Are you listening, Mr PM?

 

A good friend of mine, Yunus, a businessman, who was once a sportsman and who recently donated generously to some flood victims, posed several interesting questions to me over coffee two days ago.

“Do you think those guys in the government read what you write? Do you think they care about what has been said or written? If they do, which I doubt very much, do you think they will act or rectify their own mistakes?”

I had no answers.

“Malaysian tropical forests and rivers have been money spinners for those who know how to manipulate the system,” he concluded before I could say anything.

He is known as a straightforward talker, a no-holds-barred kind of person. And those were hard, strong words. Honest and blunt.

I think many people are equally upset at the Malaysian tragedy occurring before our eyes.

Where’s the opposition?

That sort of view is supposed to be expressed by the opposition, but the opposition is apparently no longer doing its job. It now supports the prime minister via a political memorandum of understanding signed last September.

Ordinary folks, it seems, have to be the new voice for a large group of dissatisfied Malaysians who have lost faith in the government of the day.

My fellow columnist at FMT, Joe Samad, for instance, is another unsatisfied citizen. He summed it up nicely in his latest piece: “Is there anyone in charge of Malaysia?” (Jan 4, 2022).

I suppose Yunus will most likely agree with Joe on most points, except for the praise heaped on Khairy Jamaluddin or KJ.

A little digression here. On KJ, perhaps Zaid Ibrahim knocked the nail down nicely in his recent tweet, which I quote below:

“PAS never stood for anything good in Kelantan. They took out all the timber, abandoned oil claims, destroyed lives of Orang Asli and Malay culture. And Khairy, the progressive, found them attractive? Anyone in Umno we can look up to?”

That was a rejection of KJ, who said he didn’t mind working with PAS for the next general election.

Zaid’s political sarcasm is classic and it has been echoed nicely by many others elsewhere.

A triangular fallout

There is an obvious political fallout among the parties in the government at the moment, especially between the ruling Bersatu and Umno.

This fallout is serious and obscures the nation’s interests when PAS is added into the problematic equation.

Come to think of it, almost every other party that went to bed with PAS came out hurt or bled politically thereafter.

Ask DAP, PKR or those in Amanah. They all suffered badly after being associated with PAS. Please don’t mention Semangat 46, a party once led by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. He considers PAS as something else altogether.

The simple logic, therefore, is this: Obviously, PAS is a party led by extremists and social misfits, fraudulent in its outlook and besieged by old, impractical ideas which are irrelevant in this modern era of Covid-19.

What’s worse, the leaders are possessed of political deceit and tricks which Umno has just realised. Except for KJ.

So, PAS, and not Umno, must be the root of all evil, or of the current political problems. And since it rules Kelantan and Terengganu, which are hit by floods every year, it must be blamed for that, too. That’s PAS’ logic, not Umno’s, by the way.

On this subject of political logic, there’s an interesting piece written by another FMT columnist, Mohsin Abdullah, “Al-kisah kambing dan PAS” (Jan 4).

Mohsin is another writer who understands very well about PAS’ intelligence or the lack of it.

Umno is back

So, back to the hiatus in the government at this moment. Many political analysts think it won’t get resolved until the tussle within Umno itself gets resolved.

Factions in Umno are tussling for power, which is quite obvious. Malaysian politics is an easy subject to read, say those analysts.

As reported by FMT on Jan 4, “Umno leaders jostle for starting positions as GE15 push begins”, which only confirmed what has been speculated since the passing of the prime minister’s baton last August.

That seems to be the priority at the moment and unless it gets sorted out, the government will not function effectively or not function at all.

The issue appears simple. On one side, there is a faction that wants to work with Bersatu. The other faction is opposed to it. One faction is controlling the government and the other is trying to buy in from outside.

Both of them are linked to the prime minister, or so they both think.

And what of Bersatu? Well, if I were Yunus, this is what I would likely say:

Bersatu is a party which – despite failing from the first day of coming to power and having the most number of non-functional ministers and having over-campaigned in the Melaka elections and having been told off by its partner Gabungan Parti Sarawak in the Sarawak elections and having overacted in flood relief efforts – still insists on getting the post of deputy prime minister.

And since they don’t read what Yunus says, he will probably add: Poor, weak PM. He is not sure which faction he is in.

He is unsure whether he should cut the mud cake or scoop Umno’s birthday cake.

So far, 54 people have been found dead due to the floods. No wonder my other good friend, Saari Sungib, got upset and angry.

He suggested that those who suffered in the floods and didn’t get any help due to the government’s inaction or delayed response should sue the prime minister.

But I think that is too harsh, Saari, knowing that the prime minister is not going to be there for long.

Remember what happened to Muhyiddin Yassin after he appointed Ismail as his deputy? He got kicked out not long after.

History has a bad habit of repeating itself. But will the PM listen? - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.