Not feeling the mood yet

Joceline Tan, The Star

THE man he sacked almost 20 years ago is still the albatross around Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s neck.

In an interview with Sin Chew Daily that ran over three full pages, the former premier wobbled on whether he should have cut short Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s ambition to become Prime Minister.

What Dr Mahathir said in the interview was not new. But he is now Pakatan Harapan’s Prime Minister nominee and that changes the flavour and context of everything, especially on the touchy subject of Anwar.

In revisiting the sacking of Anwar, he said that, in hindsight, he might not have done it from the political standpoint but he had followed the law to act against Anwar.There seemed to be a rare element of regret there until he pinned the blame on the police and it was another round of, here we go again – it is always someone else who is to blame and one of his critics had labelled him “storyteller of the year”. 

Dr Mahathir expressed confidence that the Chinese would support Pakatan even with him as the leader and assured them he would not return to Umno even if Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was no longer there. He must have been aware that Pakatan’s decision to make him their Prime Minister candidate has failed to impress the Chinese voters. The interview is unlikely to change anything because the majority of Chinese voters seem set on supporting DAP with or without Dr Mahathir up there.

“What he did to Anwar, people have already made up their minds long ago about whether it was right or wrong,” said a Sin Chew Daily columnist.

Dr Mahathir’s second bid at the Putrajaya job has been proceeding in a rather inconclusive way even though it is only a month or so more before the big day. He has not really covered the Malay ground as much as some of those in Pakatan would have liked him to.

During a Pakatan retreat a few months ago, one of the participants raised eyebrows when he asked Dr Mahathir to cut back on his appearances with the DAP father-and-son, the implication being that Malays do not like the two DAP leaders. The participant told him to move around in Malay areas so that Malay voters will get acquainted with Parti Pribumi.

By now, any PM aspirant should be storming around the country but Dr Mahathir has yet to step foot in Sabah or Sarawak. He will be unable to replicate what Anwar did in 2013, scheduling up to five stops in a night during the campaign.

Dr Mahathir was unwell after a day-long programme in Kelantan and he failed to make it to Penang the next day for the state government’s celebration of the 10th anniversary of the 2008 tsunami.

About a week after Najib flew into Langkawi promising RM1.3bil in expansion allocation, Dr Mahathir made a revenge visit to Pahang. It was quite uneventful.

“They accused us of sabotage and preventing people from attending, that is not true. Pahang is the PM’s homestate. You cannot slam Najib everyday and expect to be welcomed here,” said Temerloh Umno division chief Datuk Seri Sharkar Shamsudin.

A few days ago, there was a rumour that Dr Mahathir may back off from contesting in Langkawi and let Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir take over the seat. It was all nonsense. Dr Mahathir may be 92 and of delicate health, but his crusade against Najib has been very personal and he has reached a point of no return.

He is also not senile as suggested by some people who have been left agog by the way he has absolved himself of any blame for events that happened during his time in power. All the marbles are still up there and it will be a fight to the end.

This is supposed to be a do-or-die duel for both sides, yet there is hardly what one might call an election mood in the air. Everyone seems so jaded about politics.

For instance, Rafizi Ramli’s survey suggesting that Pakatan was just a few seats short of forming the next government failed to excite even his own Pakatan circles.

The findings of his Invoke study were sensational to say the least. He claimed Pakatan would win 104 parliamentary seats and that Kedah, Perak and Johor would fall.

Kelantan, he said, would fall to Umno while there would be hung assemblies in Negri Sembilan and Melaka. A few big names would tumble, including Khairy Jamaluddin and Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

But the most sensational of all was his claim that PAS would end up with a big fat egg – zero seats.

There was repeated clapping in the audience over the “good news” when he presented his findings but the applause did not continue beyond his presentation that day.

“My friends shared it on our chat groups, but none of us talked about it. Nobody took it seriously because it was so unrealistic,” said a PKR politician from Selangor.

Some thought it had political agenda written all over it especially the dire prediction about PAS. They thought it was aimed at telling Malays not to waste their vote on a party that was not going to win any seats and to instead switch their support to Amanah and Parti Pribumi.

Others questioned why predictions by Pakatan leaders always omit Sabah and Sarawak. Some asked why the survey covered what voters thought of Najib becoming Prime Minister again but did not cover what they thought of Dr Mahathir returning to the post.

Rafizi still has lots of admirers but he is suffering from a credibility deficit following a series of self-inflicted fiascos starting from the Kajang Move.

The other thing is the political fatigue that refuses to go away. Of greater concern is a sense of disillusionment has also settled on many voters, for whom the situation is like 2 x 5 and 5 x 2, it adds up to 10. They had invested so much hope on Pakatan after 2013 and they feel let down by what they see. Many think both sides are the same.

“We should never take voters for granted. I also believe that the opinion and preferences of voters change according to the time and issue. It is important for a candidate and party to come with a message of what you stand for, what you intend to do and what you can bring to them,” said Labis MP Datuk Chua Tee Yong.

Moreover, with Dr Mahathir as Pakatan’s Prime Minister nominee, it is like choosing between Umno and Umno.

“You offer Mahathir and Wan Azizah (Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail). You expect our young supporters to get excited?” said the above Selangor politician.

Dr Mahathir and Dr Wan Azizah were in a buoyant mood on the day Pakatan unveiled its manifesto. It was not an-over-the-top manifesto like in 2013 when they promised to deliver heaven and earth. This time, they were more realistic even though they declared that they would abolish the GST.

What surprised political risk analyst Amir Fareed Rahim was how swiftly the enemy side reacted.

“There was a concerted attack from the BN side within hours of the launch,” said Amir.

There were also claims that the manifesto had been leaked to the Barisan side because of the almost immediate chorus of criticism poking holes at it, many of it calling the manifesto madu dan racun (honey and poison) after a popular Indonesian pop song, to imply that the promises look like honey but would be poison for the nation.

But Barisan is launching its manifesto on April 7 and Pakatan will have a chance to return fire.

The Barisan machinery, said Amir, seems to be quite fine-tuned this time around. He said there is also more team effort instead of the presidential style campaign seen in 2013, when everything was invested in the leadership of Najib.

In an election, somebody has to lose, but the thing is that everybody thinks they can win.

Dr Mahathir has side-stepped one prediction after another by political analysts and pundits that Najib will win the general election. He had told Sin Chew Daily that Umno members would “secretly vote” for his party and that Pakatan would win the general election.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has said that Parliament will be dissolved after the redelineation report is passed. The report will be tabled next Thursday and the motion will likely be passed by Tuesday after which the Prime Minister will then present it to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong for his royal assent.

It is no secret that Najib has been waiting for the redelineation report to go through. He has no intention of stretching things beyond May 5, the date of the last general election.

“I think those around him do not want the Pakatan side to accuse them of clinging on,” said Amir.

Najib has begun going around the country to launch his coalition’s state election machinery. He has been in several places in one day and the pace is going to intensify until polling day. Despite the hectic pace, he has not lost his sense of humour – he said in Ipoh on Thursday that he has had to stay awake more and talk more, so hopefully, the votes will also be more.

He is not going to dwell on the past and talk about old regrets. Instead, he wants to focus on the policies he has put in place, his track record and how he plans to bring Malaysia forward. Both sides are as ready as they can be but the temperature on the ground has yet to go up.