Cabinet posts: Whatever happened to leaving it to Dr M?

Pakatan Harapan should stop bickering over ministerial posts and get on with governing Malaysia.

COMMENT

Bernama pic

By Clement Stanley

“To be or not to be. That is the question” is a Shakespearean quote.

Today, it is proving to be the bane of the four-party Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition government as individual party leaders begin to demand ministerial positions in the new Cabinet line-up.

The latest salvo came from DAP’s Youth chief, Wong Kah Woh.

Like it or not, PKR started the ball rolling with Rafizi Ramli when the initial key portfolios were announced.

Here is my question: Why wasn’t all this discussed between the partners before the 14th general election (GE14)?

Could it be that this was put on the back burner while they fought on common ground against a common enemy, not confident of a victory?

If therein lies the answer, it would explain why Cabinet appointments have only now become an issue.

Whatever happened to the much-vaunted cry of leaving Cabinet appointments to the wisdom of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad? Am I to understand that Mahathir has lost his wisdom within a space of 60 days?

If you are talking about the number of seats you won in GE14 and how you should be given Cabinet posts that reflect your number, why didn’t you sort this out among yourselves before going into battle?

Why, with the dawn of this new era, have ambition, greed and selfishness superseded the main objective of good governance?

The people have decided that you deserve the chance to right what is wrong. The people have high hopes and expectations of the PH government to perform and deliver. Just get on with it.

If you continue with such a stand of wanting more Cabinet representation to reflect your numbers, it will not reflect your objective of coming together as one. That is what you portrayed to us as voters, and we put our trust in you. It is as simple as that.

If you choose to bicker and promote your own agendas over the hopes of the rakyat, there is a definite solution ahead of you. Just go your separate ways and become stand-alone parties in GE15. That way, if DAP, for example, can win a simple majority, the entire Cabinet is DAP’s for the taking. The same applies to PKR, PPBM and Amanah.

In the meantime, please consider the needs and wants of the rakyat that put you in government because you promised us that better times lay ahead with you. We have put our trust in you.

You owe it to us not to betray this trust because that is all we have.

Clement Stanley is an FMT reader.