PN? BN? Who cares? We’re worrying about the pandemic here

 

From Clement Stanley

Even before a new Cabinet can be formed by Ismail Sabri Yaakob, our esteemed YBs have been squabbling among themselves whether the new government is a Perikatan Nasional government or a Barisan Nasional government.

Surely, there are more important issues at hand? A thorn by any other name is still a thorn.

Surely, the people are the priority, right? After all, that mantra has been played over and over again, so much so that most people have only one thing to say: “Yeah, right!”

Ismail is, for now, the ninth prime minister of this country. I am among those who have had the pleasure or displeasure to have lived under the governments of all the previous prime ministers. History will pass judgement on them.

But the fact remains that this country has never faced a pandemic of this size and nature and as devastating as Covid-19. We are also facing an economic crisis like never before. Various NGOs and organisations have come up with all types of assistance to do their part. The economic crisis has led to untold suffering and ravaged the country. Suicides are at an all-time high.

Yet our politicians seem more concerned about whether this is to be a PN or BN government. Have our politicians lost their senses? Since when was “who is in charge” all that important? I can’t believe it. Can you?

Forget about which party is in government. Let our new prime minister who has termed this the “Malaysian Family government” run it the way he sees fit.

Never mind the fact that Ismail is a vice-president of Umno. When he took his oath of office, he did not take it as an Umno vice-president. He took it as the prime minister of the nation. He has come on board at the most difficult of times.

Should his government prove to be a disaster, Ismail will not last the distance. There will be pressure heaped upon him by the opposition, the public and from his partners who have came together in a marriage of convenience.

Ismail is walking on thin ice. Very thin ice. Ismail has a razor-thin majority of only three MPs. His predecessor also had a razor-thin majority and we all know what happened to Muhyiddin Yassin when Umno MPs withdrew their support.

Perikatan Nasional members of parliament are 50 in number and as it stands they need only withdraw partial support for Ismail and his government to collapse like a deck of cards.

That would put the long-suffering but patient (not by choice but by design), Anwar Ibrahim in pole position to become the 10th PM of Malaysia. Only thing is that he just has to be smarter in his choice of friends. Take for example, his friendship with the Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The now infamous telephone conversation that took place between Zahid and Anwar was initially denied by Zahid.

Anwar, I opine, believed that some Umno politicians would support his bid to become prime minister. Perhaps he was given that impression? Who knows?

Someone with a hidden agenda exposed that discussion. But why? Was it an entrapment meant to lull Anwar into complacency while giving him false hope? Possible?

But whatever it was, Muhyiddin’s government had to fall before Umno could helm the country. In politics, it is kill or be killed. It’s better to depend on your own strengths than to put your hopes on people who will only use you for their own ends.

Everyone is now watching and waiting to see how Ismail handles the country and the problems that come with it. We will see whether or not his “Malaysian Family government” works.

However, it is a known fact that within a family there is a tendency for a black sheep to emerge. Until that happens, Ismail ought to be safe as the ninth prime minister of Malaysia. - FMT

Clement Stanley is an FMT reader

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.