If Mahathir Mohamad is a mole sent to break up the supposedly united and unbreakable Pakatan Harapan coalition, he has done a marvellous job. Heck, he should be given a medal for his stunning performance. He hasn’t even lifted a finger to put PKR, DAP and Amanah at loggerheads, but the 3 component parties have already shown signs of self-destruction.
The 94-year-old former prime minister does not have to put any effort to sow distrust among the 3 partners in the coalition. The issue of who should become the prime minister should Pakatan Harapan (PH) succeeded in unseating the backdoor Perikatan Nasional (PN) is enough to break their friendship of 20 years. The finger-pointing has been overwhelming.
To make matters worse, there have been tonnes of contradicting stories and revelations from both PKR camp and DAP-Amanah camp. For example, the PKR camp has claimed PH’s meeting on May 30 had agreed to only 1 option – PKR president Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister. However, DAP-Amanah claimed otherwise – there were 2 options on the table.
Contrary to PKR’s version of the story, DAP-Amanah camp claimed that while they endorsed Anwar as prime minister during the May 30 meeting, it was also agreed that a fallback plan would be executed – Mahathir to become prime minister while Anwar becomes the deputy – if Anwar could not get the numbers to form the government. Obviously, someone was lying.
Did Anwar agree with the second option without any intention of honouring it because he was over-confident with Pakatan Harapan’s 91 votes? Or did DAP and Amanah decide to sacrifice Anwar because they were power-hungry after having tasted power for 22 months? Nevertheless, those who support the idea of returning Mahathir as the prime minister have been severely bashed.
They have forgotten that in politics, especially in the ugly game of UMNO-Malay politics, there are no permanent enemies and no permanent friends – only permanent interests. They have also forgotten that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Therefore, it’s meaningless to argue with supporters of Anwar or supporters of Mahathir. Both have their own valid arguments.
But being emotional, instead of pragmatic won’t return you to power. Throwing tantrums and threatening to quit Pakatan Harapan won’t return you to power. Insisting Anwar to become the prime minister, yet fails to swing Sabah and Sarawak to your side won’t return you to power. Arguing that without PKR, Mahathir too can’t become the prime minister won’t return you to power.
So, the argument is that if Anwar cannot become the prime minister, nobody – especially Mahathir – can become the PM. Let’s drown together if Mahathir refuses to convince Sabah (9 MPs) and Sarawak (18 MPs) to throw their support for Anwar. Interestingly, it was revealed that Anwar was only able to garner the maximum support of 96 MPs, including Mahathir and his 4 loyalists.
In essence, even with the entire force of 91 MPs of Pakatan Harapan (38 from PKR, 42 from DAP and 11 from Amanah) and Mahathir’s faction of 5 MPs solidly behind Anwar, the PKR president doesn’t have the numbers to become the 9th Prime Minister. Again, the untrustworthy Mahathir, who caused the collapse of Pakatan Harapan is bashed.
That’s fine. The old fox deserves to be condemned. But why did Anwar meet privately with Prime Minister Muhyiddin in April, just a month after the backdoor PM stole his trophy? So, traitor Mahathir must be bashed but not traitor Muhyiddin? Yes, coming from the horse’s mouth, PKR chief whip Johari Abdul revealed that not only Anwar met with Muhyiddin, he had also met Hamzah Zainuddin.
In fact, Mr. Johari told all and sundry that his boss Anwar had met with practically every leader from the “other bloc” (referring to the backdoor Perikatan Nasional government) except crooked Najib Razak. This means Anwar had probably met with UMNO president Zahid Hamidi, PAS president Hadi Awang and even the despicable traitor from his own party – Azmin Ali.
Now we understood why DAP strategist, Liew Chin Tong, issued a warning just a day earlier against treating Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin as a potential ally. Hamzah, the Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism in the previous corrupt Barisan Nasional regime, is believed to be a mole planted by UMNO to overthrow the Pakatan Harapan ruling coalition.
It is believed that Hamzah was on “shopping spree” in Sabah to overthrow Shafee Apdal state government. Exactly why Anwar found it worthwhile to meet with Hamzah, the same man who was on a mission to crush Shafee, the Chief Minister whose 9 MPs were supposed to help Anwar’s crusade to become the prime minister? Was Anwar planning to betray allies in the Pakatan Harapan?
In the same breath, Johari also claimed that Mahathir had likewise met with leaders from the enemy camps such as traitor Azmin Ali and Islamist party PAS president Hadi Awang. It seems there could be another major shift in the political landscape. Mahathir appears to have a backup plan in the eventuality of PKR’s refusal to be part of the plan to topple Muhyiddin government.
Anwar Ibrahim might dump allies DAP and Amanah by switching sides to Muhyiddin’s camp, effectively embracing UMNO and PAS. At the same time, Azmin Ali and Hadi Awang might cross over to Mahathir’s camp due to the overly dominance of UMNO and the failure in seats negotiation among the three Malay political parties. But that will be another article for another day.
As the emotionally charged PH supporters continue slamming DAP and Amanah for supporting Mahathir as the prime ministerial candidate, perhaps it’s worthwhile for everyone to look back at what happened in March, less than 4 months ago. When Muhyiddin and Azmin plotted the coup against their own PH government, opposition UMNO and PAS were extremely delighted.
Muhyiddin’s Bersatu (minus Mahathir’s faction) only possessed 20 MPs. To add salt into injury, 13 of the 20 MPs were actually UMNO defectors. Even with Azmin’s 11 MPs who betrayed Anwar to join Muhyiddin, they have 31 MPs, less than Barisan Nasional’s 42 MPs (UMNO’s 39 MPs, MCA’s 2 MPs and MIC’s 1 MP). Yet, there was zero fighting about who will become the PM.
As the opposition, UMNO and PAS knew the top priority was to grab power first. Everything else was secondary. Had UMNO president Zahid and Bersatu president Muhyiddin fought over who should become the prime minister, both will get nothing instead of something. Even PAS gets less than Sarawak-based GPS, despite both contributing the same 18 MPs to the backdoor government.
Now that the Pakatan Harapan is the Opposition, how are they any different than UMNO and PAS about 4 months ago? Without Mahathir’s influence to swing Sabah and Sarawak, PH’s 91 MPs are useless, the same way Muafakat Nasional (alliance of UMNO and PAS) would be if they had kept bragging about their combined 60 MPs. Should not Zahid become the PM instead of Muhyiddin?
Like it or not, only when you walk the corridors of power that you have access to precious resources to do what you like – good or bad. And that’s the brutal fact of politics, especially in Malaysia. Within 3 months in power, the Muhyiddin government has done so much damage, including releasing crooks and even returning the frozen RM192 million to UMNO.
Can’t PH think of something good that can be done even in the short period of 6 months? In truth, there’re so many things we can learn from the current backdoor government. For example, despite having only 60 MPs, UMNO and PAS have gotten lame duck PM Muhyiddin to do their dirty jobs. Why can’t PH’s 91 MPs control a 94-year-old man the same way Muhyiddin is being controlled?
We have seen how former PM Najib gave orders to Muhyiddin government to give what UMNO desires. However, during Mahathir’s 22 months of administration, Anwar had acted more like an errand boy than like an equal partner. Should not Pakatan Harapan bear at least some responsibility for allowing Mahathir a free hand at running down the coalition to the ground?
Of course, if Pakatan Harapan insists that their moral ground is higher than Perikatan Nasional or Mahathir, then they can wait for the next general election. If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen. But based on the exposure from Johari about Anwar’s secret meetings with all the crooks and traitors from the “other bloc” (except Najib), can PKR claims to be morally superior?
And what does Anwar expect to achieve by running to Muhyiddin? Has Anwar been promised the deputy prime minister post if he pulls out his 38 MPs from Pakatan Harapan and pledges loyalty to the man who had stolen his crown? Does Anwar think Azmin Ali, Zahid Hamidi, Najib Razak and Hadi Awang will cheer and applaud his crowning as the PM-in-waiting?
Here’s a provocative question to the PKR party and its president – will Anwar Ibrahim accept his wife Wan Azizah instead as a candidate for prime minister since he could not handle Mahathir? After all, the previous Agong (King) had offered Wan Azizah the PM post after the 2018 General Election. Did not Anwar say he won’t mind if he could not become a PM? - financetwitter
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