The burden of legitimacy

MP Speaks | Finally, Prime Minister Muhyiddin managed to form his cabinet. Apparently, the cabinet, akin to his " back door government", was formed without the necessary mandate from the people duly obtained via an election. Hence, the legitimacy of such a cabinet may perhaps be forever in doubt.

The cabinet also lacks the necessary manifesto. Yes, a manifesto is not mandatory. Nevertheless, the people who hold the ring may need to know what the government is going to do by referring to its manifesto.

It goes without saying that such a manifesto is normally crafted by consulting the people and many stakeholders, who in turn share their necessary inputs. By having a manifesto, any government may be taken to task, assuming it tries to renege from its sets of promises enshrined in the manifesto. Therein lies the notion of good governance and a responsible government.

Yes, there is no constitutional requirement for Muhyiddin's cabinet to have the office of the deputy prime minister. Nevertheless, the utter absence of such an office is intriguing, to say the least. It is clearly against a sound constitutional convention derived from the Westminster template. It may also prove his difficulty in choosing or appointing any trusted DPM.

In my view, it is not an understatement to conclude that Muhyiddin's government is plagued with high intensity of distrusts. Hence, such a scenario may contribute to an impending instability. It is axiomatic that an unstable government is generally not good for the economy as it may discourage investors from coming to Malaysia.

When the Pakatan Harapan government was duly mandated to govern Malaysia on May 9, 2018, it faced a rotten economy bordering on bankruptcy. Malaysia's image as a kleptocratic government - thanks to the previous regime - tremendously affected our economic well being and performance.

However, the Harapan government somewhat managed to bring the government out from such a scary image, thus bringing back the necessary investor confidence. Several of our international rankings have greatly improved.

Having assumed his premiership, Muhyiddin has promised to the entire nation - via his address in a live telecast - that his cabinet may only comprise of those who possess high integrity. His staunch supporters have been trying to convince all Malaysians that with the current cabinet members, he has duly walked the talk.

Well, it depends. In the first place, how do they view or define the true meaning of integrity?

Can we, for instance, fairly associate integrity with the act of betrayal? Like it or not, he only managed to form a government by successfully betraying the people's mandate. People gave the mandate to Harapan to govern this country until the 15th General Election. This is an indisputable fact.

If we can duly associate integrity with a coup, we may safely say that the present PM and his entire cabinet would have to face an enormous problem in justifying their political legitimacy, let alone their integrity.

To be fair to the PM, his cabinet does contain several individuals who may be possibly characterised as good persons. In other words, these persons are not tainted, at least not yet. Notably among them is the former Federal Territories mufti Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri (photo).

Truth be told, I am quite close to him. Am I disappointed with him? Unfortunately, I am. Why?

Being a respected religious persona, the former mufti should not have, in my opinion, give any legitimacy to any "backdoor government" by unhesitantly joining such a questionable government.

Yes, I can still understand his predicament in making any comment or criticism against such a government that was established by an act of betrayal. But I will never understand his justification of joining this backdoor government.

Now, by joining the current cabinet, with the greatest respect, the former mufti has not only unnecessarily smeared his impeccable image, but he has also sent a wrong message of Islam to many, especially to our youngsters, that Islam seems to justify the betrayal of trust.

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MOHAMED HANIPA MAIDIN, is the Member of Parliament for Sepang. - Mkini