After Muhyiddin steps down, then what?

 

Assuming Muhyiddin Yassin finally throws in the towel today, what is likely to happen tomorrow?

Will our politicians be staring blankly at each other because they have absolutely no idea what to do if the prime minister resigns abruptly today?

So, after Muhyiddin steps down, then what? This is a very serious question which begs an answer that must honestly reassure Malaysians that a Plan B is already in place to tackle the immediate woes plaguing the nation.

Those keen to form the next government must also convince Malaysians that they are able to deliver. Anything less will not do. Malaysians have enough of lies and broken promises; more than enough to probably last a lifetime.

My main concern is that there seems to be nothing in place, no Plan B by the opposition if and when Muhyiddin eventually steps down.

And all these could be happening over the next few days or within the next one to three weeks before Parliament is scheduled to meet on Sept 6.

I write this as the prime minister is at a crisis meeting with PN leaders and allies from Umno, GPS, MCA, MIC, Star and PBRS.

He had earlier summoned them for the meeting at his office in Putrajaya in the wake of news that Istana Negara had requested the prime minister to expedite the Parliament sitting to vote on a confidence motion with regard to his leadership.

The Malaysian Insight has reported that Muhyiddin will not resign but plans to request an earlier confidence vote that could be held next week. It quoted a party source as saying that there are plans for the confidence vote to be held at a special sitting of Parliament to be called on Aug 18.

Whatever the date of the special meeting might be, one thing is clear - things are not looking good for Muhyiddin and the PN government with its lack of support in Parliament no longer a secret.

That said, the picture in the opposing camp is not that rosy either.

The standard joke going around is that “Muhyiddin has the smaller minority while Anwar Ibrahim (opposition leader) has the bigger minority”.

This is actually true. No one seems to have the majority support and the required numbers in Parliament and most disappointingly, the opposition does not have a “unified” candidate for prime minister.

Joke aside, the prospect of a minority government hangs in the balance. Muhyiddin and PN could still govern as a minority government; so too a new minority government formed by any new coalition with the king’s consent.

Mistrust and suspicion

But we know only too well that there is no stability in a minority government, whether it is functioning as an interim government under an interim prime minister or not.

Replacing an unpopular and untenable government with an unstable one is not the answer for Malaysia. We have to do better than this but are unable to do so because we have opposition politicians harbouring too much mistrust and suspicion for each other.

This is our main stumbling block – we do not have a strong, united opposition to take over.

It has been my belief for a long while that Malaysia needs to start afresh on a clean slate. The same old, tired faces have been there for far too long and they are not expected to change or adapt to new political challenges. Malaysia cannot move forward that way.

Even with Muhyiddin on the verge of being ousted, the opposition has still not been able to emerge with a single prime ministerial candidate. What does that tell us? It says a lot, doesn’t it?

At the very least, we expect the opposition to come up with a working majority and a governance plan by now.

But I have not heard of any, so far. Have you?

What I know is that the opposition has been working round the clock, each with their respective objectives in mind, for the past 17 months to oust the backdoor government of Muhyiddin and his co-conspirators.

But what they failed to do is to put their own house in order. It is not enough to tell us that any new government could not be worse than the PN administration.

We are only too aware of sugar-coated words and empty promises from politicians; oh yes, we do.

We also remember that Pakatan Harapan, with its comfortable majority of more than 130 MPs, could also fall within 22 months after receiving its mandate from the people; oh yes, we do.

We do remember and still cringe at Harapan's failures when it was in power and we are not prepared to accept more of the same; no, we don't.

This is not about me or others ranting cynically without good reasons. Time is running out. Anything could happen within a week.

We need answers to this all-important question from the current crop of opposition politicians: What are your plans after Muhyiddin?

Where are your numbers for a working majority? Show us your Plan B, your governance plan – at least on how to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic and the dying economy.

“Until and unless I see it, I will not believe” – Doubting Thomas - Mkini

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FRANCIS PAUL SIAH is the author of 'Hijack in Malaysia: The Fall of Pakatan Harapan'. Obtain autographed copies from sirsiah@gmail.com.

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