Muhyiddin will have to decide if Malaysia a democracy or dictatorship

 

“The true essence of a dictatorship is in fact not its regularity but its unpredictability and caprice; those who live under it must never be able to relax, must never be quite sure if they have followed the rules correctly or not.”

- Christopher Hitchens, Hitch 22: A Memoir

As reported in the press, the denizens of Putrajaya are in a funk as to whether to extend this emergency. 

For a regime that is extremely sensitive to the label "back door government", Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has done everything to prove that the Perikatan Nasional (PN) regime is an undemocratic force in this country and that they are deathly afraid of the will of the rakyat.

The problem with this emergency was that it was never a real emergency, to begin with. An “emergency” for those of us who lived through it, was a disruption of normalcy that had a profound effect on our daily lives. 

This government has been so incompetent that it has made flip-flopping normal. These days if some ridiculous statement comes out of a minion from Putrajaya, the rakyat can be assured that there would be conflicting statements as the day progresses.

This emergency is a farce, which is rightly mocked by the average citizen who is going through difficult times while the political elites in this country wage a very public war for power and access to the dwindling cargo of the Malaysian gravy train.

Folks like to claim that this is some kind of existential threat to democracy in this country. The reality is that democracy was always hanging by a thread in this country.

Repressive laws that were supposed to be overturned when Pakatan Harapan entered Putrajaya were ignored or worse because suddenly not spooking the Malays became a big issue.

Nobody has any idea of what PN stands for. I know, from public statements, that their agenda is to stop PKR president Anwar Ibrahim from becoming prime minister, upholding Malay rights, which they claim Harapan was derelict in, and hating and blaming DAP for everything. Beyond that, there is nothing that points to coherent strategies and policies.

While Umno has a track record of corruption and government malfeasance, it also has a track record of winning elections and in those days, when the idea of BN meant something, it had a track record of winning the popular vote. In other words, a majority of Malaysians voted for BN.

People often ask me, what can Harapan do about this situation? How can Harapan save democracy in this country? 

The reality is that Harapan cannot do anything to end this emergency. They can make all the noise they want but the only people who can end this emergency are the treacherous bunch that started this mess in the first place.

And really when they had the chance to strengthen our democratic institutions, Harapan seemed interested in replaying the old BN games that sustained past governments for decades.

Speaking of making noise, the power group that the PN regime truly fears are the so-called “court cluster” who are making it clear that they want this government out for reasons of their own. 

With the Malay votes as split as it is and the willingness of Anwar to align with anyone who would give him a shot at the crown of Putrajaya, the Sheraton movers are in a state of panic as to how they will fare when MPs are convened.

Hence this horse manure about reaching herd immunity before Parliament can be reconvened. The fact is, that even if Parliament is reconvened, the opposition has publicly stated that it would not call a vote of no confidence and all they want to do is discuss the response of the government to the pandemic. 

This of course means very little, because PN is smart enough to realise once Parliament is back in session anything can happen and they would face reckoning they are unprepared for.

So far the PN regime, with its motley crew of Malay uber alles politicians from various power groups, have demonstrated that they have no use for democracy or democratic institutions, believing that the emergency grants them all the power they need to run this country.

Even then the rakyat should understand that this regime is not using the full force of emergency powers because to do so would wreck the economy. 

Indeed, they are not even using the full force of powers to enforce a strict lockdown because to do so would endanger the economy and this would lead to a revolt of the kind that would necessitate a real emergency.

So sure, they may harass everyday folks with sedition laws and they may attempt to intimidate dissent with various emergency powers but the reality is that the PN state will not do anything that would lead people to believe that the only way to revolt is with open hostility. 

The reason why there is so much discord in the PN cabinet is because everyone is trying to protect the economy at the same time protect their political interests. Unfortunately, both are mutually exclusive, especially during a pandemic.

All this cannot go on indefinitely. Soon the prime minister will have to commit to a dictatorship or roll the dice on democracy. - Mkini

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - "Let justice be done though the heavens fall."

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.