BOMBSHELL – NAJIB OR ZAHID THE NEXT PM IF PERIKATAN WINS SNAP GE15? THAT’S THE BURNING QUESTION GRIPPING MALAYSIA – NOT MAHATHIR OR ANWAR!

One of the questions which anti-Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition likes to provoke is this – who will become the Prime Minister if the Opposition bloc succeeded in unseating the backdoor government of Muhyiddin? Will it be former PM Mahathir Mohamad or former PM-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim? But both are not seeing eye-to-eye, so how can PH make a comeback, they laughed.

Of course, it was to put both Mahathir and Anwar at loggerheads. If Mahathir was willing to meet Anwar (2016) – in a High Court – for the first time in over 18 years just to shake hands and formed a new alliance to dislodge then-Prime Minister Najib Razak, what is so impossible about Mahathir performing the same drama again to stop Najib from making his return as PM (again)?

One should not underestimate what Mahathir is capable of doing in his desperation to achieve his mission. He can kneel and beg Anwar for forgiveness, if that’s what it takes to pacify Anwar. But even if both Mahathir and Anwar can never work again due to too much distrust, so be it. The burning question should be – who will become Perikatan Nasional’s next Prime Minister.

Forget the Opposition. The so-called “Malay-only” Perikatan Nasional (PN) is the government now. Consisting primarily of Bersatu (Muhyiddin faction), UMNO and PAS, the three biggest Malay political parties in the country command up to 95% of the Malay vote bank. Hey, that is what Najib claims, not me. In essence, the PN is invincible and undefeatable.

So what is Muhyiddin government waiting for? Instead of losing sleep over its razor-thin 2 majorities in the 222-seat Parliament, why isn’t the powerful alliance dissolving the Parliament already? Not only the mighty PN coalition is guaranteed of winning the next 15th General Election with a bigger majority, it will not be insulted as a backdoor government anymore.

After all, the Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic is no longer a problem. Yesterday, it was reported that under the brilliant leadership of Muhyiddin Yassin, there were only 7 new cases. Hilariously, while the PM declares that a lockdown has ended and the country now enters the recovery stage, he is still too chicken to announce that the Parliament will reopen in July.

The best part is: – neither PM Muhyddin nor his appointed de-facto Deputy PM Azmin Ali supports the calls by Najib Razak and Zahid Hamidi that the government is ready for a snap election. “We are ready for GE15. Are you ready to be with us?” – screamed a Facebook post blasted by UMNO president Zahid Hamidi on June 3, followed by Najib’s message that a nationwide poll is imminent.

After we highlighted the glaring absence of Islamist party PAS in the unilateral declaration made by Najib and Zahid, PAS has finally spoken. But instead of PAS president Hadi Awang, the party sent minion secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan to create a false perception that the garden is rosy – claiming PAS’ cooperation with its Perikatan Nasional allies is growing stronger.

Mr. Takiyuddin also expressed confidence that the coalition, which is not even legally registered, will work together in the next 15th General Election. What type of grass has he been smoking? He can’t even explain to the Malay community as to why PN is not yet officially formed, let alone justify how Bersatu can add value to UMNO and PAS, who had formed their own Muafakat Nasional alliance.

Heck, the three Malay parties can’t even convince former “Black Shoe” Minister Maszlee Malik to join “Malay-first” Muhyiddin. Yes, even a simpleton like Maszlee knew that the next prime minister post-15th General Election will either be Najib or Zahid – both from UMNO. That means Hadi Awang can forget his wet dream and Muhyiddin Yassin can retire after a short stint on the job.

Maszlee also mocked Muhyiddin that despite the prime minister’s best efforts to formalise Perikatan Nasional, UMNO warlords continue to reject – openly – the idea of making the coalition as a platform for a united Bersatu-UMNO-PAS in the next election. Maszlee even laughed at Muhyiddin about not being invited to an UMNO-PAS meeting to discuss about the 15th General Election.

To show that the foolish Muhyiddin has trapped himself, Maszlee cleverly pointed to the reluctance of yet another UMNO warlord (UMNO Supreme Council leader Mohd Puad Zarkashi) to join the backdoor Perikatan Nasional. Puad said Muhyiddin can form the Perikatan Nasional as an official coalition if the PM likes to, but UMNO has no appetite to join it.

Now, another warlord – UMNO vice-president Mohamed Khaled Nordin – has joined his colleague in pouring cold water. In what appeared to be a slap in the face of PAS, Khaled said fellow partner Takiyuddin’s suggestion that Bersatu-UMNO-PAS can all contest the 15th General Election as a happy and united coalition is nothing but “hot air” that should be taken with a pinch of salt.

The UMNO warlord said – “The statement only reflects PAS’ confidence. Nothing has been discussed.” Obviously, Khaled was not impressed with Takiyuddin’s half-baked promise (or was it a blatant lie?) that all the 3 “Malay” parties can divide the electoral seats among them for the next general election – indicating that the power-hungry UMNO wants the lion’s share of the seats.

This is not the first time Khaled has shown his displeasure about UMNO working with Muhyiddin. Previously, he delivered a slap in the PM’s face when he rudely lectured the backdoor prime minister that UMNO, armed with 42 (including MCA’s 2 MPs and MIC’s 1 MP) Member of Parliaments, is not subordinate to either Muhyiddin or his party Bersatu (PPBM).

Khaled had boldly warned PM Muhyiddin that without the support from UMNO and PAS (18 MPs), Muhyiddin could not have formed a government. “There are among those (with the government) who are embroiled in disgusting scandals, but are protected and given positions in government,” – criticised Khaled, obviously referring to Azmin Ali’s gay sex video clip.

If the so-called “Malay” coalition is sincere about protecting the Malay community from losing power to the “Chinese, Christians and Communists”, as it was fondly trumpeted in their race and religious toxic politics, what is so difficult about the seat-sharing formula? Can they not just agree to share the seats based on the current configuration for the sake of Malay-Muslim unity?

Currently, UMNO has 39 MPs, after 13 MPs defected to rival Bersatu post-14th General Election. Bersatu won only 13 seats in the 2018 election, but doubled to 26 MPs after the UMNO defection. After losing Tanjung Piai seat, that number decreased to 25 MPs, before Azmin Ali betrayed his party PKR and brought 10 MPs into Bersatu, enlarging the party to 36 MPs.

However, excluding the rebellious Mahathir and his gang of 5, Bersatu now has 31 MPs. Clearly, UMNO is not happy with the current configuration – UMNO (39 seats), Bersatu (31 seats) and PAS (18 seats). Will UMNO be happy if Bersatu returns, not that it would, the 13 seats and re-adjust the configuration to UMNO (52 MPs), Bersatu (18 MPs) and PAS (18 MPs)?

It’s worth noting that from the 222-Parliament seats in the country, 119 are regarded Malay-majority. So if all the 3 component parties of Perikatan Nasional agree to maintain the status quo, there are at least 31 Malay-majority seats up for grab. However, it’s also true that UMNO contested 106 parliamentary seats in the 14th General Election, despite winning only 54 seats.

Therefore, it’s not an exaggeration to say that UMNO, now emboldened with its own successful racist propaganda that Malays must vote for a Malay political party, is aggressively demanding to contest in no less than 100 parliamentary seats, leaving the crumbs of 19 seats to PAS and Bersatu. In the same breath, PAS realizes UMNO’s burning ambition.

In the 2018 General Election, PAS contested a whopping 160 parliamentary seats – more than UMNO. Will PAS grassroots happy to be given 20 parliamentary seats now? Even if UMNO is willing to contest only 88 seats (the number of seats it won in the 2013 General Election), there are 31 seats left which are considered Malay-majority – insufficient to be shared between PAS and Bersatu.

Unlike 2018, Bersatu cannot and dare not contest in non-Malays seats for fear of being slaughtered. Between UMNO and PAS, they don’t even have enough Malay-majority seats to go around, let alone letting Bersatu fish in the same pond. That probably explains why Takiyuddin was ordered to test the water over the idea of sharing seats among Bersatu, UMNO and PAS.

The naughty plan of PAS was to make Bersatu grabs a chunk of seats from UMNO with the hope of reducing UMNO’s dominance. It seemed that PAS is not that dumb after all. After kicked out by the same UMNO in 1977, the Islamist party is well aware that the same history may repeat itself again. Hence, PAS’ strategy to include Bersatu is to create a “Triangle of Power”.

Another reason PAS isn’t as enthusiastic as Najib and Zahid in calling for a snap election is the 1MDB scandal that is hanging around Najib’s neck. Being called a backdoor government is bad enough. To be linked to the world’s biggest crook while his trial is ongoing is a disaster. Has anyone seen Hadi Awang publicly hug Najib Razak since the 2018 General Election?

Based on the 3-month-old Perikatan Nasional government, PAS is like a third-class partner in the coalition. They were given pariah portfolios by Muhyiddin. Hence, at the same time, PAS isn’t too happy with Muhyiddin. Hadi did not even get any ministry, forcing him to spend a month sulking in a corner until finally he was given a post as Special Envoy to the Middle East, whatever that means.

In a nutshell, PAS doesn’t trust UMNO and would gladly have Bersatu to weaken UMNO. But UMNO’s plan is to use PAS to regain power and plays the dominant role. To achieve that, UMNO will demand the lion’s share of the Malay-majority seats. UMNO has no space to accommodate Bersatu because UMNO-PAS alone can win all the 119 Malay-majority seats, or so it thought.

If Bersatu, UMNO and PAS are as united as their supporters naively believe, go ahead and call a snap election today. As the PM, Muhyiddin can advise the Agong (King) to dissolve the Parliament. Najib and Zahid can unilaterally pull UMNO out of the coalition to trigger a snap election. Even UMNO and PAS can trigger the 15th General Election if they are so cocksure of winning. What are they waiting for?

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