YOURSAY | Will PM take a gamble on the weather?

 

YOURSAY | ‘Zahid is not worried about being disqualified but…’

COMMENT | Zahid’s sheer desperation shows

Coward: Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is not worried about disqualifications since he expects to be convicted. And he expects the guilty verdict to be stayed until the completion of the appeal.

What he is worried about is that despite the stay, his opponents in Umno would make their move to suspend his presidency of Umno, meaning he completely loses the chance of having an influence over the events.

Ultimately, it is up to the voters to reject Umno. If punishment was a certainty, they would not dare to steal in the first place.

While it is certain that Umno, if it does not change its way, will be destroyed, the question is at what cost to Malaysia? Will it bring down Malaysia with it? Will it take another election, a civil disobedience like Sri Lanka or an Arab Spring?

BlueShark1548: What Malaysiakini columnist P Gunasegaram has omitted is the question of whether the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah might reject the advice of the prime minister and his cabinet. After all, there had been a precedent.

The Agong had rejected former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s advice to declare an emergency when he first tried to do so.

The Agong and his brother rulers have a constitutional duty to consider the advice of the prime minister and his cabinet. The Agong and the rulers are not rubber stamps as the Agong has discretion given to him under the Constitution.

Would His Majesty allow Parliament to be dissolved just because Zahid, for his selfish reasons, demanded the prime minister for it?

The conduct of Zahid and his supporters in Umno is questionable as they are demanding elections to be held during the flood season when lives and property are placed at risk and when government priorities should be to save the rakyat.

Also, voting centres may be changed because of rising flood waters and this may lead to possible manipulation and abuse. Surely, without a credible reason for the dissolution of Parliament, the Agong would likely exercise his discretion not to dissolve Parliament in the interests of the nation and the rakyat.

Zahid's statement suggesting that voters should wade to polling booths showed that Umno does not care for the nation and the rakyat.

Milshah: This issue of early polls depends on who you talk to. Everyone who wants early polls has their own interests to push and those who want to delay the polls also have their own interests too. Zahid’s interests are mentioned fully in this article.

But what about Pakatan Harapan’s interests? Having suffered a near wipe-out in Johor and Malacca, it would be in Harapan's interests to delay the polls.

Or, let’s reverse the scenario. Let's say Harapan is on the winning streak and won the state elections in Sabah, Sarawak, Johor and Malacca. Would Harapan say let's delay the polls, pity the folks because it will be held during the rainy season?

Most probably, you would hear comments that let's have the general election now, we need to remove the kleptocrats. The more time is taken to do that, the more money is gone.

And what about Umno? Are Umno leaders just following Zahid or do they themselves want to have the general election early? I would say the latter.

Why? Umno is being bashed because of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s guilty verdict and the more they wait, the more votes they could lose. Umno wants early polls. It just so happens that, based on circumstances, Zahid and Umno's interests are aligned on this issue.

The conclusion - everyone is acting in their own interests in regard to the polls.

New Malaysian.1548751096990: The court cluster is banking on winning the 15th general election to “reform” the judiciary system, while Ismail Sabri and the opposition are using the weather to delay the polls until the court cluster becomes a jail cluster.

If the judiciary system is manipulated by the court cluster after the election, foreign investors will feel insecure about continuing their investment in Malaysia. The economy will not turn better but worsen.

We can only hope for a delayed election until the court cluster becomes a jail cluster.

Cogito Ergo Sum: What is unfathomable is how, in the event of an Umno/BN win, facts in a criminal matter can be changed. There is a possibility, in a few cases, the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) withdrew the charges.

The fallout for the public and investors will be disastrous if that happens. The judiciary that judged Najib guilty gives us hope that justice has indeed prevailed despite all obstacles being thrown along its path.

It is preposterous that Zahid can nurture the idea that a political win can erase his alleged crimes. Where or which school did he learn that?

My Brother Did It: I wonder if we are going to witness history in the making with Umno's immediate past and the current president convicted?

No wonder, they are all pushing Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin away to contest in Timbuktu as he almost defeated Zahid the last time.

Just a Malaysian: We need a Malaysian version of Indonesian president Joko Widodo badly. The next 10 years will decide if this country can regenerate or plunge into a failed state.

Zahid and Umno are not an answer to our woes. Malaysians can no longer be careless with their votes. GE15 will decide the future of our children and generations to come. - Mkini