Has Muhyiddin turned Bersatu into 'Ber-1MDB'?

What an extraordinary leap year it has been! It's almost as if we are given an extra day this month just to make sense of all the political hullabaloo. And to think it was all instigated by a dinner at a five-star hotel? Madness.

Undoubtedly, the person who made the biggest leap this month has got to be the new Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. The Bersatu president's appointment, however, is marred with uncertainty.

The word is out that he'll be facing the dreaded "vote of no confidence" once Parliament reconvenes. Regardless of the outcome though, Muhyiddin is still the legitimate prime minister. For now, at least.

What's intriguing, however, is how he got to this position by going against a sitting prime minister. Particularly when there's a sense of deja vu to it.

For those keeping scores, this is the third time he has rebelled against a sitting prime minister. First, it was against Pak Lah, who, at that time, suffered the worst general election performance in Umno's history. Then, it was Najib Abdul Razak for his involvement in 1MDB and a global kleptocracy.

Just yesterday, Muhyiddin added rebellion against an interim prime minister to his illustrious CV. Third's time the charm, too, as he now claimed the ultimate prize; the premiership itself.

However, that still doesn't explain how perplexing his latest rebellion is. Going against Mahathir contradicts Muhyiddin's principles and everything he is known for amongst his loyal supporters.

Hindsight is 20/20 they say, and 2020 is not a good sight for those who supported Muhyiddin to initiate reforms in Malaysia Baru.

Unceremoniously fired from Umno and the deputy prime minister’s post in 2015 due to his vocal outbursts on the 1MDB scandal, Muhyiddin can hold his head up high for sticking to his principles against kleptocracy. He then joined forces with Mahathir to start a new party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia or Bersatu.

Built under the ideology of "strengthening the agenda against corruption and abuse of power to establish good governance practices, honesty and integrity", Bersatu then joined the Pakatan Harapan coalition and, ultimately, usurped BN as the legitimate government.

The promised reforms were well underway but suddenly the party went rogue. Or rather; its president did.

Probably Malaysia's worst kept secret, rumours of a conspiracy to form a "backdoor government" has been going around for months. Little did everyone know that Muhyiddin was the main actor in the play.

It's fair to say Bersatu was formed to unite Malaysians against kleptocrats and the corrupt. By aligning himself with the very leaders who were part of it, I'm afraid Muhyiddin's faction of Bersatu is abandoning their principles and turning the party into "Ber-1MDB".

It's naive to think that principles mean anything more than buzz words for politicians to use in their speeches. What we should worry about is something more realistic about this new coalition. A lot of questions need to be answered if Perikatan Nasional were to last the full term before GE15.

Who will Muhyiddin appoint as the new attorney-general? More importantly, will he or she still continue with Najib, Zahid and Co's proceedings?

Moreover, can Muhyiddin let justice run its course unperturbed knowing that if members of his coalition are found guilty, they will lose its simple majority in Parliament?

Will the motion to amend the constitution and let Sabah and Sarawak be equal partners finally succeed when Warisan doesn't support the coalition? Remember, it was most of the current Perikatan Nasional MPs who abstained from voting when the motion was presented, even though it was part of their own GE14 manifesto. How will GPS, who are not officially part of the coalition react then?

The same question arises about PAS and their proposed RUU355 Bill, too. Will the coalition support it knowing GPS who has never been friendly with PAS won't ever accommodate to it?

Those are just a few question marks that looms over this "backdoor government" if it even survives past the upcoming parliamentary session. Back in 2015, then prime minister Najib said that his blood "boiled" after hearing Muhyiddin's speech attacking him regarding 1MDB.

Leap forward to 2020 and it seems both have cooled off and made muafakat with each other. 

The question is, will the rakyat accept this muafakat or will their blood boil right now?  - Mkini