Poor joke leads to #MuhyiddinOut

 

If you are not on Twitter you might not know that earlier this week the hashtag #MuhyiddinOut was trending on the social media platform. The hashtag asked for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to resign as PM.

At its height, more than 30,000 tweets were sent out using the hashtag.

The hashtag came about after the prime minister's latest special address on the Covid-19 situation. This was after it was revealed that Malaysia hit a record high of 691 new cases on Tuesday, Oct 6.

Malaysians highly anticipated the special address. People were worried about the rise in cases after months of recovery. Most importantly, Malaysians wanted to know whether the government would decide to impose the movement control order (MCO) again. Many feared that if we have a second MCO, the social and economic impact would be worse than when it was first executed.

At the same time, the public was already dissatisfied with the government's handling of this third wave of the coronavirus. Many feel that it was a result of the Sabah state election where the virus, which had already affected many places in Sabah, was brought back to Peninsular Malaysia by politicians. It was also revealed that many of those who campaigned in Sabah did not appear to follow the standard operating procedure (SOP) which was put in place by the Health Ministry.

To make matters worse, a few days before that, many students were affected by the Higher Education Ministry's decision to postpone the opening of varsities across the country because of this third Covid-19 wave. While the decision was understandable, it appeared that the ministry did not sufficiently prepare for the chaos that ensued. Many students were stranded, and many had already spent money on travelling in anticipation of starting their semester.

Due to what is perceived to be the Higher Education Ministry's failure, Malaysians had to come together to lend a hand to these students. Assistance was crowdfunded, with ordinary people offering temporary accommodation and contributing financial assistance to help the students affected.

Noraini Ahmad

Brickbats aimed at the ministry was targeted squarely at its minister Noraini Ahmad. #MenteriKPTsilaletakjawatan (Higher education minister, please resign) trended on Twitter as a result of what was perceived to be the ill-preparedness of the ministry in dealing with the situation.

This was further compounded by rumours that the prime minister opted to attend a golf event in Desaru, Johor, instead of convening an urgent meeting when the number of active cases began to rise. There was no official confirmation or denial of these rumours, but many already made up their minds when they saw photos at the alleged venue of the golf event.

So by the time the prime minister delivered his special address, public anger was already at an all-time high. Thus, when he said in his speech that there would be no double standards in enforcing the SOP, Twitter exploded in anger.

Immediately, people pointed to Khairuddin Aman Razali, the minister of plantation industries and commodities, who reportedly did not quarantine himself upon returning from overseas some months ago. He was purportedly fined, but unlike others who committed the same offence, he was not brought to court to face justice for his crimes.

The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back came at the end of the speech. Muhyiddin, leaning into his "fatherly" persona that he cultivated and curated as prime minister, said that he as the "abah" (father) would have to use the "rotan" (rattan cane) on offenders to ensure compliance.

It was certainly meant to be a joke, although not a spontaneous one since it was already in his speech. But the people, anxious and worried for the state of the country, had no time for jokes from their prime minister. Especially when along with the highest recorded cases, a one-year-old baby had also died from the virus.

The line and the "abah" moniker, which was meant to endear him to the public as it had before, became a rallying cry for public anger and dissatisfaction. His speech was roundly criticised as lacking substance and ringing hollow when put in the context of how members of his administration could escape punishment when they did not comply with the SOP.

Netizens took to social media to express their anger and dissatisfaction using the hashtag #MuhyiddinOut. It was no secret and confirmed by the Merdeka Centre survey published recently that Muhyiddin enjoyed high approval ratings for his government's handling of the second wave of Covid-19.

Therefore, the trending of #MuhyiddinOut was the first time since he took office that his public image took such a big hit. Even netizens who were openly supportive of him before had criticised the speech and so too some of his own allies in Umno.

Certainly, a trending hashtag does not a resignation make. But it will place more pressure on Muhyiddin, especially if his allies in Umno use it to push the Pagoh MP further. Already we've seen two prominent Umno leaders, former premier Najib Abdul Razak and Umno Youth Chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki calling for action to be taken against Khairuddin. This will put more strain on the relationship between Umno and Bersatu and even PAS.

Then, we have opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim stating that he has been granted an audience to see the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to present his alleged majority support in the Dewan Rakyat. This puts even more pressure on the embattled prime minister.

All in all, it has not been a very good week for Muhyiddin. His future as prime minister looks uncertain at this point, as Malaysia braces for more turmoil in the coming days and weeks.

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SYAHREDZAN JOHAN is a civil liberties lawyer and political secretary to Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang. - Mkini

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