Muhyiddin’s possible final 70 hours in office
Who will be stepping into Muhyiddin’s shoes if he is ousted through the backdoor vote of no confidence this Thursday? The three possibilities are Anwar Ibrahim, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. However, unless the three can mutually agree on the candidate, it will end up as just another power struggle to become PM9, and in the meantime Malaysians will continue to suffer from the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic and the backlash on Malaysia’s economy.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
From the way things are going, this may be Muhyiddin Yassin’s final 70 hours as Malaysia’s Prime Minister or PM8. It appears that Umno is bent of making sure that Budget 2021 is not approved by Parliament.
According Umno activist Lokman Noor Adam, Muhyiddin has less than 100 MPs still with him. To win a simple majority, Muhyiddin will need at least 112 MPs, with 111 resulting in a hung parliament.
Lokman says Muhyiddin has lost his majority in Parliament
It is said that PAS is solidly behind Muhyiddin and this has prompted some Umno leaders to ask that the Muafakat Nasional marriage with PAS be terminated so that Umno can contest all PAS seats in the next general election.
Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has suggested that Umno contests all 222 parliament seats and the 500-600 state seats in the next general election and Sarawak state election.
In the 2018 general election, PAS and Umno went head-to-head, winning two-thirds and one-third of the seats in Terengganu and Kelantan respectively, while PKR, PPBM and PAN won zero seats.
Some say the Muafakat Nasional marriage is on the rocks and after this Thursday, depending on the outcome of the vote on Budget 2021, PAS will be asked to choose between Umno and PPBM.
PAS does not care who the PM is as long as perpaduan ummah is achieved
In the interest of perpaduan ummah, PAS would rather engage in a three-party relationship with both Umno and PPBM. But that may no longer be possible, and PAS may face the prospect of having to choose between Umno and PPBM.
With almost 100% of the Chinese votes consolidated under DAP, this further breakup of the Malay parties into many fragments spells doom for Malay political domination.
DAP, which was set up by Lee Kuan Yew’s PAP after the split between Malaysia and Singapore in 1965, has made it its vision and mission to wipe out Ketuanan Melayu, the foundation for Malay unity.
The emergence of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s Semangat 46 in 1988 and Anwar Ibrahim’s PKR in 1999 saw Umno slowly losing political influence amongst the mostly rural Malay voters. And the fact that the 98% rural Malays are now down to just 26% further eroded Umno’s influence.
Ku Li may be PM9 if both Dr Mahathir and Anwar can mutually agree to it
If Muhyiddin survives the backdoor vote of no confidence this Thursday, Umno may split into two and Muafakat Nasional may cease to exist. Malaysia may see the Malays divided under two separate coalitions, the pro-Anwar coalition and the pro-Muhyiddin coalition.
The loser in this latest game of thrones is going to be Malay-Muslim unity or perpaduan ummah while the winner will be DAP and its proxies in Pakatan Harapan.
But what if Muhyiddin loses the vote this Thursday? That is a most interesting question, which opens up many possibilities. Who will be stepping into Muhyiddin’s shoes if he is ousted through the backdoor vote of no confidence this Thursday?
The three possibilities are Anwar Ibrahim, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. However, unless the three can mutually agree on the candidate, it will end up as just another power struggle to become PM9, and in the meantime Malaysians will continue to suffer from the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic and the backlash on Malaysia’s economy.
