Mahathir, Azmin & Hishamuddin versus Anwar

Tay Tian Yan, Sin Chew Daily

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

The famous quote that brings out the story of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet with Denmark as background.

The first of the Four Great Tragedies of Shakespeare, the most exciting part lies with the interlacing love, hatred and other passions in the story, with untold secrets in each of the characters, mutual exploitation and betrayals.

Experts say the strength of Shakespeare was his ability to depict the dark side of humanity and unpredictability of events.

I don’t know why, what Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional did in recent days have prompted me to think of this quote from the greatest English playwright of all times.

During the parliamentary debate, Anwar Ibrahim said former defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein was plotting for a new government without DAP and Amanah.

And he put it very candidly: “All this is sometimes for personal survival…to close MACC cases. We don’t want that. Politics should not be about threats, it should be about principles.”

Anwar did not say this by a slip of the tongue, because the PH secretariat had issued a solemn-sounding statement accusing Hishammuddin of plotting a new government without DAP and Amanah.

The question is, Hisham is only an ordinary opposition rep today. He does not even hold a party post in Umno.

Who is he to bring down the PH government and set up a new government?

Sounds senseless, right? Unless, yes unless, he has someone really powerful and with that very intention, to back him.

Anyone can tell only one man fits into this description: Tun Mahathir.

Borrowing the script from Hamlet, Anwar must be Prince Hamlet seeking revenge to reclaim the crown which should have belonged to him. But as the King has no intention of stepping down, he sends Polonius to spy on him.

In the Malaysian version of Hamlet, if Anwar is Prince Hamlet, then Mahathir must have been the King, and Hisham, who else but Polonius!

It was rumoured earlier the year that Hisham might default to PPBM with 30 other Umno MPs so that PPBM could officially take over the place of Umno to firm up Mahathir’s premiership.

However, the unexpected victory of BN-Umno in the subsequent by-elections in Cameron Highlands, Semenyih and Rantau has turned things around, with Umno reps who had the intention of leaving the party now abandoning their plans.

And now, we have a new version to the story. Hisham is back in the picture, and Anwar is making the story more intriguing and suspenseful by bringing in the MACC.

And this new version will see DAP and Amanah taken out.

How to form a new government without DAP’s 42 seats and Amanah’s 11?

Naturally, this shortfall has to be filled by Umno and PAS.

Then where is PKR in Hisham’s (read Mahathir’s) plot? And where is Anwar? What about Azmin Ali?

Hisham denied, arguing that he did not have such power to do that. And when Mahathir was asked about the “new government”, he said coolly, “They can try!”

But, if this whole thing has been completely baseless, why did Anwar and the PH secretariat sound so real?

Or, they just make up the story for the PM?