MUHYIDDIN IS LIVING IN LALALAND

Muhyiddin says the opposition is going to take Johor in the next general election. Muhyiddin seems to have lost track of reality. He is counting seats that do not belong to him as his. And he is not taking into consideration his sex scandal and the recent corruption scandal in Sabah involving Shafie’s people.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Muhyiddin Yassin says the opposition has a good chance of taking Johor in the next general election. In the previous general election Pakatan Rakyat won 18 seats so all they need is ten more, said Muhyiddin. With the recent crossover, that would give the opposition 29 seats versus Barisan Nasional’s 27.

The way Muhyiddin does his arithmetic is just like how Mukhriz Mahathir did his when he said he has enough support in the Kedah State Assembly to remain the Menteri Besar. Finally he found out that he did not have the majority after all and was forced out of office.

You must always remember one thing in politics. Targets are never static. You are always aiming at a moving target and you need to figure out not where that target is now but where it will be when you finally reach it.

Muhyiddin says ‘they’ now have 18 seats and with one crossover recently they need just 10 more seats to get a two-seat majority in the Johor State Assembly. But those 18 seats include four from PAS. So who is ‘they’? Is Muhyiddin saying that those four PAS seats belong to Pakatan Harapan?

Those four PAS seats belong to Pakatan Rakyat and not to Pakatan Harapan. Once Pakatan Rakyat is dissolved those four seats do not automatically get transferred to Pakatan Harapan. There is no way in hell PAS is going to serah those four seats to Pakatan Harapan or to Muhyiddin.

In fact, another thing that Muhyiddin forgot about is that PAS contested 30 seats in 2013. PKR contested 11 seats but won just one. In one of the seats PAS and PKR both contested to turn it into a three-corner contest.

What does Muhyiddin think is going to happen in the next general election? Is PAS going to allow PPBM and/or PAN to take those 30 seats it contested in 2013? Or is PAS now going to contest not just their ‘traditional’ 30 seats but the 11 PKR seats as well? Would that not mean there is not going to be anyhadiah seats for Muhyiddin’s PPBM but instead they are going to be engaged in three- or even four-corner contests?

And have the recent by-elections in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar not taught Muhyiddin anything? Santa Cause is not coming to town in the next general election. If PPBM wants any seats it will have to fight tooth and nail for them. So be ready to get massacred! The next general election is going to be the bloodiest in Malaysian history with no prisoners taken.

Muhyiddin is looking at things in isolation. Politics is not determined by just internal factors but external factors as well. People like Muhyiddin are so myopic that they fail to see the bigger picture. When you wear blinkers you only see things from one dimension. Muhyiddin should remove his blinkers to get a broader view of things.

Muhyiddin says that Barisan Nasional no longer has a two-thirds majority in the Johor State Assembly. Can Muhyiddin tell us whether his party has a one-third majority in the Johor State Assembly? One seat out of 56 is really nothing to shout about. That just puts PPBM at par with PKR, which also has one seat. Even PAS is better at four seats. And PPBM’s one seat was not won but was ‘stolen’, mind you. So why scream and shout about one stolen seat.

Does Muhyiddin think that politics and elections are merely a game of arithmetic? What about his credibility and the credibility of his party? Does that not count in politics and elections? Even a novice knows that politics is sometimes more about perception than about reality. And the reality is the perception of the public regarding Muhyiddin is bad.

Muhyiddin has been badly damaged by his recent sex scandal. Nika Gee has finally divorced from her husband and the hot rumour making its rounds is that Muhyiddin has secretly married her. Muhyiddin needs to come out and openly deny this rumour if it is not true. If not people will believe that Muhyiddin has secretly married his recently divorced mistress.

Then we have Shafie Apdal’s problem regarding his two trustees, proxies, nominees and cronies in Sabah who were arrested for corruption, the biggest case so far in Malaysian history. Shafie has privately told his friends he does not know these two people. Can Shafie come out and publicly announce that he does not know these two people and that they are not his trustees, proxies, nominees and cronies?

It seems the Sabah Chief Minister, Musa Aman, and Shafie are not the best of friends. So Musa did not interfere in that multi-billion-water project and left it entirely to Shafie to manage to avoid a conflict or turf war. There is also talk that Shafie not only personally handled the matter but he even gave instructions that payments must be made within two weeks of claims being submitted.

Shafie may have a lot to answer for and his goose may soon be cooked good and proper. And this is the man, together with Muhyiddin, who claim that they want Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak ousted not so that Mukhriz can become Prime Minister but, kononnya, to save Malaysia.

What is even more intriguing is Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s deafening silence. Mahathir has not said a word regarding Muhyiddin’s sex scandal or regarding the Sabah corruption scandal. Why is Mahathir not saying anything? Why the glaring silence? Does Mahathir only attack those who will not support Mukhriz for Prime Minister while he closes his eyes, ears and mouth to transgressions by those who support Mukhriz for Prime Minister?

Muhyiddin and Shafie are both dead ducks. Mahathir’s key players are both history leaving only Mukhriz as his kuda. And Mukhriz has proven lacking in political acumen plus intelligence. Mukhriz is so unreliable and undependable that Mahathir has to hide certain facts from him and treat him on a need-to-know basis.

Mahathir is considering replacing Mukhriz with Mokhzani but then Mokhzani has problems of his own to resolve regarding the crime of insider trading. And to add to all these problems is the problem of Mahathir’s trustees, proxies, nominees and cronies trying to run away like what rats normally do with sinking ships.