Muhyiddin’s future begins tomorrow

Now the problem is in Muhyiddin’s hands. His government did a wonderful job at saving lives. Now his government needs to do an even better job at saving livelihoods. And Dr Mahathir Mohamad cannot do this. Anwar Ibrahim cannot do this. Lim Guan Eng cannot do this. Pakatan Harapan cannot do this. The 22 months they were in power is testimony to this. We have to allow Muhyiddin and his Perikatan Nasional government to do it because thus far they have shown they are capable.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Tomorrow, Parliament will resume and the first event of interest is Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s motion to replace the Speaker and Deputy Speaker. Next is Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s motion for a vote of no confidence against Muhyiddin.

If Muhyiddin’s motion wins and Azhar Azizan Harun and Azalina Othman Said take over as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively, that in essence can be regarded as a vote of confidence for Muhyiddin. That will more or less render Mahathir’s vote of no confidence as irrelevant.

Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional both face the same problem. And that problem is disunity in the ranks and dissatisfaction amongst the grassroots. The downfall of Pakatan Harapan five months ago was because of this disunity, while disunity is also threatening Perikatan Nasional’s existence.

The 22 months that Pakatan Harapan was in power proved a disaster for Malaysia

This is the problem with politicians. They love to talk because they love seeing their faces on TV and their statements in the newspapers. They also think they are very clever when the truth is most of them are quite stupid. Hence they damage their own party with their very silly and self-serving statements.

Pakatan Harapan collapsed after just 22 months in power because loose lips sink ships. And Perikatan Nasional may not even last 22 months if they keep talking they way they are doing now. It is time to talk less and do more. And it is up to Muhyiddin to take the lead.

What the rakyat wants to hear is what the government is going to do to save lives and livelihoods against the backdrop of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. This is what Parliament needs to discuss, debate and agree on.

So, let us settle the motion to replace (or not replace) the Speaker and Deputy Speaker and the vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister, or vote of confidence in support of the Prime Minster, whatever the case will be. Then let us spend the rest of the Parliament session to discuss how the government is going to ensure that Malaysians will not suffer any more than what they have already suffered because of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

The Perikatan Nasional government has proven effective so far but the more difficult job lies ahead

The majority of Malaysians really do not care whether Muhyiddin Yassin is a backdoor Prime Minister or whether Perikatan Nasional is an illegitimate government or about the so-called “Mandat Rakyat” that Pakatan Harapan keeps talking about.

China’s Deng Xiaoping famously said it does not matter if a cat is black or white so long as it catches mice. This is also what Malaysians should be worried about. To hell with the colour of the cat. What matters is that the cat does its job of eradicating mice.

Why talk about “Mandat Rakyat” and all that nonsense when Pakatan Harapan cannot even deliver a single promise it made in the 22 months it was in power? Muhyiddin or Perikatan Nasional never made a single promise and it has already delivered so much.

In Brazil, 1,000 people died of Covid-19 over the last 24 hours (71,000 in total thus far). Many countries have seen deaths in the tens of thousands (137,000 in the US and 45,000 in the UK). Worldwide, about 560,000 people have died from Covid-19 (and many more are not recorded, so it could even be more). In Malaysia, however, more people die from traffic accidents in just one week than the number who died from Covid-19 since January this year.

Malaysia fought a successful war against Covid-19

Yes, Malaysia has handled the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic brilliantly. And it is now time to manage the aftermath or fallout of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. Saving the lives of Malaysians is not the difficult part. Saving the livelihoods of Malaysians is the tricky part.

So Muhyiddin should not worry too much about the popularity contest he has been thrust into. He did not ask to be the Prime Minister or PM8. Mahathir “made” him Prime Minister by throwing in the towel and resigning as Prime Minister.

Did Muhyiddin push Mahathir out or oust Mahathir? It was Anwar Ibrahim who pressured Mahathir into resigning. Anwar kept pressuring Mahathir for 22 months until the old man broke down and quit.

Mahathir did the same in 2002 and Anwar knew that with the right amount of pressure Mahathir would do it again. So, for 22 months Anwar kept the pressure on and, as Anwar had expected, Mahathir suffered a breakdown and resigned as Prime Minister.

The Agong was forced to save Malaysia when Mahathir collapsed the Pakatan Harapan government

Invariably, DYMM Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong was left holding the baby. The Prime Minister had resigned and the Pakatan Harapan government had collapsed. And, just a month before that, the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic had hit the country (Covid-19 first came to Malaysia via Singapore on 25th January 2020).

So, Malaysia was in crisis. It had no Prime Minister. It had no government. And it had Covid-19 that could potentially wipe out millions of rakyat if not handled properly. Hence DYMM Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan had to act fast to save the country. And that was how Muhyiddin got appointed as Prime Minister.

Now the problem is in Muhyiddin’s hands. His government did a wonderful job at saving lives. Now his government needs to do an even better job at saving livelihoods. And Dr Mahathir Mohamad cannot do this. Anwar Ibrahim cannot do this. Lim Guan Eng cannot do this. Pakatan Harapan cannot do this. The 22 months they were in power is testimony to this. We have to allow Muhyiddin and his Perikatan Nasional government to do it because thus far they have shown they are capable.