting campaign of the Umno-PAS coalition. It was not the vocal nature of any leaders, be it in DAP, PKR or Amanah.

Of course, Wan Saiful managed to secure his place in PTPTN by backing the treacherous act that brought down Harapan. Now, he can conveniently forget about the intended reforms in the education fund and public scrutiny and continue to receive his paycheque.

Wan Saiful should have the guts to admit that the whole episode of fall of the Harapan administration and the formation of the Perikatan Nasional government was planned and executed by Muhyiddin and company, instead of blaming former allies.

That would be an honourable thing to do for a man who was once regarded as a progressive voice.

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SATEES MUNIANDY is the State Assemblyperson for Bagan Dalam and international secretary of DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy). - Mkini