Parliament To Sit On The 18th May 2020

If we remove all the chairs in Parliament then will it become 'Parliament to stand'? 

Just playing with words. 

If you noticed I have not really commented on the local political scene for over a month now. Or more. It is a waste of time. The clowning around, the non starters being appointed here and there - it is just ridiculous. 

The all important drastic changes in policy are not even being discussed. 

Without the changes it does not matter who is the party in power. 

The country is already facing very difficult circumstances. 

So is the rest of the world. 

But our problems began much earlier. Our problems are seriously structural and systemic that have been created over the past years and decades. 

The economy still has not fully recovered from the GST fiasco of 2015. 

Then the oil prices crashed - TWICE. 

Then now the corona virus. It is endless.

This means certain sections of the economy are doomed.  

The unemployment rate is said to be 3.9%. 

Sometimes I read different figures. 

In number terms the figure 500,000 unemployed has been mentioned. 

Now 1.8 million has also been mentioned. 

What is the real number? I think it is a big number. 

And this number is growing. 

Lets cut to the chase. Will Tan Sri Muhyiddin prevail as the PM? 

This is a democracy. But too late the General Elections are over. 

So now it is the 222 MPs who will decide if TSMY remains as PM 

If there is a vote of no confidence on the 18th.

What about the feeling on the ground? 

A wealthy businessman friend called me a while ago.  

Real business people with their hands on the pulse of the economy. 

He said 'I want to forget about the politics. The most important thing in front of our eyes now is the Corona Virus. The economy must get back fully on its feet. And Muhyiddin is handling it well."

In this regard I agree. The most critical issue now is managing the Corona Virus. 

The lockdown and now the post lockdown controls seem to be holding. 

I received a video which shows Pudu under lockdown again.  

According to the Health DG the tahfiz and madrasah cluster is creeping up again.  

But overall our handling has been good. 

The new cases have been consistently in two digits for weeks now - I think. 

We are coping.

Except in a few cases like Negeri Sembilan where there was a spike - but I believe it is being arrested.

If we do not get a grip on handling the virus (including learning to live with it) the economy will not get back to normal.

So here the business people are happy I think with our handling of the virus - versus other countries who are still facing difficulties with the virus. 

The country is also back on track to being friendlier towards other countries especially our major trading partners like China, the US, India and other countries. 

The PM Tan Sri Muhyiddin has not suggested that the Chief Executive of Hong Kong resign or other unfriendly remarks like that. And I think Imran Khan will not be coming back again soon. 

That half hour phone call by Trump to the PM is another sign of warmer relations with the US.  The common sense should be  'why become a nuisance for no good reason at all'? 

However on the domestic side the accusations and bricks thrown are not reducing. 

There are plenty of unhappy people and their unhappiness is justifiable.

There are unnecessary issues like the arrest of Patrick Teoh for just saying words. Words cannot break anyone's bones. Why even arrest him in the first place? Even the magistrate refused to allow the full remand that was asked.  Even one day being locked up is not right. Plus he is 73 years old. And now he has been released. So what was the arrest all about in the first place?

And the 1MDB related issues are not going down well at all. 

Plus the Cabinet of Ministers are still clowning around.  

So there is still plenty not right in the country. Plenty.

But n'theless for the immediate future ie for the 222 MPs voting in Parliament - there is more stability in the government now than under Dr Mahathir's 2nd tenure.

Another example - do you notice there is no more of the Ministers openly criticising, arguing and contradicting each other in public? Which was a trademark of Dr Mahathir's 22 months in power? So just that change alone gives more stability to the perception of the government in power.

And here is some chicken and egg. The more 'stability' in the government (meaning in the Prime Minister's Office or PMO) then the stronger is the PM. 

When the PM appears stable (which Muhyiddin appears to be now) then of course there will be more support for Muhyiddin as the PM. 

So as Dr Mahathir himself said a few days ago I think that the PM Tan Sri Muhyiddin will prevail over any no confidence vote on May 18th 2020.  

And most likely until the next general elections.

But my question to Tan Sri Muhyiddin and team is this - can you prevail in the next general elections?

Going by what is NOT happening in the country my clear guess is NO. 

Come 2023 you will not be able to survive GE15. 

But there are solutions. 

There must be drastic policy changes. 

Very very drastic changes.

The changes are simple - move towards a 100% free market economy.

For the poor ONLY subsidise all you want, help the poor Malays / bumiputras all you want.  That is super important. 

But at the same time let the economy go free.

Open the economy fully, remove all obstacles, monopolies, oligopolies, remove all the restrictions that keep our economy and our people down. 

Banking, finance, fisheries, agriculture, resources should all be free market. 

We have enough rules, regulations and laws to monitor and manage all our resources and all our industries.

You must create not just thousands but millions of high tech, high value, high skilled jobs between now and 2023. Can you do this? 

You must create hundreds of thousands of new companies especially 100% fully private sector, fully competitive, fully competing in the open market type of companies in the country. Regardless of agama and bangsa. It must be only for the negara. Can you do this?

I believe Tan Sri Muhyiddin will survive May 18th 2020. 

That is his immediate objective - to prevail on  May 18th.

So TSMY will not be too worried about 2023 now.

He needs a life raft on 18th May - this is top urgent. 

2023 is so far away.

I would advise serious caution.

2023 is not far away.

Beyond 2023 is getting dim. 

Sadly this applies to all the present crop of political leaders. 

I do not see any of them showing an understanding of the problems that we are facing.  Including Dr Mahathir. 

From what has happened so far (in Malaysia) the change in leadership is not relevant.

Why? Because nothing really changes.  What we really need is change in policies. That is not happening.