Politics is about perception and the vibes from Umno is negative

And herein lies the problem. There are two football teams, two opposite ends on the football field, and two goals, one at each end of the football field. But both teams are kicking the ball into the same goal. Even the goalkeeper is kicking the ball into his own goal. No one is kicking the ball into the opposite goal.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

This is actually a very old cliché: politics is about perception. So, politicians and political parties need to be very careful, very sensitive and very conscious of the type of perception they are creating and the signals they are sending out.

Okay, let us look at what perception the Perikatan Nasional government is lumbered with.

It is a backdoor government. It is an illegal government. It does not have the peoples’ mandate. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin does not have the numbers or the majority support in Parliament. Perikatan Nasional is fragmented and is on the verge of collapse: retak menanti belah. There is a lot of bickering and internal sabotage going on. There are some traitors and turncoats within Umno who are collaborating with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and/or Anwar Ibrahim to bring down the government.

Yes, the list continues. And everything on that list shows instability, treachery, insincerity, personal interests, power struggle, the rakyat being suckered, lies, fake news, propaganda, etc.

That is what Pakatan Harapan wants people to see. Pakatan Harapan wants the rakyat to see how evil and short-lived the Perikatan Nasional government is. Pakatan Harapan’s message is: Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong is illegally propping up this illegitimate government, if not it would have collapsed the very day it was formed on 1st March 2020.

Najib does not share Mahathir’s doctrine of collective responsibility and accountability

But then that is the job of the opposition: to make the government look bad. It is Pakatan Harapan’s duty to attack Perikatan Nasional and to trigger a crisis of confidence in the government. This is what opposition parties do. And Pakatan Harapan is actually doing a very good job at it, not only since March 2020 but since 1999 when Pakatan Harapan used to be called Barisan Alternatif.

This is actually the weakness of Umno and Barisan Nasional, and now Perikatan Nasional. They are extremely clueless at how to play these mind-games. And the so-called Umno bloggers are dimwits who I would not trust to walk my dog.

It is not that Pakatan Harapan (or Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Alternatif before that) are clever. Actually, most Pakatan Harapan people are half-baked, their boss Anwar Ibrahim included and in particular. You can put the Umno bloggers and DAP/PKR bloggers in the same basket and you would not be able to tell the difference — different colour shit but same smell.

Pakatan Harapan people, since back in 1999, are just good at shouting and screaming. But ask them to do what they say the government should be doing and they cannot do it. They will tell you what is wrong. But they are not able to tell you how to make it right.

Umno is not bound by government decisions and will play the role of the opposition in Parliament

Pakatan Harapan is just hot air, or tin kosong. They impress people with talk, while Anwar impresses people with big words. But the main problem here is not Pakatan Harapan. The problem is Umno, Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional.

The sound bites coming out from Umno, Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional are wrong. You cannot tell the difference between people from Umno, Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional speaking, and people from PKR, DAP, Pejuang and Amanah speaking. Both sides of the divide have the same sound bites.

And herein lies the problem. There are two football teams, two opposite ends on the football field, and two goals, one at each end of the football field. But both teams are kicking the ball into the same goal. Even the goalkeeper is kicking the ball into his own goal. No one is kicking the ball into the opposite goal.

Mahathir once said, all government decisions are decisions made by the Cabinet. Proton, Perwaja, Petronas, Bank Bumiputra, MAS, and many more “disasters”, are not the Prime Minister’s decision, not Umno’s sole decision, but are Cabinet decisions. Hence, not just Umno, but all 14 component parties within Barisan Nasional, plus the Cabinet, are collectively bound by and collectively responsible for those decisions.

The key phrase here is “collectively bound by and collectively responsible for all government decisions.”

Budget 2021 is not Perikatan Nasional’s Budget but PPBM’s Budget

Today, Umno is saying that Perikatan Nasional’s decision are just Muhyiddin Yassin’s decision or PPBM’s decision and not Umno’s decision. Umno is not bound by or abides to those decisions. In fact, Umno has a right to oppose or question those decisions in Parliament and act as the opposition Pakatan Harapan when dealing with the government.

In fact, Pakatan Harapan can just relax. Pakatan Harapan can sit down and do nothing and let the coalition members of Perikatan Nasional attack the government. Perikatan Nasional is doing a far better job at attacking the government than Pakatan Harapan is.

It may even be better to just abolish Cabinet meetings — where policies and strategies are supposed to be argued, debated and agreed upon — and instead all 222 MPs fight it out during the Parliament sessions. Then Parliament can be divided into PPBM on one side of the divide, and all the other government plus opposition parties united on the other side, mutually attacking the government.