Pakatan’s unity talks may offer a safe deposit for Najib’s Prime Ministership
The unity talk could also mean a possible checkmate on Mahathir’s hands on our nation’s affairs. No wonder Mukriz Mahathir made his chest-thumping reaction like; “But after losing in the election petitions, he is making this offer. We cannot accept this”. Yes, of course, his father will not be able to accept this. Perkasa will not accept this too if they have their way.
Kuo Yong Kooi
Unity talks is probably one of the most positive political news that the silent majority Rakyat has ever heard since the end of the last general election.
The initial skeptical response from some Umno quarters are just basic ego chest-thumping exercise of some typical politicians. Every politician would like to have the luxury of a last say and an upper hand over all matters.
There are many possible benefits of the roundtable talks. The opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has highlighted in his pre-Merdeka olive branch speech that the country is in an urgent need to address the deteriorating economy, racial and religious harmony, law and order issues.
The unity talk could also mean a possible checkmate on Mahathir’s hands on our nation’s affairs. No wonder Mukriz Mahathir made his chest-thumping reaction like; “But after losing in the election petitions, he is making this offer. We cannot accept this”. Yes, of course, his father will not be able to accept this. Perkasa will not accept this too if they have their way.
If Najib is working positively with Pakatan, the forces that support him in Umno might have greater strength in resisting Mahathir’s marching orders from the background.
The unity talks also give hope for our nation to heal the current racial and religious rifts that might take us down the path of self-implosion. This is probably the last hope for a positive change or a turn around before we descent into an uglier scenario that might put our country back a few decades.
If in a hypothetical scenario where Najib loses his Umno presidency in the coming party election, the Parliament might still be able to uphold Najib’s Premiership with the support from the Pakatan camp and others who thinks that the country is going in a wrong direction. The “others'” support can come from parliamentarians that are from East Malaysia, MCA, MIC and Gerakan.
The Umno delegates who are for Muhyiddin Yasin (if he intends to run for the top post) will have to think twice before voting him in as the new Umno president. This might not necessarily guarantee him the position of the Prime Minister of the country.
Someone in the Parliament can put a no-confidence motion on Muhyiddin if Najib is sidelined. If the the motion of no confidence sails through, a conscience vote can be called in parliament to determine who enjoys the confidence on the floor of the parliament.
We must also remember that there will be some liberals within the Umno ranks like Tengku Razaleigh who are able to lend support to Najib’s Prime Ministership vote on the floor of our parliament, if push comes to shove.
This is a tectonic shift away from the tradition that Umno president is automatically the country’s prime minister, instead the representatives of the people voted in a prime minister through a conscience vote on the floor of our parliament. That will be a sign of a maturing democracy for our country.
Some political pundits have predicted that talking with Pakatan will weakened Najib’s position in the run-up of the Umno party elections.
On the contrary Najib might have the upper hand if he manages to come out with a positive working framework with Pakatan before the Umno party elections.
The Umno delegates would have to think hard on the likelihood of changing the tradition of the presidency’s automatic Premiership of the country if they want Muhyiddin as their head.
However if Umno decides to re-elect Najib as the president of Umno, then the prime minister’s post is his and he will be able to secure the tradition of the Umno president’s automatic Premiership of the country.
Najib now might have an opening to secure his Prime Minister’s position by choosing to accept the offer of a roundtable talks with Pakatan.
Some Pakatan supporters might think that the unity talk is a bad move by Anwar Ibrahim. My question to those who opposed to this idea is what if our country descent into chaos like Egypt and Syria?
The frequent racial and religious rows are clear signs indicating to us that we are going towards that direction. Would that dead end direction help our country mature into a democracy?
