No ‘smoking gun’ on Bersatu’s claim to DPM post

 

From Terence Netto

The discovery of a “smoking gun” can safely be ruled out in the crossfire between Bersatu and Umno on the post of deputy prime minister in Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government.

From what was said by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, who weighed-in on the ongoing controversy yesterday, a smoking gun or conclusive proof, is unlikely to be found.

Though that was what Bersatu information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan appeared to be heading towards, in pressing the claims of his party to the post.

Hadi said at a press conference yesterday that when Perikatan Nasional agreed in August last year to Ismail Sabri Yaakob from Umno being made prime minister, it was discussed that the deputy prime minister post be given to PN.

But Hadi said that no decision was made. His statement ought to rule out the discovery of a smoking gun on the issue.

Should Wan Saiful, or even his boss Muhyiddin Yassin, be faulted for their claims that there was an agreement on the matter, now that Hadi has said there was discussion but no decision?

Consider what Hadi additionally disclosed at the press conference streamed on his Facebook page yesterday.

He said PAS is considering using a “new logo” in the next general election though the matter has yet to be finalised.

Intriguingly, he did not say anything about the PAS logo or the PN logo.

At the hustings last weekend in Kelantan, Muhyiddin had announced that PAS had agreed to use the PN logo at GE15, and that the PAS leadership “can confirm this.”

Muhyiddin’s claim raised eyebrows because a few weeks ago Hashim Jasin, the PAS spiritual leader, publicly mused that the party ought to revert to using its longtime logo of a white moon on a green backdrop because it was more recognisable among the party’s followers.

He implied that the use by PAS of the PN logo in the Melaka polls last November and the Johor polls in March, at both of which PN fared badly, were arguments in favour of PAS reverting to its familiar symbol at GE15.

Hence the surprise caused by Muhyiddin’s assertion of PAS’s acquiescence to the use of the PN logo.

The surprise was accentuated when Hadi’s deputy, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, commented that the matter of the use of the PN logo in GE15 was still being discussed.

How to explain this welter of ambiguity?

As seasoned observers who venture beyond the facts of political events know, public pronouncements by politicians, especially on the campaign trail, are open to shifts of nuance.

They are apt to drift from one proposition to its opposite in the knowledge that disproof is unlikely.

It is their way of nudging matters that are being mulled closer to the resolution they desire. - FMT

Terence Netto is a senior journalist and an FMT reader.

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