A tragedy and a farce

ADUN SPEAKS | The farcical nature of politics continues unabated after the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government that was mandated by popular vote in the last general election.

Who said that the end of history is near its end? If Francis Fukuyama takes a leaf from the latest developments in the political history of Malaysia, perhaps he might need to revise his central thesis about the end of history

The putsch that brought down the Harapan government was a tragedy and the attempt to form a government outside the framework of the popular mandate is a farce.

The question is how these disparate elements who cobbled a coalition of strange bedfellows could hide their lust for naked power under the pernicious narrative of race and religion.

A combination of external and internal narratives came together at an unexpected historical juncture to undermine the legally and constitutionally constituted Harapan coalition.

How this coalition called Perikatan Nasional or PN that was cobbled together on political expediency and treachery could stand the test of longevity and popular legitimacy remains to be seen.

The proverbial “pound of flesh” might be invoked by those who were called to beef up the PN coalition in return for favours.

What are these favours? Well, if “a pound of flesh” is demanded, then the PM coalition might be on rocky grounds even before a government could be formed.

How could those who undermined a legitimately formed government based on the electoral mandate from the last general election be expected to form a government composed of decent individuals when there is a glaring deficit of honesty, trust and integrity?

How far those who betrayed their own coalition and political parties put together a government that could articulate the concerns of all Malaysians, irrespective of their background.

There is no altruism in coming together in the formation of PN, apart from its name. There is no real difference with the BN coalition that staggered and collapsed in the last general election under the weight of phenomenal corruption, money laundering and other financial scandals.

In actual sense, PN is really BN.

The biggest beneficiary of this cobbled and illegal coalition that thwarted the popular mandate will be none other than Umno and to some extent PAS.

While in opposition, these two political parties combined effectively to engage in the nefarious game of race and religion resulting in the most diabolical narrative that sought to pit the Malays/Muslims against the non-Malays/non-Muslims to the extent it resulted in Harapan's collapse.

It was that the extreme race and religious narrative that overwhelmingly complemented other narratives within Harapan in contributing to its collapse.

The famous axiom that men make history not under the circumstances that they choose but when circumstances present themselves before them is rather appropriate to explain the circumstances that led to the collapse of Harapan and the role of key individuals who sought to combine the larger narrative of the opposition with their own narratives of those key figures who pulled out of Harapan.

The question now is how these disparate political forces with different interests and vaulting ambitions are going to work together in unison to govern the country.

This would be the real challenge that they might have to face in the coming days, weeks and maybe months.

Let us wait and see.

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P RAMASAMY is the state assemblyperson for Perai. He is also deputy chief minister (II) of Penang. - Mkini