Unionist: Usurping Harapan's term of office is an act of treason

Activists are shattered with the possible formation of a unity government in Malaysia that would include opposition parties such as Umno and PAS as well.

This scenario was hinted by interim Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on national TV yesterday, after he failed to secure the numbers to form a new government.

Veteran trade unionist K Veeriah (above) reminded Mahathir that Pakatan Harapan is a democratically-elected government overwhelmingly mandated by voters of the country to hold the fort for five years.

He said all attempts to usurp their term of office must be construed as an act of treason and going against the very hopes, dreams and trust of the citizens of the country.

"In the face of such unprecedented challenges, what ought to have been the choice of politicians, from both sides of the divide, should be to set aside their differences in a collective attempt to resolve the nation's woes," Veeriah told Malaysiakini.

"Sadly, the greed for political dominance among the vested parties and individuals, apparently, has taken priority over the nation's challenges," he said.

"Therefore, wherein lies the allegiance of these herds of politicians?

"Obviously, it is not the overriding well-being of the country but rather their pursuit to crawl themselves to the bastion of political power! They ought to be ashamed of themselves!" he added.

The government in Putrajaya collapsed following persistent calls for Mahathir to hand over power to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, despite the PM promising to do so after the Apec 2020 Summit in November.

Anwar's intense factional fight with his deputy Azmin Ali led to the latter teaming up with Umno and PAS to form a new alliance dubbed "Perikatan Nasional".

The ruling coalition's disintegration was made further possible with Mahathir's party Bersatu exiting the Harapan coalition.

Azmin, who was then the economic affairs minister, and 10 other MPs from PKR aligned to him, were sacked for their move, and fiercely condemned for their "traitorous" act.

DAP's Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang described the unity government plan as "unacceptable".

Kit Siang said if the plan is in place, the prime minister would be accountable to no one.

He added that those responsible for the collapse of the Harapan-led government could hold office in high positions in the government.

“A national unity government of the best and brightest is a good idea, but if you have a national unity government, the person who destroyed Harapan will probably hold an important position," Kit Siang (above) had said at a public forum yesterday.

“How can? How can there be national unity? How can there be national reconciliation?” he asked.

However, this is not the first time that such a "backdoor government" was being mooted by a PKR leader.

In 2008, Anwar had engineered the infamous "Sept 16" move to lure BN MPs to defect to PKR.

Former PKR deputy secretary-general S Raveentharan said such incidents are "unsettling", no matter who does it.

"Voters will be upset when the party representatives they voted for defect to another side, or keep moving from party to party," Raveentharan said.

"They do so just to please their current political cravings when they should be bothered more about serving the people," he added.

To curb this, Raveentharan suggested that the Anti-Hopping law, which is enforced in Penang, be implemented nationwide. - Mkini