Who has the voters’ mandate: Pakatan or Perikatan?
The voters gave Muhyiddin the mandate in the general election That means Muhyiddin is free to act as he sees fit. The power and authority has been transferred from the voters into Muhyiddin’s hands. What Muhyiddin does with that power and authority is up to him. That is what mandate means, which Anwar and Pakatan do not seem to understand, or are trying to make the people not understand.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Anwar Ibrahim and Pakatan Harapan are trying to con Malaysians regarding “the voters’ mandate” issue. They are telling Malaysians that Pakatan Harapan has the mandate of the voters while Perikatan Nasional does not.
Actually, Pakatan Harapan is just trying to confuse and mislead the people into believing that Perikatan Nasional is an illegal or unconstitutional government. So they play with the “voters’ mandate” issue to give an impression that Pakatan Harapan is the rightful and legal government, while Perikatan Nasional is not.
Mandate merely means the authority to carry out a policy, regarded as given by the electorate to a party or candidate that wins an election. That is the definition of “mandate”. In other words, the voters decide during a general election who they want as their representative in the representative system of government that Malaysia and most countries practice.
Let’s look at one example. Muhyiddin Yassin was voted in as a Member of Parliament by 23,558 voters in Pagoh. Another 19,114 voters voted for Barisan Nasional and PAS. And Muhyiddin won the Pagoh seat on a Parti Pribumi Bersatu (PPBM) ticket.
So, 23,558 voters voted for PPBM, 16,631 voters voted for Umno, and 2,482 voters voted for PAS: three rival parties in the May 2018 general election.
Today, Muhyiddin is still with PPBM. PPBM is now in Perikatan Nasional with Muafakat Nasional. And Umno and PAS are together in Muafakat Nasional. That means PPBM, Umno and PAS are now together. So the 23,558 PPBM voters, 16,631 Umno voters, and 2,482 PAS voters are now together or united under Perikatan Nasional.
That means Muhyiddin not only has the mandate of the 23,558 Pagoh voters who voted for him or PPBM, he also has the Umno mandate of the 16,631 Pagoh voters who voted for Umno, and the PAS mandate of the 2,482 Pagoh voters who voted for PAS. In short, Muhyiddin’s mandate is now 100% of the Pagoh voters.
So how can Anwar and Pakatan say Muhyiddin does not have the mandate of the voters? Muhyiddin’s mandate has now increased. From just 56% of the Pagoh voters who voted for him, he now has 100% of the Pagoh voters because he is now with Umno and PAS.
The voters gave Muhyiddin the mandate in the general election That means Muhyiddin is free to act as he sees fit. The power and authority has been transferred from the voters into Muhyiddin’s hands. What Muhyiddin does with that power and authority is up to him. That is what mandate means, which Anwar and Pakatan do not seem to understand, or are trying to make the people not understand.
