Instead of calming the bitter political, economic, and cost of living crises, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi appears to be jostling to seize power, whilst Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim aims to boost his popularity by playing host in six Hari Raya open houses.
Leadership battle lines are being drawn, with Umno president Zahid (above, left) openly making overtures that he should be the one to occupy the top job in Putrajaya. Naturally, all will deny this.
The convicted felon, Najib Abdul Razak, has exhausted all his legal appeals, including the final hearing to rescind his conviction in the SRC International corruption case. However, the former prime minister still has his tentacles wrapped around many Umno politicians.
He turned to his successor in the party, Zahid. Umno then sought the king’s help to consider a royal pardon for Najib, and Zahid had to play along with the divisional heads to request the pardon.
If, for some daft reason, Najib is pardoned and released, don’t for one second imagine that Zahid is willing to step aside and allow Najib to take the top spot.
He (Zahid) is only a whisker away from becoming prime minister, and of the two men, Najib probably has more character, is less thuggish, has more finesse, and speaks better English than Zahid.
Like his former Umno colleague, Muhyiddin Yassin, Zahid has for decades played second fiddle to others, but once these men tasted power, they simply hungered for more. Living in the shadows of their former bosses forced them to suppress their political ambitions.
Umno on the move
Zahid, who faces 47 charges - 27 for money laundering, 12 for criminal breach of trust, and eight for corruption - has managed to delay his trial by four months to give ample time for the attorney-general to study new evidence.
Meanwhile, he is plugging all the gaps and has positioned his closest allies in key positions. Former Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki is Mara’s chairperson, Kelantan Umno chief Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub is in charge of Felcra Bhd, Wanita Umno chief Noraini Ahmad heads Risda, and former minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican is Matrade chairperson.
Didn't Anwar (top picture) promise the rakyat an end to political appointments?
It appears that Umno disregards these promises to the people in the same dismissive manner PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang ignored warnings by the Terengganu sultan to stop making political speeches in mosques. They are aware that no action will be taken against them, and so they continue their wayward ways.
Zahid knows that Anwar needs him more than he needs Anwar. That explains his strong-arm tactics to bully Pakatan Harapan and running rings around Anwar. The PM should be firm with Zahid.
When Amanah’s Khalid Samad urged the king to reject Najib’s bid to be pardoned, Zahid was furious and demanded an apology from Amanah.
The great pretence continued with Kelantan Umno claiming that it would reconsider its cooperation with Amanah. This was followed by Umno supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi expressing doubts about the government's survival because of “allies such as Amanah”.
Puad said that Amanah’s actions failed to inspire confidence, that it had exhibited disorderly behaviour, had shown disrespect to the king, and had questioned his wisdom.
Has Puad no sense of right and wrong? Najib is a thief. He almost bankrupted the nation and our children and grandchildren will be paying off the national debt even when we are long gone.
The king is aware of the consequences for the nation and for the future of the monarchy if Najib were to be pardoned.
How foolish will we look, if we were to release one of the main architects of the 1MDB scandal when around the world, governments are charging and jailing those who played a corrupt role in 1MDB?
Shutting down critics
So, who calls the shots in the government? Is it PM Anwar or is it the wannabe PM Zahid? Which party/coalition wields greater power? Is it Harapan or Umno? Has PKR forgotten its reform agenda? Has DAP been told to shut up?
People are told not to criticise Anwar's administration, or else the government will collapse. They warned the critics that without the fragile alliance, the Green Wave will conquer Putrajaya. Really?
They merely don’t want the critics to say out loud what needs to be said. They claim that this will give ammunition to the opposition PAS or Bersatu to topple the administration.
“They” remind us of our elders in the 1980s, who told us to keep our heads down and focus on our careers because things will eventually right themselves in the end.
Most of us did just that and kept quiet. Forty years later, look at the mess we created and all because we refused to speak out at the time.
Amanah was wrong to apologise. Zahid knows that in any coalition or partnership, having a difference of opinion is perfectly acceptable.
To their shame, the party of political veterans (Amanah, DAP, PKR) failed to stand up to the bully, Umno. Have they not learnt their lesson that Umno cannot be trusted?
At least, Muda, the party of political novices, has a backbone, more courage, and more integrity than these established parties.
Muda is right to reject corruption and kleptocracy and they deserve our praise for not apologising when objecting to Najib’s pardon bid.
If the old guards refuse to speak up, we can depend on Muda to do the right thing. - Mkini
MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army, and the president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, Twitter.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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