Are Muhyiddin's days numbered?

 

BN secretary-general Annuar Musa said that it was not necessary to replace Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

In other words, Annuar was suggesting that we need to wait for the next general election to change the prime minister.

Right now, he said we need to focus on how to contain the spread of Covid-19.

If Umno in general, I mean the majority of MPs are not satisfied with Muhyiddin, why the need to wait until the next general election?

I am not sure whether a cabinet reshuffle is in order for Muhyiddin to make the necessary changes to give Umno members a more prominent role.

There is always the possibility that Umno, being a party without any principles, might take up the offer of more posts if offered by Muhyiddin.

Anyway, at the moment nothing is certain.

If mixed signals are given to Umno, then PKR president Anwar Ibrahim might be the ultimate beneficiary of the exodus of Umno MPs, especially those not facing court trials for corruption and abuse of power.

It is not that Anwar lacks the majority support from the MPs; it is just that he has not been given the fair opportunity to prove this majority before the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or even Parliament.

There are too many obstacles that Anwar has to face and resolve before Putrajaya is within his sights.

At the moment the situation is foggy.

Of course, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is not resting on his laurels.

He is waiting for an opportunity to wrest the post even though nobody takes him seriously.

Perhaps he lives in a make-belief world that he is the best prime minister for the country.

Muhyiddin had some popularity initially even though he could not get rid of the albatross around his neck for coming to power through the backdoor.

While the first wave of Covid-19 was well managed, thanks to the skills of the director-general of Health and not the minister, the government seems to be unprepared for the second wave.

We have reached a point where we are not sure who is running the government.

Apart from Bersatu taking most of the key cabinet posts, it's leaders have nothing to offer in managing the affairs of the country.

Umno is angry not because Muhyiddin is incompetent, but because he has not allocated enough posts for Umno.

Bersatu - a party with the least number of MPs - has taken the lion's share of cabinet posts.

PAS and Umno might have embraced each other in the Muafakat Nasional, but the cracks are beginning to appear.

In fact, PAS, although having fewer seats in Parliament than Umno, seems to be favoured by Bersatu.

Recent appointments to government-linked companies indicate that PAS has benefitted more than Umno.

Muafakat Nasional seems hopelessly divided by the divisive politics of Bersatu in Perikatan Nasional.

Unless there is a last-minute deal in the form of a cabinet reshuffle to get the acquiescence of Umno, the stage has been set for a showdown between Bersatu and Umno.

If this happens, Anwar's boast of having a majority might be translated into reality to form the next government.

It looks like Muhyiddin's days are numbered.

He might not have the luxury to wait until the next general election, whatever the advice offered by Annuar.

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

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.